[1] His cousin Sean O'Connell was an all-time great Gaelic footballer who played for Derry.
[2] A forward, O'Connell divided his playing time with working for his family's cattle-farming business.
He played for Scottish amateur club Queens Park, and made his English Football League debut for Middlesbrough on Boxing Day 1953, scoring in a 3–2 win against Newcastle United.
He was a three-time winner of the FA Amateur Cup, with Bishop Auckland in 1955 and 1956, and Crook Town in 1959.
[7] This biographical article related to association football in England, about a forward born in the 1930s, is a stub.