Determined O’Neill still dreaming of the big one

IT’S every footballer’s nightmare, but Stephen O’Neill hasn’t given up on the dream. Struck down by an injury jinx that has blighted his season, the former Allstar attacker has suffered one setback after another during three months of misery.

Shoulder damage sustained in the Ulster Championship first round clash with Derry had only just cleared up when he went over on an ankle during the semi-final win over Antrim.

The path to recovery from that knock has been a long and frustrating one, but now he is fully fit again, and more importantly, there’s still a lot of late summer football to be played.

In the meantime, however, Tyrone’s deep well of attacking talent has shown no sign of running dry, and the Clan an nGael man’s treasured number 12 shirt has looked equally stylish on other shoulders. O’Neill readily accepts that he can’t expect to walk straight back into the team, and is ready to await his chance, along with 14 other hopefuls on the bench.

“How can you change a team that’s been winning by so much? But I’m just glad we’re in the semi-final and that’s where we wanted to be at.

“It’s been a hateful time, but I suppose every player gets this sort of run. But it’s good to get back training. It was difficult for six weeks or so to just be sitting watching the other boys training, it would break you heart.”

A substitute appearance in the quarter-final win over Fermanagh was a reassuring step both for O’Neill and for Red Hand supporters and another step closer to full rehabilitation.

“It was good to get a run-out in Croke Park again. There wasn’t much to do at that stage, the team had already taken care of the business.”

It’s a measure of Tyrone’s strength in depth that they have been able to absorb injury blows which have at various stages of the current campaign robbed the side of such quality players as O’Neill, Colin Holmes, Chris Lawn, Gerard Cavlan, Cormac McAnallen and Sean Cavanagh.

And some have been forced to take on the almost impossible task of breaking back into a winning team.

“You’d rather be playing rather than watching, but they are great to watch.

And hopefully we can keep it going, there’s no point in peaking too soon, and I hope we haven’t,” he says.

O’Neill accepts that Tyrone face their greatest test to date at Croke Park this Sunday, with Kerry itching to get another crack at Armagh in the All-Ireland final.

“Kerry are always the team to beat if you want to win an All-Ireland. I can’t remember any year when they’re not up among the favourites. But we have the hard work done, and hopefully we can pull it off,” he says.

History and tradition weigh heavily in Kerry’s favour, and stack just as ominously against the Red Hands, who have never beaten Munster opposition in the championship.

“It has to be done, you have to break new ground if you want to win an All-Ireland.”

And O’Neill feels that Tyrone’s three high-scoring outings in Croke Park already this season will prove a huge benefit this weekend.

“You have to play a few times in Croke Park just to get used to it, especially for Ulster counties.

“Look at Armagh last year, people were saying they couldn’t win in Croke Park, and look at what they went on to achieve. After a couple of games in it, they got the confidence to go on,” says O’Neill.