Starters orders the next step on Cathal O’Neill’s smooth Limerick journey:
Of the 0-10 from Limerick’s bench last summer, Cathal O’Neill was responsible for half, despite starting almost as many games as he was subbed on in.
By Eoghan Cormican Irish Examiner
In August of 2018, Cathal O’Neill stood alongside Colin Coughlan on Hill 16 looking down at an All-Ireland-winning Limerick team.
The pair of 16-year-olds drank it all in.
“Maybe I was too young to comprehend it because the gap was 45 years, but I suppose in Limerick you wouldn’t have been used to teams winning All-Irelands. It was amazing,” O’Neill recalls.
“At the time, it was so unique. As a 16-year-old, it is crazy to think that Limerick are after winning an All-Ireland in front of your eyes.”
O’Neill and Coughlan were Limerick minors that summer. And the summer after that too. They would then have three years in the U20 dressing room to further grow and develop.
Getting themselves off Hill 16 and getting themselves down onto the field on All-Ireland final Sunday was the end goal. That, though, was a journey. And one that couldn’t be rushed or hurried.
What O’Neill hadn’t bargained for was John Kiely plucking him from the Treaty talent pool before his underage education was complete and fast-tracking the journey.
In the spring of 2021, the then-18-year-old was called into the senior set-up. Entering Limerick’s inner circle alongside him was Coughlan.
“In 2018, Colin and I went up to Dublin on the train together. We spent the day on Hill 16 together. You’d love to be out there on the field, it would be a dream come true.
“It is mad when you think about it, that three years later we both joined the senior panel at the same time.”
The now departed Caroline Currid was a tremendous help in enabling a teenager to find his feet in an All-Ireland winning set-up packed full of his “idols”.
“She understood how daunting it can be for a young 18, 19-year-old breaking onto such a successful team. She understood those feelings.
“You’d be nervous going in about performing. But the group was so good at welcoming in players that young players, you fit in very quickly.
“I grew up with Colin and so coming in at the same time was another factor that maybe made it easier too.”
2021 was a watching brief for O’Neill. 2022 saw him make his first championship start and strike 0-7 off the bench as Limerick’s supporting cast contributed 1-19 to their Liam MacCarthy defence.
2023 saw him more regularly feature on Kiely’s first 15 while still managing to be the one back-up option who constantly delivered when sprung and constantly delivered scores.
Of Limerick’s bench 0-10 this summer, he was responsible for half, and this despite starting almost as many games as he was subbed on in.
Providing a bench impact is satisfying. Spectating for the 50, 55 minutes beforehand less so. O’Neill wants first team status. But attempting to hold onto a starting shirt, amid a forward unit laden with All-Stars and Player of the Year gongs, ain’t easy.
“Even on last year, I got more game time this year, so I was happy that way. You are always striving for more. You are always striving to be starting. That’s something I will be looking forward to next year, hopefully,” says the 21-year-old Crecora/Manister clubman.
“It’s very difficult to hold your place. There’s a lot of competition. It is brilliant, though. It only makes you a better player and makes the team better, so it is brilliant that way.”
O’Neill’s three starts came in Munster. It was a Munster campaign where Limerick teetered on the brink.
“We lost to Clare, drew with Tipp, beat Cork by a point, and beat Waterford by two. All games could have gone either way.
“You have to realise that you are going to lose at some stage, as well, and you are going to lose more than you win, probably, in sport.
“Obviously we were disappointed with our performance against Clare. I just think we went back to the drawing board. We had a three-week break. It gave time to recharge the batteries. We just went back to working hard.
“Look, it could have gone either way against Tipperary. It could have gone either way against Cork. That is the bottom line. We know we were lucky. We rode our luck, got to the Munster final, and thankfully got over the line.” The unforgiving nature of the Munster round-robin means the pressure of five-in-a-row won’t be a feature or distracting focus next April and May. They’ll simply have too much else to contend with.
“It (five-in-a-row talk) doesn’t really come into our camp to be honest. As I have previously mentioned, Munster is so competitive that if you take your eye off the ball for one second, you will be beaten.
“I can’t see our players or management that they are going to take their eye off the ball and think about what if or what will happen.
“We are only performance-based, and that is all we are thinking about. We are only thinking about trying to perform as best we can in April and May and seeing where that takes us.
“We have to be at our best every day in Munster to get a result.”