Colm O'Neill enjoyed another Cork win on Sunday after his team had extracted some hint of satisfaction ("consolation", as it's known in the game) from comprehensively beating All-Ireland champions Kerry and drawing a line under the indignity of last year's Munster final defeat by their neighbours.
Yet the biggest cause for celebration wasn’t so much the win or another tidy haul, 1-6, but simply being there. This is the first season in three years that 26-year-old O’Neill has been firing on all cylinders and it shows, with a scoring tally of 3-21, including an average of four points from play.
Last year his input was restricted by a third cruciate injury of his career, although he came back 12 months ago and contributed from the bench before claiming starting roles in matches against Sligo and Mayo, scoring 15 points .
“I’m happy,” he says. “Last year I got a season under my belt. This time last year I probably still wasn’t 100 per cent. I trained hard and got a good winter’s prep under my belt and I’ve confidence in it. I’m still doing rehab with physio so still keeping on top of it.”
Part and parcel
Cork have beaten the most recent All-Ireland champions, Kerry and Dublin, in their two home matches to date, which is just as well given that their schedule features four visits to
Ulster
. O’Neill says that by staying overnight before matches and having the opportunity for plenty of rest, “the knee hasn’t been troubled by the travelling”.
His resilience has earned admiration – Cork manager Brian Cuthbert paid this tribute after the Kerry match.
“After three ACLs and he is able to come back out here and perform the way he does. It’s remarkable; it’s the character of the man ... he’s a very special player and a very special guy: a very affable guy that everyone is mad about and every time he puts on a Cork jersey he just takes off.”
Cruciate injuries
The cruciate injuries occurred in 2008, 2011 and 2013, wiping out entire seasons but he has managed to thread substantial achievement through the years when he has been able to play. Twice an under-21 All-Ireland winner, he captained the 2009 side. Later that year he scored a virtuoso goal in the senior final, a match that was disappointingly lost to Kerry. Ironically the one year in which he wasn’t at his best was 2010 when the county won the All-Ireland and he started half of the eight matches on the bench.
After the second missed season O'Neill came back in 2012 and averaged more than five points a match in the championship on the way to his first All Star. Form this year has been excellent and his partnership with Brian Hurley at times looks spectacular.
“There are some things we’ll have to work on. We were four or five points up 15 minutes into the game and we stepped off [the pedal] ... Kerry missed one or two in front of goal. If they got them on another day? We’re definitely not getting carried away.”
