Eastern Suburbs An Eastern Suburbs junior, O'Connell's NSWRFL first grade career commenced in 1942 with the
Eastern Suburbs club with whom he spent seven seasons and played 80 games. His first representative match was for
City New South Wales in 1943. On 18 June 1945 a
Sydney rugby league team featuring O'Connell travelled to Newcastle to play against their
representative team and were defeated 27–26. He was the Roosters'
pivot in their 1945 premiership final victory over
Balmain. With senior representative matches cancelled during WWII O'Connell didn't make his Test debut until 1948 against New Zealand in Sydney. He was selected for the 1948-49
Kangaroo Tour and played in five Tests and 16 minor tour games. His sole appearance as captain of the
Kangaroos was in the First Test at Leeds of the 1948 Ashes series.
Manly-Warringah Having been admitted to the Sydney top-grade competition in 1947 the young
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 1949 had suffered three lean seasons and set about to secure the services of O'Connell, then regarded as one of the stars of the Australian game. He spent the 1949 season as captain-coach with Christian Brothers Wollongong. The Manly committee secured O'Connell with a 350-pound offer but his registration for the 1950 season was thwarted when
Eastern Suburbs blocked the transfer on residential grounds. The Easts committee were dissatisfied with residential evidence O'Connell was able to table for himself and sought proof that O'Connell's wife had also already made the move to Manly. O'Connell was unable to provide this on-the-spot at the meeting, the transfer was blocked and on principle he chose to sit out the 1950 season thereby also jeopardizing his representative career. O'Connell played two seasons with Manly as captain-coach leading them to 2nd place on the 1951 competition ladder and to the club's first
Grand final appearance. He was unable to play in that match due to a fractured bone in his wrist, so was forced to watch from the sideline as his team lost to Souths by a record grand final margin.{{cite news His final international appearance was in the 3rd Test of the 1951 domestic series against
France. ==Post playing==