Stephen O'Neill: Treble over Kerry would be as good as it gets

Former Tyrone footballer Stephen O’Neill. Picture: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Tyrone legend Stephen O'Neill says a rare clean sweep of football's flagship titles at Kerry's expense would be 'a very special achievement' for the county.

Tyrone's minors beat Kerry in last Sunday's All-Ireland final in Newbridge, following on from the U-20s winning their All-Ireland having also beaten Kerry along the way.

If Tyrone could take care of Kerry in tomorrow's senior semi-final then it would be an unlikely trio of wins over Kerry teams in the same season, something that only Cork has ever managed.

It would also leave Tyrone just one more win from repeating Kerry's achievement of 1975 when they won all three minor, U-21 and senior national titles.

Asked if that would be as good as it gets for Tyrone, AIB GAA ambassador O'Neill nodded.

"It definitely would be," said the former Footballer of the Year. "It would be an amazing achievement. I'm sure it's something that the senior team have probably seen the minor and U-20 successes and they'll be delighted with that and will be hoping to get over the line as well.

"It's such a massive thing for the county. Though I'm sure Malachy O'Rourke will be keeping their minds off that. It'll be the 'one game at a time' mentality. Kerry on Saturday is such a big challenge. You're obviously going to be marking three or four of the top forwards in the county. It will take so much to get over them.

"But as a supporter, as a county, to win the three, the clean sweep, it would be a very special achievement."

Tyrone are significant underdogs for tomorrow afternoon's Croke Park summit. That's partly on the basis that Kerry opened up with arguably the most impressive period of play of the entire season when they dismantled All-Ireland holders Armagh with a succession of scores in the second half of their quarter-final tie.

O'Neill agreed that it was impressive from Kerry but he also pointed to Armagh's failings.

"I think they (Kerry) are going to have to bring the same sort of intensity - because Tyrone's going to bring that," said O'Neill. "I think Armagh in the second half... it was a wee bit like the Monaghan game against Donegal. For whatever reason, they didn't seem to get going.

"I don't think Tyrone will lie down like that. I think Tyrone will give them their fill of it for the 70 minutes. The first half, I can see it being very cagey, very tight. I think the longer it stays like that, the better it is for Tyrone. I think Tyrone have a really strong bench and Eoin McElholm and Ruairí Canavan can step in and get scores. It leads me to believe that Tyrone can hopefully get the result."

O'Neill reckons that, with warm conditions forecast, the two-pointers could be flying over at both ends.

"Tyrone are blessed to have people like Peter Harte, Mattie Donnelly, boys who have experience and have the skillset that can produce those types of shots," said O'Neill.

"The one thing I always said about Kerry as well, whenever we played them, and even now, their defenders, every one of them is very, very comfortable kicking the ball. So Tyrone will definitely get pressed out on them as quickly as possible and not let people, especially Seán O'Shea and (David) Clifford get shots from far out."

O'Neill himself has just finished up as a coach with Cavan, following previous stints with his native Tyrone and Antrim.

Asked if now is the right time to step up to management himself, O'Neill shrugged.

"You just have to take it as it comes and what might interest you, I haven't really given it much thought to tell you the truth," he said.