| Lee O'Connor | |
| Full Name: | Lee Patrick O'Connor[1] |
| Birth Date: | 28 July 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Waterford City, Ireland |
| Height: | 1.76 m |
| Position: | Defender |
| Currentclub: | Tranmere Rovers |
| Clubnumber: | 2 |
| Youthyears1: | –2016 |
| Youthclubs1: | Villa F.C. |
| Youthyears2: | 2016–2019 |
| Youthclubs2: | Manchester United |
| Years1: | 2019–2022 |
| Clubs1: | Celtic |
| Caps1: | 0 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2020 |
| Clubs2: | → Partick Thistle (loan) |
| Caps2: | 4 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2020–2021 |
| Clubs3: | → Tranmere Rovers (loan) |
| Caps3: | 35 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2021–2022 |
| Clubs4: | → Tranmere Rovers (loan) |
| Caps4: | 31 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Years5: | 2022– |
| Caps5: | 72 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2015–2017 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 14 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2017–2019 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 13 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 2 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2019–2022 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 26 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 1 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2019 |
| Nationalteam4: | Republic of Ireland |
| Nationalcaps4: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 0 |
| Pcupdate: | 10:23, 13 November 2023 (UTC) |
| Ntupdate: | 23:50, 27 September 2022 (UTC) |
Lee Patrick O'Connor (born 28 July 2000) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Tranmere Rovers and the Republic of Ireland national team.[2] He has also spent time on loan at Partick Thistle.
In 2016, O'Connor moved from Villa F.C. of Waterford to the Manchester United youth team, signing a three-year contract.[3] On 6 August 2019, O'Connor played an EFL Trophy match for Manchester United U21s away to Rotherham United, winning 2–0 at the New York Stadium.[4]
In September 2019, O'Connor joined Celtic, signing a four-year contract until 2023.[5] [6]
In January 2020, O'Connor joined Scottish Championship club Partick Thistle on loan, joining Ian McCall's side for the second half of the season.[7] He made his debut in senior club football on 25 January 2020, in a 2–1 loss to Arbroath.[8] He made five appearances in all competitions for the club before the season was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
O'Connor joined League Two club Tranmere Rovers on 17 August 2020 on a season-long loan.[10] He made 42 appearances over the course of the season and returned to Celtic for pre-season.[11] O'Connor returned to Tranmere Rovers on another season long loan on transfer deadline day, 31 August 2021.[12] The transfer was made permanent in January 2022.[13]
O'Connor made his international debut, and recorded an assist, for the Republic of Ireland on 14 November 2019 in a friendly match against New Zealand.[14] [15] [16] O'Connor was announced as the FAI Under-21 International Player of the Year for 2019 on 4 August 2020.[17] O'Connor holds the record number of underage appearances for the Republic of Ireland with 78 appearances across all underage teams.[18]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Manchester United | 2019–20 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Celtic | 2019–20 | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2020–21 | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Partick Thistle (loan) | 2019–20 | Scottish Championship | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 2020–21 | EFL League Two | 35 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||
| Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 2021–22 | EFL League Two | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |||
| Tranmere Rovers | 2021–22 | EFL League Two | 17 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 17 | 0 | |||||
| 2022–23 | EFL League Two | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | 45 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24 | EFL League Two | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 109 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 9 | 0 | 126 | 0 | ||||
| Career Total | 113 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 133 | 0 | |||
Individual