Where has Cork's Colm O'Neill gone? Dismissed in the dying minutes of the first half of the 1990 All-Ireland Senior football final, Cork's Colm O'Neill made his way towards the outstretched arms of manager Billy Morgan like a prodigal son heading home not knowing what to expect of his father. With head bowed, the subsequent succour received by the Midleton maestro went a long way towards easing the earlier blow. By the time Larry Tompkins lifted the Sam Maguire Cup skywards thereafter the hurt of taking the early shower had almost disappeared. Reflecting back on his impromptu tangle with Meath full back Mick Lyons three seasons ago at Croke Park, salt of the earth O'Neill bears no chip on his shoulder, no disdain for the Summerhill clubman or the current rules of the big ball code. Instead, he's placid in the extreme, offering his thoughts with a lucidity that contrasts superbly with the hurly-burly, rough and tumble of a national football decider involving the once most deadly of rivals. "I wanted the ball, aimed to win possession but Mick Lyons didn't want to give me the ball. Complain? How could I in light of what happened, us winning and all", enthused the self-employed accountant. Conspicuously absent from the high-profile intercounty G.A.A. scene over recent years, the G.A.A. fraternity are worse off entertainment-wise as a result. The ordinary punter unfamiliar with the reasons behind the non-appearance of O'Neill in the famous red jersey of Cork could be forgiven for questioning such a development in the same way a palaeontologist would the disappearance of dinosaurs from the face of the earth. No secrets to hide, no mystery to keep under wraps, Colm is only too glad to come clean for the Hogan Stand and bare his soul on just how things unravelled post September 1990 "My departure from the county scene resulted from a number of factors, one of them being a lack of interest in my part and the fact that my work as an accountant was taking me increasingly out of the city (Cork). There was so much time and effort involved in training and playing the matches that I just couldn't keep with it". Colm O'Neill did keep with it for some eighteen months after leaving Croke Park exactly three years ago with an All-Ireland medal tucked inside his tailor-made All-Ireland final blazer. True the 1990/ '91 National Football League campaign was a harmless enough affair for the Rebels and they did bow out at the first round stage of the '91 Munster Championship. Colm O'Neill's commitment, patience and staying power thus wasn't tested unduly but he did stick with it, stuck with it in fact 'till he played his final game for Cork Seniors in Omagh in the 1991 /'92 League season. The curtain dropped then, he had his swansong in Tyrone. At nearly 27 years of age, voluntary retirement was and still is easily accommodated. Especially when one has a wife, two gasuns and a mortgage of course! Could Colm O'Neill's intercounty football career have been extended though by forces other than managerial persuasive powers or something else of that 'ilk. One can only speculate on what the towering attacker's decision would have been had he have been a Nemo Rangers or Saint Finbarr's club player in years gone by when crossroads were approached and watersheds were engineered. In truth though for the dyed in the wool Midleton dual player any question of a switch in allegiance either two years ago or ten years go for that matter was always going to be a non-starter. A one man one club player and a gaelic games craftsman whose brother Niall (a Junior All-Ireland medal winner with Cork in 1990) currently stars with the club and whose father Michael has been involved as a selector and administrator for a lengthy period with the club at this stage, Colm O'Neill has Midleton running through every fibre of his body in essence. On the hurling front it's an altogether different ball game for the mercurial Midleton maestro. Like chalk and cheese really, in terms of honours won, status held and annual Championship potential Midleton hurlers and Midleton footballers are light years apart. Unfortunately, players of the calibre of hurlers like John Fenton, Kevin Hennessy and Ger Fitzgerald are in short supply on the Midleton football club front, always have been, simply because the small ball code has been tops for generations. Footballers 'cum hurlers like Colm O'Neill don't grow on trees in Cork nor anywhere in the country for that matter. Still, despite the lack of football tradition in Midleton, football was O'Neill's sporting preference from day one. Though always a dual player, he made his name originally as an immensely strong attacker on the county Vocational School's football team which reached the 1981 All-Ireland final only to lose to Derry ironically. Colm's memories of that game are still fresh and relative to what will transpire this weekend fairly relevant. "I remember marking current Derry Senior Damien Barton in that match. It hasn't surprised me that he's come on so much since. He's a very skilful player with a good football brain and well able to orchestrate things and organise players around him". One of the most promising players to emerge out of underage ranks in East Cork at the close of the seventies, big Colm was accompanied on the county squads by equally vibrant talent. Talent such as that as personified by speedster Tony O'Sullivan of Na Piarsaigh played with O'Neill on the county Minor team which downed Derry in the 1981 All-Ireland Minor final. Future county men like Niall Cahalane and Anthony Davis plus John Cleary were also on the team but O'Sullivan's liaison with Colm O'Neill is particularly remembered by the last named and on reflection why wouldn't it. I was lucky enough to have scored three goals from full forward but Tony (O'Sullivan) had me spoilt by putting the ball into my pocket on three separate occasions so that I could hardly miss", explained the modest target man whose scores helped seal a 4-9 to 2-7 win. A county Minor hurler also, things weren't quite so rosy. Derry's Barton was replaced in Munster by Tipperary's Aidan Ryan and John Kennedy for instance, players who helped ensure that Colm O'Neill's sojourn on the Minor and Under 21 county hurling teams were wholly unsuccessful. The would be Senior county hurler would have to bide his time to adorn his sideboard with silverware. That he would eventually do so without collapsing between two stool marks Colm out as a thoroughbred athlete like his peers in the 'dual' brigade, a player of great versatility and talent. Winning ways on the county front for messr. O'Neill continued in the form of Bob Honahan trained Cork Under 21 All-Ireland winning teams in 1984 and '85. Earlier though O'Neill and pals at Midleton stole the show on the club hurling front in 1983 when the Cork city stranglehold on the county title was wrestled clear of the 'erstwhile kingpins such as St. Finbarr's, Blackrock and Glen Rovers. "We broke the mould in 1983 by taking the title as the teams from the city had been monopolising things for years. Our victory was a first in thirty odd years or so and needless to say it was well celebrated", explained the six feet two inch and fourteen stone plus ball player. Midleton's accession to Cork's hurling throne in '83 coincided ironically with Colm O'Neill's elevation on to the county Senior football team for the commencement of the League that year. The high profile dual citizen was well and truly born. But how does he rate both games, what's the special characteristics of the individual codes? It's clear which game he rates the highest "Fitness and physical strength are perhaps more important attributes for a player playing football than for a hurler. Unless you're fit and tough you're likely to lose out badly in the football stakes, whereas in hurling it's all about the wrist action, about keeping both hands on the hurley and having the natural ability or skill to do your stuff", added Colm, a brother in law in Kerry footballer Maurice Fitzgerald whom he describes as "the most skilful footballer I've ever come across". Lamenting what he says is an overly physical approach to football by players and coaches alike, Colm acknowledges that even accepting his latter day medal haul with Cork, nothing could compare with Midleton's All-Ireland club triumph in 1988. It was a special St. Patrick's day for him as it was for colleagues like Pat Hartnett and Denis Mulcahy. Special for O'Neill specifically no doubt because of his late, late insurance goal, a score that sealed a never to be forgotten win over Athenry, the Galway champions. "It was my biggest thrill, the most enjoyable game I've ever been involved with". It's a while now since Colm drew the proverbial line and slotted in his G.A.A. participation in second place behind the real important things in life, like family for instance. Married to Christine Fitzgerald, proud father of Darragh and Shane and veteran of three Fitzgibbon Cup successes with University College Cork, O'Neill would be really kicking himself about not being in the picture for Sunday's final, if it wasn't for the fact that he was 'in the right place at the right time in '90 and the bit of luck went with us on the day'. Accepting the vagaries of real life sport which presents him with a plethora of winning opportunities on the club hurling front but precious few chances in the football sphere, Colm O'Neill looks forward to Sunday's decider with a dichotomy of feelings. On very friendly terms with Queen's University old boys John McGurk and Henry Downey and an admirer of the aforementioned Barton, the Midleton master of his craft would be cheering this weekend for the Oak Leaf County if they were playing any team other than the Cork crew. Derry are not playing any other team though, and this is one Corkman whose sticking with the local faithful and backing the horse that he knows best! Written by the Hogan Stand Magazine 17/09/93. Tweet

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