The Thistle Archive

In what was a bit of a head-spinning few months for Lee O'Connor, the 19-year-old right back left Manchester United in early September 2019, joined Celtic on a 4-year-deal, made his senior debut for the Irish national team, and landed for a loan spell at Firhill which was disastrously cut short when COVID stopped play in March 2020 and Thistle were famously demoted to the third tier.

The youngster started his career with Villa FC in his native Waterford before being picked up by Manchester United where he would captain at under-18 and under-23 levels. On 6 August 2019, he played an EFL Trophy match for United, away to Rotherham United, winning 2–0 at the New York Stadium. In September 2019, he interrupted an international break with the Irish 21s, flying to Glasgow to put pen to paper on a dream move to Neil Lennon's Celtic. Lee made his full international debut, and recorded an assist, for Ireland on 14 November 2019 in a friendly match against New Zealand. He continued to rack up caps for the 21s too and was announced as the FAI Under-21 International Player of the Year for 2019 on 4 August 2020. Amazingly, he holds the record number of underage appearances for the Republic of Ireland with 78 appearances across all pre-senior levels.

Lee joined Tranmere Rovers on a loan deal in 2021 and became a firm favourite among Rovers supporters before making the move permanent in 2022. When he signed an extension with the club in 2025 manager Andy Crosby described him as “a warrior and a silent leader, driven by his commitment to the cause”. Demonstrating his long-term loyalty to Prenton Park, his contract extension kept him tied to the club until June 2027.

Lee is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →