O'Neill walks tall in wake of Canavan

BEFORE the commencement of their 2001 championship, Peter Canavan observed about the Tyrone side he had piggybacked for more than half a decade that "the influx of the under-21s will only make us stronger, with players like Stephen O'Neill and Cormac McAnallen coming through."

Six months later, long after Tyrone’s summer crumbled on a tetchy afternoon in Belfast, O’Neill and McAnallen won nationwide recognition. The latter received the young footballer of the year award, while O’Neill showed enough attacking potential to garner an Allstar.

One summer later and when Tyrone heads gather to discuss Gaelic, Peter Canavan no longer hangs over every conversation. Age has slightly dimmed his greatness, instead they are focusing on his readymade replacement. Taller, bigger, stronger than the diminutive genius, but with the same knack for scoring important points in important games.

Stephen O’Neill has emerged from a fallow spring to become the key player in Tyrone’s surge for the All-Ireland quarter-finals, the latest obstacle presented by Sligo tomorrow at Croke Park. The mercurial 22-year-old is seen as the natural successor to King Peter in Tyrone.

Mickey Harte first alerted people to O’Neill’s talents. Alongside Fr McAleer, Harte coached O’Neill at minor, then under-21 level, picking up a few All-Ireland medals on the path. Harte feels O’Neill has matured into Tyrone’s most valuable asset.

“How we used to measure the importance of Peter Canavan in Tyrone was by how people would talk of Peter playing well, then Tyrone played well. I think the same could now be said of Stephen O’Neill. And he showed that in the Derry game. Stephen is slipping into the slipstream of Peter Canavan, quicker than anyone could have imagined.”

Strange, but O’Neill was rarely recognised as the great young hope in those all conquering under-age sides. Tyrone supporters were looking more towards the likes of Cormac McAnallen and Kevin Hughes as the footballers who would drive the Ulster side on for the next decade and O’Neill was just another talented forward, finding the scores whenever Tyrone needed them.

However, in the years between that minor success and the last of the under-21 titles, O’Neill became a more accomplished player. Harte remembers a lad who never stopped striving to improve his game.

“Under-age, he was a very left-sided player. His left side is still his stronger side, but he has worked very hard on his right foot, and has scored some great points with his right foot.

“His physical presence is much more apparent too. He wasn’t really that big at minor level, but he has filled out. Some of that is down to the passage of time, but he has also worked hard at the weights. And to his credit, he hasn’t lost his sharpness of pace which some players do when they build themselves up.”

One of the most relevant reasons O’Neill is now earmarked as the player to carry Tyrone forward is not only his lifestyle, of which Harte says “every lifestyle choice he makes is to the betterment of his football”, but his consistency.

Although, he had an indifferent league campaign, O’Neill has shaken off the criticism and has looked an even better prospect this summer.

“The true mark of his quality is that he has continued to play well, even after getting the Allstar,” Harte says.

Against Derry, Eamon Coleman placed Fergal McCusker on O’Neill. McCusker has been another who has suffered from the hyperbolic wind Coleman blows about his own players. Before the season, the Derry manager referred to McCusker as one of the best defenders in the game. O’Neill clipped seven points off him, even though McCusker didn’t play badly.

Before O’Neill added bulk to his impressive repertoire, there were doubts whether he would bridge the gap between under-21s and seniors. Many a precocious talent had got lost in those murky waters but 15 minutes into his championship career, he quashed any doubts.

O’Neill spent the rest of the summer, displaying little respect for reputations. He still wasn’t quite fit to fill master Canavan’s boots, but the pupil was learning. And as McAnallen has struggled slightly with second season syndrome (and injuries), his close friend has just got better.

Of course, McAnallen could easily scorch the Croke Park turf tomorrow with one of his classy performances, but the feeling grows that O’Neill’s shoulders are balancing Tyrone hopes. Mickey Harte warns, though, expectation should be tempered.

“I don’t know if Stephen’s game has developed that much more than players like Cormac McAnallen and Kevin Hughes.

“Forwards are always recognised earlier than midfielders or defenders as great players, people are still more impressive by score taking than good tackling or blocking. And score taking is a fine art of the game and Stephen is an expert at it, so it is no surprise that his talent has been more talked about than the other players.”

He will be talked about even more should he prove to be the missing link that rids Peter Canavan of his most unwanted tag: best footballer never to win an All-Ireland.