Nobody is laughing at Harrogate Railway anymore following club's transformation from perennial strugglers to promotion contenders

Their place in NCEL Division One’s top-five secured a week earlier, Saturday’s comprehensive 4-1 success over Retford saw the Starbeck outfit wrap up fourth position.

Their reward is a play-off semi-final clash away at Brigg Town on April 16, with the winners of that game going on to play the victors from North Ferriby’s showdown with Rossington Main for a place in the Premier Division.

O’Connell and his team are determined that their season doesn’t end at Brigg, but even if it does, what the Irishman, his staff and players have achieved this term is impressive nonetheless.

The club was on its knees and staring demotion from the NCEL in the face when O’Connell took charge at Station View in late January 2020.

Formerly a professional jockey, the former Darlington coach became the Rail’s ninth managerial appointment in three-and-a-half years when he replaced Des Macorison.

Relegated from the Evo-Stik League at the end of 2015/16, the Railwaymen had been in steady decline ever since. Three seasons of struggle in the NCEL Premier Division followed before they eventually fell through the trap-door into Division One.

And although there were some signs of promise under Macorison during the early stages of 2019/20, Railway were languishing second-from-bottom of the pile and looked doomed to slide into step seven of the footballing pyramid prior to the appointment of his successor.

The Covid-19-enforced curtailment of that campaign may well have helped saved the club from relegation, but O'Connell has not looked back.

And by the end of his first full season at the helm, he has well and truly transformed the Rail from whipping boys to genuine promotion contenders.

“I’m both proud and very pleased that we’ve managed to do what we set out to do,” he said.

“That was the aim last summer and I’ve always believed that we could achieve it. Some people laughed at us when we said that the aim for this season was to take Harrogate Railway to the play-offs. They said ‘no way’.

“But I knew that we had a good group of lads, with a lot of character and plenty of ability. I knew how hard they would work. I knew how much they wanted it, so I was confident that we could finish in the top-five.

“To be fair, they’ve gone from strength to strength. A lot of these young lads have got better with every game.

“And then when we beat Selby 4-0 away [in January ] and completely blew away a really strong side, I knew that we’d go on and get a play-off place. Everything clicked that day, so from then onwards it was just about keeping their feet on the ground.”

As crucial a role as he has undoubtedly played, modest O’Connell insists that he does not deserve all the credit for Railway’s revival.

“My staff have been unbelievable," he added.

"Josh Walsh and Paul Clayton have done brilliant jobs, as has our goalkeeping coach Lee Steele and Sammy Lambert, looking after the players.

“All of these people have played a huge part. They’ve helped us put an infrastructure in place that has allowed the players to be successful. I couldn’t have done it without them.

"We might not have the budget like a lot of teams in this division do, let alone the division above, but I think we have got a set-up now that means this club is only heading in one direction."

Railway finished the season with 26 victories and five draws to their name from 40 matches, amassing a total of 83 points and breaking a number of club records - including most home wins in an NCEL campaign (15) - along the way.

Their final triumph of the regular season was achieved courtesy of strikes from Dan Thirkell (penalty), Jacob Robertson, Joe Crosby and Rob Youhill, while visiting Retford pulled a goal back late in the second half through Liam Bennett.

"I thought we were brilliant from start to finish, we controlled every aspect of the game," continued O'Connell, who will be hoping his players can pick up where they left off at the weekend when they travel to Brigg.

"Our intensity was very good, we were aggressive and, to be honest, we could easily have scored six or seven."