Tyrone's great O'Neill Coalisland Chemist Jody has been to the fore in many Red Hand firsts. A 19 year old captain on their first provincial winning side of '56. Back again in '57 and again as manager when Tyrone lifted their third Ulster title in 1973 Jody O'Neill may be a name from the past, but his progressive thoughts are fixed firmly on the future as the Gaelic Athletic Association searches it's soul in a bid to find a comfortable niche in a changing world. His views on professionalism, discipline and league structures, not to mention the flagging fortunes of his own Tyrone may raise a few eyebrows, but they are certain to find favour with the more liberal elements of an organisation torn between tradition and progress. Not only was the Coalisland chemist Tyrone's youngest captain, but he was also the first man to lead the Red Hand county to an Ulster title. That was in 1956 when the Ulster newcomers were desperately unlucky not to defeat the great men of Galway for a place in the All-Ireland Final. O'Neill was in action again the following year when Tyrone retained their provincial crown, only to lose to Louth in the Croke Park semi final. It took another 16 years for Tyrone to win a third Ulster Championship, and almost inevitably, Jody was in the frame once more - this time as manager of an exciting young side which also had a teenage captain, the great Frank McGuigan. Gone Fishin' is the tune he's whistling nowadays, however, with real and rod the essential tools for his other great passion in life. The pressure of football management are a far cry from a relaxing day on a peaceful river bank, but Jody O'Neill still chooses to spend his Sunday afternoons on the terraces. The love affair he has shamelessly carried on with gaelic football since his schooldays has surrendered nothing of it's intensity to the passing years. If anything it has deepened, with the essential practicality of his playing and coaching days now giving way to a more philosophical approach moulded almost without prejudice. Thorny issues such as professionalism - the payment of managers and the luring of top coaches from their native counties are fielded with singe minded conviction. O'Neill is convinced of the need for a semi-professional approach to certain aspects of the game if it is to progress in step with other sports. And he accuses those steadfast traditionalists who insist that an amateur organisation must remain a fundamentally amateur organisation of burying their heads in the sand. "If top class managers and coaches can improve, enhance and project the game, then there's no reason why they should not be paid for their services," he says. "We pay our full time executives in Croke Park for their services, so therefore the GAA is not a totally amateur organisation. Then why can't we pay the people who have it in their power to make gaelic football an even greater game than it is?" O'Neill points to the success of the great teams of the past 20 years, insisting that the people who masterminded their triumphs were rewarded for their efforts - and rightly so. "The game needs top trainers, it doesn't matter where they come from or how far they travel. And to be successful, those people must devote themselves to the job they have taken on. We must reward them." And he sees no incompatibility in the decisions of managers to throw in their lot with adopted counties, such as Mick O'Dwyer with Kildare and Jack O'Shea with Mayo. "If there can be an interchange of footballers, such as Larry Tompkins leaving Kildare to play for Cork, then there's no reason why trainers or managers should not opt to offer their services to a different county." While the prospects for effective coaching appear healthy, discipline is an area which in Jody O'Neill's eyes show no signs of improvement, and in fact displays a distinct deterioration in some cases. It's an issue which often disturbs a man who in his playing days was a football purist and as a manager instilled the ethic of fair play into his teams. "If you play soccer or rugby, you play to the rules, but we don't do that in gaelic football. We main, we hurt, we injure and we do so intentionally. It's a worrying aspect of the game which requires urgent attention," he says. "It's a major problem in that too many of our players contravene the rules, and they do so repeatedly, so it would appear that there is no effective deterrent. I detest this physical abuse of players off the ball, and referees appear to be turning a blind eye to it in a lot of cases. But I don't lay the blame with referees for the fact that the problem is there. The coaches must take the blame. They are the people who design a game plan so therefore they must take a lot of responsibility for how players behave on the field." "I watch a lot of American football. I think it's the most violent game on earth, yet when the whistle goes, those players will stop, they'll never strike another player. In our game, it's an excuse to strike and then at the end of the game they will shake hands and want to be friends. I think we're being hypocritical. Something will have to be done, there's a major disciplinary problem." The former Tyrone boss has watched Tyrone's stumbling National League campaign this season with sadness, frustration and not a little anger. The sparkling, exciting side which reached the National League Final last season has all but disintegrated and League results to date have reflected an alarming slump in fortunes. With just one victory from three outings, Tyrone are struggling and have already already lost any hope of a place in Division One next year. The strategy of new managers, Art McRory, Eugene McKenna and Dessie Ryan would appear to use the League as a testing ground on which to mould a team for the Ulster Championship. But Jody O'Neill is seething in his criticism of the current management approach, going as far as accusing the trio of letting Tyrone followers down. "They have let a great team slip away, I think they have let us all down," he says. "They must immediately go about bringing all those players back and putting together again that great team which brought us all so much hope. I thought last season's team had great talent and tremendous potential. It played brilliantly in the League and unfortunately in the championship had to go to Celtic Park, a very difficult ground to play on, and were unlucky not to get a draw. "I honestly thought that the team had tremendous possibilities. They synchronised, they had great feel, touch and understanding amongst themselves. I think we could have done what Donegal did if we had got the breaks. I think the present management has made a mistake by introducing new players on trial basis, and persisting with them even though it is obvious some of them will never make it. We had the nucleus of the greatest team Tyrone has ever produced, and now it has been allowed to slip away." That team, he said, gave him more delight than any other since his playing days. "The quality of the football and the pleasure they gave was something which gave a great lift to Tyrone football. Now we have cast them to one side, whereas Derry, Cork, Kildare, Dublin, Donegal, Kerry and everyone else are fielding their first fifteen." "I don't think you can pick up the thread just like that in a couple of months. You have to work at moulding a team over a long period of time. The fabric was there and now they have dismantled that fabric. They must put that team back together again before it's too late." Jody O'Neill has a futuristic vision of a new League format which would compel counties to field their strongest sides during the National League. He wants to see a semi-professional circuit, with the National League and All-Ireland Championship series played off simultaneously between April and August. And he advocates a 'club or county' ultimatum, whereby players would not play club football during that period. "The club championships could then be played in late August, September and October," he suggests. "I think we must move towards such a situation. I know we certainly won't see it in the nineties, but perhaps it will come to pass warily in the next century." Whatever the future holds for the GAA calendar, Jody O'Neill has no intention of making return to team management. For the past few years he has been deeply involved in youth affairs with his club Coalisland Fianna, running a highly successful minor team, but he has no immediate plans to return to senior involvement with club or county. His first flirtation with management came while he was still a player, combining both responsibilities with little success in the sixties. But it was after he ended a 17 year playing career with Tyrone that he was able to devote sufficient time to running the team. In 1972 he took Tyrone to the Ulster Final, before losing to Donegal, but the Red Hands went all the way a year later when they beat Down in the provincial final to set up a date with Cork. The Leesiders won by 15 points, with Tyrone's inexperience and big match nerves cruelly exposed, but Jody feels the final scoreline disguised the true picture. "I feel Tyrone were a better side than the scoreline suggests. We missed a lot of easy frees, and Cork scored three goals in the last six minutes, which put a false complexion on the game." It was a painful return to Croke Park for Jody O'Neill, who had been there 16 years earlier as a player, also tasting defeat. That 1957 All-Ireland semi final against Louth was Jody's second successive Croke Park appearance. In 1956 he was Tyrone's 19 year old captain when the newly crowned Ulster champions took on the might of Galway. "The breakthrough in 1956 when we won our first Ulster title was a high point of my career and I was fortunate enough to be captain," he says. "The great Galway team were all giants to us, they were the great team of that era, and they had this great tradition behind them, with household names like Purcell, Stockwell and Mahon. People always talk about the goal Iggy Jones almost got late in the game, but Jackie Taggart and myself got in behind the defence and both of us finished in the net. If either of us had got the ball, we would surely have scored. If Iggy had managed to get the ball across things could have been vastly different." In the end, Tyrone were desperately unlucky not to cause a sensation, but a second successive Ulster title a year later sent hopes soaring again. But there was to be more disappointment, with injuries to O'Neill, Donal Donnelly and Frank Higgins effectively ending any hopes the Ulster champions had of overcoming a physical Louth side. Jody did gain some consolation by winning five Railway Cup medals during a ten year Ulster career when he starred at midfield and centre half back. His Tyrone senior debut as a 15 year old schoolboy marked the beginning of a distinguished career which saw the genial Coalisland man make many friends and admirers. Nowadays, the 55 year old chemist prefers to rest his weary limbs by a river bank or sea shore, but like the crashing waves, the mind is awash with fresh and challenging ideas. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 18th December 1992 Tweet

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