Niamh is back in the land of the O’Neill

Niamh O’Neill spent the last two years in Australia but she’s back in the red and white of Tyrone. Her focus is still the same, a love of football and dreams of a senior All-Ireland. She sat down with Michael McMullan

IT has always been football for Niamh O’Neill. Right from the start. Kicking around in the backyard moved towards friendship groups and on to Greencastle pitch with Sperrin Óg.

She can remember those earliest years of action, standing out as the only girl playing football with her hair down. She has no idea why.

Seated now, in a brisk lunchtime in Sallys of Omagh, there is a smile as the memories flood back. By u-14, the locks were tied up like everyone else.

The chat flickers. Watching the her Sperrin Óg game, with no quarter given or asked. There were days of tagging along with her uncle, Edward McCullagh, as he looked after Badoney ladies’ teams.

When her cousin Ruairi Keenan was in action for Gortin, she’d be there too. Football was everywhere.

Eimear Teague was the first idol, someone who poured everything into Sperrin Óg and Tyrone. Gemma Begley and Eilish Gormley were others.

And, in an era when Tyrone men were introducing Sam to the land of O’Neill, players like Stephen O’Neill and Peter Canavan were front and centre.

Cork ladies had sights on a seventh title in a row in 2010 but Tyrone chinned them in the All-Ireland semi-final. O’Neill can still recite the key moments from watching it on television. More players to look up to.

There was the disappointment of being in the crowd for the final at Croke Park on a day when the Dubs’ best and Tyrone failing to hit the heights was a bad combination.

“They didn’t perform,” O’Neill recalls. “It was obviously a massive occasion for the county. I remember watching and wishing that I was out there.”

It stoked a footballing fire that was already burning. Getting back to Croke Park was the dream and O’Neill wanted to be inside the white lines. To help make a difference, to represent both her family and her club on the biggest stage.

Winning the 2018 intermediate All-Ireland with Tyrone was nice. She hit 1-3 after coming in off the bench after 12 minutes to help sink Meath. It made up for losing the final 12 months earlier but it wasn’t the pinnacle.

O’Neill found herself looking on at the senior final that followed. Her Everest. Brendan Martin’s silver glistened brightest of all.

“I think it is what everyone wants in the county at the minute,” said O’Neill.

Tyrone lost last year’s intermediate decider to Leitrim by a point. Their 2025 Ulster campaign begins this weekend against Fermanagh.

There are plenty of hurdles along the way, but a return to Croke Park gives them a chance at redemption and get their passport stamped to senior football.

“There’s a good group there,” O’Neill said of the Tyrone squad she has rejoined after two seasons in Australia.

“There’s a management team and they seem to not just be focusing on getting an intermediate win. They want to build it up and go beyond that.”

They’ll have to walk before they can run. But, before you can walk, a final destination needs locked in.

It’s all very well having a management team who can steer, players have to fully realise the importance of their own collective goal.

***

Niamh O’Neill’s Sperrin Óg underage team began in Grade Three. There was a league and championship double during their ascension.

By minor level, they clinched an historic first title at the top grade. A semi-final win over St Macartan’s was followed up by beating Carrickmore in the final. Tangible progress.

“I think it was a consistent group that kept going and getting better,” O’Neill said, listing a number of key players and coaches over the years. Too many to mention without leaving someone out.

“I think we were just very lucky to have a lot of good footballers at that time. There was no real weak link, a strong team throughout.”

A year before the minor title arrived, Sperrin Óg seniors won the Tyrone Junior Championship.

At the time, O’Neill was also part of successful teams in Loreto Omagh. A player on Tyrone underage squads, she was tipped as a star of the future.

With the Ulster series approaching for Sperrin Óg, the management touched base with her parents. As a young player, the club needed their permission add their daughter as an extra attacking punch.

“Once there was a phone call to come and play, I was. like, “yes, no problem” and the next thing, Eimear Teague was lifting me for training,” Niamh said of another twist in her career.

They always had an early start, as the tradition of 7am training sessions continued. It was November 2011. The mornings were cold but the time suited everyone. And sure, there was a superstition almost. If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

“I came on as a sub in the Ulster final in Truagh,” she recalls of beating Inniskeen.

“I scored a point from out near the sideline that day, I can remember Maureen (Teague) telling me.”

The Teagues had babysat her when she was a child. That was then. This was now; and they were all pushing the same Sperrin Óg juggernaut. Magical times.

O’Neill’s two goals helped break the Claregalway hearts in an All-Ireland semi-final of two halves. It was time for backs to the wall against a second-half breeze. Registering just a single point, it took a defensive masterclass to tip the scales.

After a cagey start in the final, O’Neill hit the net to open a five-point gap against Aherlow in another tight encounter with Kim McCullagh’s second goal proving the winning score.

Four years after the Greencastle men won their All-Ireland, Sperrin Óg took another national title into the parish.

“I can remember the buzz of coming up on the bus,” O’Neill said of the winning feeling. “I remember seeing my uncles after the game.”

She is too modest to agree with any suggestion of being the secret ingredient as Sperrin Óg winning the All-Ireland but it’s hard to argue against her input. It’s written in history.

Fourteen years on, sipping over her flat white, O’Neill’s words play down her input. It’s all about the team. Her eyes tell a different, a more dominant, story. The memories will last forever.

***

It was O’Neill’s last year of u-14 before the call came to attend Tyrone underage trials.

Gerry Mone invited her onto the Red Hand senior panel for a challenge game within a year or two but she wasn’t ready. Not yet.

Niamh was back the following season, ready to slot in and has been virtually an ever-present since.

“In my first few years, the focus was nearly always about surviving Division One,” O’Neill said of coming into a team in transition.

“We’d always survive by winning one game, against a team that was teetering from going down as well.”

That’s how it remained. A struggle. A grind. One victory. Safe for another year. Rinse and repeat.

It was time to take stock. Where exactly were they going? Tyrone won a meagre six games in 17 senior championship outings, across five seasons, after the 2010 All-Ireland final.

With a team of players in their early twenties, Tyrone applied for a regrade to intermediate football ahead of the 2016 season. Add in an absence of silverware in Ulster and heavy defeats. The request was granted.

“I personally probably wasn’t up for it at the time,” said O’Neill. “You don’t want to go down but then you have to realise where you’re at.”

Getting players to commit to the county was tough enough, never mind winning games.

It was time to rebuild. Gerry Mone returned, navigating a path towards two All-Ireland intermediate finals, losing in 2017 before bouncing back to win the following year.

“He stayed on for another couple of years after that, then we had the start of Covid,” O’Neill said.

“He did a lot for me, him and Barry Grimes. They were fantastic.”

Tyrone were relegated from the senior ranks in 2021 under manager Kevin McCrystal’s watch. Niamh O’Neill’s 1-9 tally wasn’t enough to save them against a Tipperary side who hit seven goals.

As was reported by Gaelic Life at the time, McCrystal indicated the Tyrone players’ desire for change at the helm in the middle of the following season and he stepped down.

Sean O’Kane returned and victory followed a Division Two relegation play-off. A temporary, yet vital reprieve. Tyrone bowed out of the championship later in the summer.

O’Neill was captain at the time. Between a battle with injuries and dealing issues off the playing field, it took its toll.

Before a ball was kicked that season, she had already set her sights on Australia. Like many before her, the travel bug had bitten. It was time for a proper recharge.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council granted her a one-year career break that would then span into two.

“Thankfully there was a job still there for me,” she said with a smile.

There was a mix of Gaelic football with the Sinn Fein club in Melbourne with some AFL in the colours of Casey Demons. Football rarely off the radar.

Having lived with Siobhan Sheerin early on, she also linked in with Cara McCrossan from Tyrone.

Like is often said, it’s a home away from home. With everyone miles from home, new friendships grow among the Irish exiles. The grá for football returns. It’s a choice whether to play or not.

“There’s more of an enjoyment in it,” O’Neill adds. “You’re obviously playing in great weather for most of the time.”

After two years in Oz, there was an extra month added to the stay before it was back home, back to Tyrone.

“When I came home, it wasn’t a case of expecting to be brought back into the panel,” she said.

Australia was exciting. Fun, ball, work and travel. Add in a stint on a dairy farm to help extend the stay.

Back home and she needed to be sure there would be no itchy feet. After watching on as Tyrone locked horns with Armagh, the pull of county football was still very real.

Armed with a running plan from a coach friend in Australia, O’Neill was getting a base back in the legs. A competition against herself.

“You want to be able to come in and make an impact rather than coming in and hoping they (Tyrone) would get you fit,” she said, fully aware the rest had a pre-season tucked away in the locker.

“When I went to the (Armagh) match up in Lurgan, I was itching to get back.”

It wasn’t long until she’d manager Darren McCann’s number punched into her phone.

Time to touch base and express an interest. In she went. It was time to press the Tyrone buttons.

“I’ll be 29 next month and you can’t play at that level forever,” she points out. “You’re not sitting and waiting on someone to phone you, to ask you to come back.”

She’s happy with what’s there. McCann has all the right people around him. A perfect mix, but it’s time to get to work.

The focus is simple. Concentrate on playing and being able to bring as much to table as possible.

“Half of them are under 23,” O’Neill said of the squad. She has followed football in the county enough to know the quality is there.

“I’ve had a lot of names to learn but they’re very talented. They’re not afraid to take it on. They don’t feel backward when they play.

“After the first session, it felt like I was never away at all, aside from the fact that half the team is very different.”

Division One was a tough arena for many to cut their teeth in. A mixture of tough lessons and tight games before defeat Kildare spelt relegation and Division Two in 2026.

Looking beyond Fermanagh this weekend, a longer-term Tyrone target has to be about the bigger picture – getting back to senior football again.

“I think it’s a mindset thing too,” he said. “I think we’ve some of the most talented footballers in the country. It’s just about putting it all together and doing that over a consistent period of time, that is the key.”

Collective training is only six hours in the week. What happens beyond that counts for more. It’s about turning up ready to compete, not just to tick a box.

Division One requires players to be on the money. Every single week. It’s about lifestyle and fully committing to climb the ladder. It’s not a switch.

For Niamh O’Neill, she is still clinging to the dream of winning a senior All-Ireland. Before that, Tyrone must win this year’s intermediate All-Ireland. It’s a small window and nothing is guaranteed.

Brendan Martin may not arrive in Tyrone during her playing career but she’s going to keep hammering on that door.

“All those girls who are 20 or 21, I’d love to be them at the moment,” he said. They have everything at their hands, everything you need. It’s just utilising it now.

“You’d hope it’s possible still, but you have to also accept the fact that you might just be someone on a path with the rest of them getting there.

“You have to be okay with that, because no one’s guaranteed to win anything.”

Once thing is certain, the 2025 script hasn’t been written yet and Niamh O’Neil will do everything in her power to get Tyrone back to Croke Park later in the season.

It has always been about football. In the passing years, helped by Australia pressing her reset button, there is a bit more perspective, but football is still close to top of the list.