Paul O'Connell's firm sees 19% rise in cash in account

The cash in account at the firm owned by Ireland and Munster rugby star Paul O’Connell increased last year by 19 per cent to €850,211.

According to accounts lodged by O’Connell’s Nellcon Ltd with the Companies Office, they show that cash at the firm increased from €713,399 to €850,211 in the 12 months to the end of April 2011. At that point, Nellcon’s accumulated profits stood at €852,355 – an increase of €159,060 on the €693,395 recorded at the end of April 2010.

O’Connell (32) has been a talisman for Munster and Ireland over the past decade, captaining Munster to their second Heineken cup win in 2008.

Earlier this year, the Limerick man ensured his present level of basic income from his professional rugby contract for at least another two years when he signed a new contract that will see him play for Ireland and Munster until the end of the 2014 rugby season.

O’Connell has benefited from his professional playing career coinciding with a boom in the finances and popularity of Irish rugby. Between 2001 and 2011, revenues at the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), which controls 80 per cent of the finances of Irish rugby, have more than trebled, from €21.6 million to €69.2 million.