O’NEILL EYES A STARTING PLACE
Tyrone forward ace O’Neill finally puts himself in line for a...
IT MIGHT not be reflected in actual game-time but it is fair to assume that Ronan O’Neill is Mickey Harte’s kind of player.
A couple of years back, when all was a lot less rosy in the Tyrone garden after half a dozen players walked away from Harte’s panel at the end of the league frustrated with their lack of game-time, the rarest of things happened up north.
Discontent found its voice in Shay McGuigan, younger brother of All-Ireland winners Brian and Tommy and one of the disaffected, issued a statement blasting Harte for ‘destroying player’s confidence.’
Vocal dissent is as rare in Tyrone as a sweeperless defence, but McGuigan’s ire was fuelled by a comment from Harte who was able to reflect on his spring of discontent from a position of strength at the season’s end when his team reached an All-Ireland semi-final.
‘There is something about the people who stay and bide their time and have the patience.
‘They were probably the people who were going to serve you best in the long run anyway.
“The people who feel they’re not getting as much game time as they want, they tend to be a bit of drain on the energy of the group,’ suggested Harte.
That has a prophetic sound to it after last Sunday, when O’Neill was sprung from the bench in Clones to bag both of Tyrone’s goals in the Ulster final win over Down.
But the flip side is the wonder that O’Neill did not walk away in an inter-county career that has spluttered rather than sparkled.
Last Sunday was his 20th championship appearance but in the five years since he made his debut — bagging 1-2 off the bench in a firs- round qualifier win over Offaly in 2013 — he has just started in eight games.
‘It would be a lie to say that it does not go through your mind [not starting regularly] but it is days like this that make it worthwhile, to see the supporters and your family out there and to be able to make them proud is a wonderful thing,’ said the 24-year-old Omagh clubman.
‘As I say, it goes through your head sometimes but playing for Tyrone is a privilege and it has been written in the past as if it was something of a chore.
‘It is not a chore, we love playing for Tyrone, we love doing this, we just love going to play football and days like this make it all worthwhile.’
But it has been a struggle for O’Neill, who was the star turn in the 2010 All-Ireland winning minor team that struggled to make the step up — Niall Sludden was the only one from that team to start on Sunday.
Injuries — he ruptured his cruciate ligament in 2012 — and form have conspired against him.
Last summer, O’Neill looked to have finally arrived, scoring 2-2 against Derry in the Ulster quarter-final and starting in all five Championship games.
But this year, even with the window of opportunity that opened with Conor McAliskey’s seasonending injury, his only starts came in the League wins over Roscommon and Monaghan, where he was benched both times.
‘I had a back injury for seven weeks towards the end of the league and a lot of people did not realise that so it probably put me back a wee bit coming in the Championship,’ said O’Neill.
‘I have just been biding my time and hopefully now I can prove myself a wee bit to Mickey that when I come on I can stake a claim on his team.
‘You set out to be on the team. It has to be a goal to be on the team that starts the game.’
This latest cameo won’t do any harm, with his two strikes for a team that has been notoriously goal-shy all season — prior to Sunday they had bagged just four in nine games — reeking of purpose and confidence.
His first came within a minute of being introduced; his second, a sublimely executed lop over the stranded Michael Cunningham, may just be a goal of the season contender.
‘For the first I saw Mattie Donnelly coming through and normally I would pull away to create the space but all I wanted to do was to get my hands on the ball and put it in the back of the net.
‘And for the second the keeper came out a bit too far and I saw he was off his line. I have been doing that since I was playing underage so I was happy enough it came off, other days that goes over the bar so it was nice to see it go under.’
It would be even nicer if he could get to try that from the start against either Kildare, Monaghan or Armagh in an All-Ireland quarter-final next month, where Tyrone are hell-bent on making up for last year’s error-ridden exit to Mayo.
‘It has been said that over the years we have not beaten a top two or top three team,’ said O’Neill. ‘We will go to Croke Park now and we will relish anyone who comes and challenges us.’