Dale captain Eoghan O’Connell shortlisted for North West Football Awards

Eoghan O'Connell

Rochdale captain Eoghan O’Connell has made the final shortlist for next month’s North West Football Awards following a public vote.

O’Connell is up for League One Player of the Season alongside three others – Colby Bishop (Accrington Stanley), Liam Feeney (Blackpool) and Paul Coutts (Fleetwood Town).

The Dale skipper will represent the club at the awards ceremony on 9 November, which is being held virtually this year.

Now in its 13th year, the 2020 Pitching In Northwest Football Awards ceremony will see honours awarded to those who have achieved footballing excellence both on and off the pitch in the 2019/20 season, from grassroots level through to the elite level of the game.

This year, the NWFA is again be supporting the Darby Rimmer Foundation. Former Liverpool, Bradford and Rochdale footballer, Stephen Darby, together with his close friend and former British Forces veteran, Chris Rimmer, set up the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation after Stephen’s sudden retirement from football in September 2018, on being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), aged just 29. MND is a degenerative condition that affects how nerves in the brain and spinal cord function. There is currently no cure.

Laura Wolfe, speaking on behalf of the Pitching In Northwest Football Awards said: "Despite the unprecedented times that we find ourselves in, the entries this year were no less impressive and the judges’ decisions were more difficult than ever. It was important that we, at the NWFA, even in this most difficult of years, went ahead with the 2020 Awards and recognised the incredible work going on at all levels of the game across our region, both on the pitch and behind the scenes.

"As well as the trophies and celebrations at the upper levels of the game, at the other end of the scale, it has been a tough year off the field for many of our clubs, and it would be remiss of us not to recognise this and show our support for the clubs, staff and fans who have been through and still continue to live through such tough times."