INJURY FORCES REBEL STALWART O’NEILL TO RETIRE

CORK’S Colm O’Neill has retired from inter-county football, citing a knee injury as the main reason for his decision, WRITES COLM KEYS.

The talented Ballyclough man becomes the second established Cork footballer to retire in the wake of their heavy AllIreland qualifier defeat to Tyrone earlier this month.

Donncha O’Connor brought his career to an end after that difficult evening in Portlaoise.

O’Neill (right) has suffered three cruciate ligaments tears during his career, all requiring surgery, but has bounced back each time.

He suffered cartilage damage in the Munster semi-final win over Tipperary but came off the bench late in that heavy Munster final defeat to Kerry. O’Neill’s departure leaves just two players – Aidan Walsh and Paul Kerrigan – from the 20 who featured in their All-Ireland triumph over Down in 2010.

Eoin Cadogan also played but has since committed to the hurlers.

O’Neill, a gifted attacker, won All-Ireland U-21 medals in 2007 and 2009, when he captained the team. Those wins fuelled great hope that Cork would leave their mark at senior level and while they did with that 2010 triumph and three successive league wins, they have fallen short of expectation since. Cork manager Ronan McCarthy made it clear after the Tyrone defeat that he would be overseeing extensive personnel changes in 2019.