John Egan is heading back to the Premier League with Hull City after their 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Republic of Ireland defender John Egan will be playing in the Premier League again next season after helping Hull City to a dramatic 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Oli McBurnie’s stoppage-time goal was enough to seal promotion for the Tigers against a Boro side who’d lost their semi-final against Southampton, only to be reinstated in the final after Saints were thrown out for spying.
Victory ends Hull’s nine-year wait for top-flight football, with promotion reportedly worth at least £205m to the north-east club over the next three seasons.
For Egan, a third Championship promotion having twice gone up automatically with Sheffield United in 2018/19 and 2022/23.
“We’re delighted,” said the Corkman.
“Our togetherness has been huge. We’re so close as a team. When you’re in dressing rooms like that it’s special.
“Everyone loves coming into training. We all love each other’s company. We love going on away trips together.
“I think that showed on the pitch. We dug deep. They had a lot of the ball, we knew they would.
“But we knew we’d get a chance and it fell to Oli and he buried it.”
Extraordinary
Hull finished the regular Championship season in sixth-place, ten points behind third-placed Millwall in third.
But it was the Tigers who came out on top in the sides’ play-off semi-final, 2-0.
Wembley victory completes an extraordinary turnaround for the Tigers, who only survived being relegated to League One last season by goal difference.
Egan attributed Hull’s promotion winning campaign to “hard work” and the “experience” added to the playing squad, with the club the subject of a transfer embargo.
“It probably helped us. We had to sign more experienced players,” he said.
“Everyone was writing us off, but we had a lot of lads who’d been promoted or played in the Premier League or top-end Championship football.
“So, I was excited for the season.”
Egan joined the Tigers from Burnley in February 2025, having previously spent six seasons at Bramall Lane, where he made 208 league appearances for Sheffield United.
Controversy
The controversy surrounding Saturday’s final continued right up until kick-off, with Hull chairman Acun Ilicali stating that the club would take legal action if they lost to Middlesbrough.
Ilicali called the decision by the EFL to reinstate Boro into the final as “unbelievable”.
Prior to the final, Egan said the uncertainty over who the Tigers would face hadn’t affected their preparations.
“We’ve done our bit, we’ve had a really good season, came through a really tough semi-final and all our eyes have been on the football match,” he said.
“Obviously things have changed, things have happened that probably shouldn’t happen in football, but we’re looking forward to the game now and we want to go out there Saturday and put on a performance and get this club to the Premier League.”
