Ken O'Connell

{{Infobox rugby biography

| name = Ken O'Connell

| image =

| caption =

| full_name = Kenneth Dennis O'Connell

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|07|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = Cork, Ireland

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = 6 ft 2 in

| weight = 224 lb

| occupation =

| school =

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| relatives =

| position = Flanker

| repyears1 = 1994

| repteam1 = {{nrut|Ireland}}

| repcaps1 = 2

| reppoints1 = 0

}}

Kenneth Dennis O'Connell (born 25 July 1968) is an Irish former rugby union international.{{cite news |last1=Walsh |first1=Denis |title=Ken O’Connell: Still, at 50, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up |url=https://www.thetimes.com/sport/rugby-union/article/ken-oconnell-still-at-50-i-dont-know-what-i-want-to-be-when-i-grow-up-zvhh3frjn |work=The Times |date=22 October 2023 |language=en}}

Raised in Cork, O'Connell attended Presentation Brothers College and played rugby at the school under future Ireland coach Declan Kidney. He went on to play as a blind-side flanker for Cork club Sundays Well and Munster.{{cite news |title=Where are they now? |url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/where-are-they-now/26828184.html |work=Irish Independent |date=4 March 2012 |language=en}}

On New Zealand's 1989 tour of Ireland, O'Connell was on the Munster side that played against the All Blacks and drew the ire of their captain Buck Shelford, who took him out of the game with an elbow. He had gotten under the skin of Shelford from before the match after stepping up to him during the haka.{{cite news |title=Where has all the magic gone? |url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/where-has-all-the-magic-gone/26348180.html |work=Irish Independent |date=29 January 2008 |language=en}}

O'Connell, who was out of action for nearly two years with a shoulder injury, got an Ireland call up in 1994, having previously represented his country at schoolboys and underage rugby. He was capped twice for Ireland in the 1994 Five Nations, against France at Parc des Princes and England at Twickenham.{{cite news |title=Vow to Try Like Kings! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/914572707 |work=The Star |date=11 January 1994}}

During the late 1990s, O'Connell played professional rugby for London Irish and Castres.