He is, he strongly suggests with so much of what he says, a product of his past. The upbringing in Kilrea, the town of 2,000 or so near Derry’s Antrim border, his family, education and sport – the enduring love that became his livelihood.
Nearly 50 years after Martin O’Neill embarked on a professional career that has included some remarkable highs both as a player and manager, however, he still describes himself as “steeped” in the game he left behind.
Two of his brothers, Gerry and Leo, were part of the Derry team that reached the 1958 All-Ireland (he was there in Croke Park, aged six as they lost to Dublin) and he recalls the Down team that would become the first side from Ulster to lift the title a couple of years later.
“I grew up with this Ulster mentality that we had. We, as Co Derry people, had a grudging respect for Down who could come across the border and win, three times in the Sixties. It had never been done before but they went down against all the odds, against all the elements and generally against all of the refereeing decisions . . . So I’ve always had a respect for Down for being able to do that but I’d love to see Derry come back.”
In their absence, he says, he’ll be cheering on their neighbours next weekend, at the game if he can swing it, although it doesn’t sound too likely given that the Ireland squad will be assembling and Burnley will be on the box.
Still, he says, “I heavily love the GAA. It’s taken a bit of a hammering at the minute in terms of tactics, but this Dublin side can consider themselves one of the finest ever to have played the game, there’s no doubt about that. Obviously, I’ll be cheering on Tyrone, though. Derry and Tyrone don’t like each other but they’re in Ulster and I’m essentially an Ulster man.”
He was, he recalls, a good player himself, turning out for the hometown club his father had helped to found, and for his various schools and colleges. But in Belfast, he divided his energies between St Malachy’s, where he was studying, and Irish League club Distillery. Ultimately, his early success in soccer earned him a ban of sorts from the GAA, with an important schools match once having to be moved because of his involvement.
“We had to take it out of the county – two teams from Belfast playing against each other couldn’t play against each other in Casement Park. We had to take the game to Omagh because I was not allowed to play. Not to play at Casement Park was a massive disappointment,” he recalls with a lingering sense of regret, “but it was a long time ago, things move on.”
Contemplating
An awful lot has happened since. As he sits in his office at the FAI’s headquarters in Dublin he is contemplating how they have moved on since Ireland’s last competitive game, the 5-1 home defeat by Denmark that ended his side’s hopes of going to the World Cup in Russia and prompted a predictable wave of criticism, much of which flowed in his direction.
“When you lose a game, you have to accept criticism,” he says. “You are in the job to win games whether or not you think the odds are against you. If you win the matches, fine. If you don’t, you accept the criticism. That’s fine. If I couldn’t face that, I wouldn’t be in this job.
“Criticism has followed me for around for 45 years, at the end of the day. As a player coming in to hear some manager tell you what you should have done or whatever the case may be. Or as a manager coming in after having lost a match . . .”
He sounds pretty philosophical about it all, much more so than on the occasions when the rawness of defeat or disappointment is there for all to see in the post-match television interviews. But it’s consistently clear that O’Neill does not believe much of what is levelled at him by the press or pundits is really justified, and he quickly becomes animated when questioned about the often negative assessment of his team’s style of play.
“When I came into this job your overriding ambition, obviously, is to qualify for some competitions. And if we are not comfortable in being able to get the ball down and pass it, which is what you want to do, then you have to find ways of staying in games and winning some football matches.
When you are away to a good side, it's not easy to take the ball down and pass it
"I don't remember playing the proverbial 'long ball' at Aston Villa. We were a counter-attacking side because we had pace to burn. I would have said that that Aston Villa side was a really, really fine side – which I made. I bought the likes of Ashley Young – you wouldn't have said that Ashley Young and James Milner were brutal boys who booted the ball. We played a really decent brand of football.
“And at Celtic, we had athletic players; they were strong but they were also quality footballers, really quality, that’s why we were able to do so well in European football. It would be nice [now] to have players to choose from the big league, but if we don’t have that then we have to try and find other ways to compete – and not just compete but to try and win. That’s what we did and we almost qualified for two consecutive tournaments.”
Aspire
He and his players, he suggests, both aspire to more but, he observes, “when you are away to a good side, it’s not easy to take the ball down and pass it.”
What he really takes exception to, though, is the suggestion that some of his own methods, most notably an inclination to only name his team in the run-up to games, has hindered his players from achieving their collective potential when playing for Ireland.
More than once, it has been claimed, players have been surprised by the role they have been handed in the team or even to find themselves in it. “That’s nonsense,” he says firmly. “Total nonsense. I’ve done it for years [but] the Celtic players knew exactly what they were supposed to do. Ask the Leicester players, they knew their jobs inside out. The players here know their jobs. I’m telling you – they know their jobs.”
He speaks at length about the issue and comes back to it more than once after the interview appears to have moved on. He cites not only his own success but that of his own former manager Brian Clough – and Roy Keane's at Manchester United.
"Alex Ferguson won championship after championship after championship, but Roy Keane tells me he named the team an hour beforehand. He had trust in the players. Brian Clough stuck up a list of players on the Friday but would seldom name the team until the Saturday, so I am dealing with two of the greatest managers who have ever been in the game."
In his own case, he points to the success he enjoyed in previous clubs and suggests that it would have been impossible for his teams to do what they did unless the players were comfortable and confident in their roles. “The only way you can do your job is to know your job, and the players who go onto the field in my time as manager know their job,” he says, emphatically.
Self-justification
When it is put to him one or two players have sounded less certain about that, he suggests that there might be a hint of self-justification about their comments.
“The Sunday after we had lost to Scotland [back in November 2014], Aiden McGeady said to some journalist that he didn’t know he was playing in that position, but he had played in that position for me at Celtic as a kid.
Stoke City wanted to take me because of the job I'd done with the Republic of Ireland. They didn't take a loss against Denmark into the equation
“Aside from that, though, he came off the line for a corner kick but he was told to stay on the line until the ball was cleared; I didn’t see him saying, ‘sorry I messed up there’. He came off the line and they scored whereas if he had done his job, stayed on the line, he would have headed clear. But he came out afterwards and said he hadn’t known he was playing in that position and I think things start from things like that.”
If the press aren’t convinced, he says, others are. His employers were, for a start, clearly keen to keep him in the face of significant interest from English clubs.
“Stoke City wanted to take me because of the job I’d done with the Republic of Ireland. They didn’t take a loss against Denmark into the equation. They looked at the victories we had had over the years that I had been here and felt that I had been overachieving.”
He hopes to do so again. He is anxious to engineer another win over Wales and has dwelt, he says, long and hard on that defeat by Denmark and how he might do things differently. The Nations League is a stepping-stone, with another European Championship the major goal now. In sport here is always another championship to be chased, another point to prove, another score to settle.
Martin O'Neill on...
Suggestions he is inclined towards the long ball…
I don't remember playing the proverbial 'long ball' at Aston Villa. We were a counter-attacking side because we had pace to burn…I would have said that that Aston Villa side was a really, really fine side; which I made.
Pragmatism and players…
When I came into this job your overriding ambition, obviously, is to qualify for some competitions and if we are not comfortable in being able to get the ball down and pass it, which is what you want to do, then you have to find ways of staying in games and winning some football matches.
Claims his players are unsure of their roles because he names teams late…
That's nonsense. Total nonsense. I've done it for years (but) the Celtic players knew exactly what they were supposed to do. Ask the Leicester players, they knew their jobs inside out. The players here know their jobs. I'm telling you: they know their jobs.
Rooting for Tyrone in the All Ireland…
I heavily love the GAA (gaelic football). It's taken a bit of a hammering at the minute in terms of tactics but this Dublin side can consider themselves one of the finest ever to have played the game, there's no doubt about that. Obviously, I'll be cheering on Tyrone, though. Derry and Tyrone don't like each other but they're in Ulster and I'm essentially an Ulster man.
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