O’Neill scores decisive penalty in Rovers win
LAST Sunday was a day to remember for Tralee man Gary O’Neill who scored the winning penalty that won the FAI Cup Final for Shamrock Rovers.
With the game level at 1-1 after extra-time at the Aviva Stadium, the final between Rovers and Dundalk progressed to a penalty shoot-out. After Dundalk missed two penalties O’Neill was given the chance to win the game with the fourth spot kick and under tremendous pressure he showed nerves of steel burying the ball in the left bottom corner of the net.
O’Neill also played a big part in engineering the penalty that put Shamrock
Rovers ahead threading in a great ball from midfield.
LAST Sunday was a day to remember for Tralee man Gary O’Neill as he scored the winning penalty that won the FAI Cup Final for Shamrock Rovers. With the game level at 1-1 after extra-time it progressed to a penalty shoot-out.
After Dundalk missed two penalties O’Neill was given the chance to win the game with the fourth spot kick and under tremendous pressure he showed nerves of steel burying the ball in the left bottom corner of the net.
He also played a big part in engineering the penalty that put Shamrock Rovers ahead threading in a great ball from midfield.
What a great couple of years it has been for the former Tralee Dynamos player as last year he captained the UCD team to win the Division 1 title and now he has an FAI Cup medal in the bag.
The midfielder was named in the 2016 PFAI First Division Team of the Year and was also nominated for First Division Player of the Season that same year; with this year’s successes only seeming to build on a rapid pattern of development for the former Ireland underage international.
All his success is richly deserved coming after a good spell playing cross channel where he had many ups and downs. When he returned back from the UK he was pondering what the future held for him but out of the blue he got a phone call from Pat Devlin the Director of football at UCD offering him a chance to play for UCD and the opportunity to do a Degree in Sports Management. He grabbed the opportunity given to him with both hands and it has brought huge rewards for him.
O’Neill was a highly-rated prospect in Kerry as a teenager and following impressive displays in the Kennedy Cup he got an International call up at underage level.
He was quickly snapped up by Wolves, where he spent four years in the club’s academy, while Mick McCarthy was in charge of the senior setup and other Irish players like Stephen Ward, Anthony Forde, Kevin Doyle, Aaron McCarey, Stephen Hunt and Kevin Foley were playing for the club.
He joined UCD from Hereford United in February 2015 and made his senior debut for the Students away to Dundalk in a Leinster Senior Cup tie on 10 February 2015. He then scored on his league debut, a 3-0 win away at Cobh Ramblers on March 7 and went on to make 25 league appearances, scoring three times in the process, as UCD claimed a play-off spot.
Gary also played in all four Europa League games for UCD that year and in both promotion playoff matches, which the Students lost to Finn Harps. In 2016 Gary was again a lynchpin in UCD’s midfield, scoring 13 times in 27 league appearances as well as hitting the net three times in Cup competitions.
In June 2019, Gary swapped UCD for Tallaght Stadium by signing for Shamrock Rovers and a new chapter of his sporting exploits was opened on Sunday and no doubt he will record many more great feats in the years ahead.
Sunday was also a very proud day for his family who have been right behind him over the years.
His father Tony, who is from Ballylongford, has done tremendous work promoting soccer at underage level for Tralee Dynamos for the past two decades or more and he attends all his games and has given his huge encouragement and support over the years.