Stephen O'Neill retirement official

[Quarterback]

...(now im not completely for certain on this) harte forecd him into taking Pin Killing Injections to come back and play

Not completely certian How much is not completely? Is it not at all? This would be barbaric. Are you sure you meant to say forced?

Id be 90 % sure of standind by my comments....

[Quarterback]

Totally understand where a few posters are coming from with respect to the scepticism over how some of Tyrones injured players have been managed over the past few years. I have posted on the board before about how it appears as if in some cases the race to get them back into action has often taken precendence over their long term health.

Lough shore, wats the latest on John Mc Conville, Pulled into the county panel for the leauge i believe??

[loughshore lad]

Totally understand where a few posters are coming from with respect to the scepticism over how some of Tyrones injured players have been managed over the past few years. I have posted on the board before about how it appears as if in some cases the race to get them back into action has often taken precendence over their long term health.

Lough shore, wats the latest on John Mc Conville, Pulled into the county panel for the leauge i believe??

Not sure if he is on the panel for the league but he was training with them this week. To be honest I dont understand Hartes rationale with John. He had a fantastic 2006 but didnt even get a trial for 2007, didnt play as well in 2007 and is actually coming back from an injury (broken ankle) and is then asked to train with the squad.

[Sandy Hill]

Living away from home for some time now I'm not as familiar with Stephen as most of my Fellow Clann clubmates.
However I can testify that he is and always was one of the most HUMBLE, softly spoken gentlemen you could ever meet.

Unfortunately he like PTG took some amount of abuse over the years and unlike Peter he was as strong as a horse and so often Refs would offer him little to no protection whilst he was being dragged and fouled as we say more and more post 2003. I suppose teams started double marking him and using blanket defense to smother his influence.

I'm no expert in the matter but iMHO he has totally Overdosed on football ever since he went to St Marys with him playing for u-21 club, U-21 county, club senior, county senior and also for Ballymena soccer club all at the one time.
The man eats drinks and breathes football even more so than Dooher and I think it was inevitable that he would get loads of inuries and suffer burnout.

Like my brother, Stevie and Dooher are ball carriers and if you run with the ball you tend to get a lot of bad tackles and get targeted for special attention.
I think Stevie has realised now that there is more to live than football and he's now thinking about marriage and having kids.
He's probably been told time and time again if he continues to play thru the pain barrier then he could end up with long term problems

Maybe he's realised this and has decided that his old friend Harte is maybe too driven to win another AI at any cost and that his longterm well being is not on Mickey's agenda. I heard 3rd hand earlier this year that they had a disagreement about his injuries but of course I don't know how accurate this was.

I am beginning to question whether Mickey is as goodie good shoes as he likes to protray. I've heard he's a very driven man and so his ultimate success depends on this Tyrone team winnng a third all-Ireland. He know's with McGuigan and 11 and SON at 14 he had some chance of that. So naturally he'll bust a gut to get Stevie to play no matter how bad it might be for his long term health.

This is only my own opinion and I've no inside info so don't quote me as this being TRUE
I know Stevie is a much more private person than Harte and would not like all this speculation going on around him

Finally, can I say how pathetic it is of ye sad Armagh lads to try to drag a player and a fine upstanding man like Stephen into the mud with thugs like we have in lots of teams in our game, including Tyrone. I believe Stevie rang up Joan Toal the night it happened in hospital and expressed his regret of the incident. Can you imagine someone like Ricey, Francie (gentle as he is), Casey from Dublin or Galvin from Kerry having the decency to ring someone up. I think NOT!

As a few posters said. IGNORE such sad Pathetic posts as that's all they deserve.

Correct, but for the record this was the one and only contact he made with John Toal who was at least 18 months in recuperation. I am making no observation, merely stating a fact!

[orangeman]

Leave the john TOAL thing out of it - it's not relevant on this thread - discuss it somewhere else if you must.

[supersarsfields]

Living away from home for some time now I'm not as familiar with Stephen as most of my Fellow Clann clubmates.
However I can testify that he is and always was one of the most HUMBLE, softly spoken gentlemen you could ever meet.

Unfortunately he like PTG took some amount of abuse over the years and unlike Peter he was as strong as a horse and so often Refs would offer him little to no protection whilst he was being dragged and fouled as we say more and more post 2003. I suppose teams started double marking him and using blanket defense to smother his influence.

I'm no expert in the matter but iMHO he has totally Overdosed on football ever since he went to St Marys with him playing for u-21 club, U-21 county, club senior, county senior and also for Ballymena soccer club all at the one time.
The man eats drinks and breathes football even more so than Dooher and I think it was inevitable that he would get loads of inuries and suffer burnout.

Like my brother, Stevie and Dooher are ball carriers and if you run with the ball you tend to get a lot of bad tackles and get targeted for special attention.
I think Stevie has realised now that there is more to live than football and he's now thinking about marriage and having kids.
He's probably been told time and time again if he continues to play thru the pain barrier then he could end up with long term problems

Maybe he's realised this and has decided that his old friend Harte is maybe too driven to win another AI at any cost and that his longterm well being is not on Mickey's agenda. I heard 3rd hand earlier this year that they had a disagreement about his injuries but of course I don't know how accurate this was.

I am beginning to question whether Mickey is as goodie good shoes as he likes to protray. I've heard he's a very driven man and so his ultimate success depends on this Tyrone team winnng a third all-Ireland. He know's with McGuigan and 11 and SON at 14 he had some chance of that. So naturally he'll bust a gut to get Stevie to play no matter how bad it might be for his long term health.

This is only my own opinion and I've no inside info so don't quote me as this being TRUE
I know Stevie is a much more private person than Harte and would not like all this speculation going on around him

Finally, can I say how pathetic it is of ye sad Armagh lads to try to drag a player and a fine upstanding man like Stephen into the mud with thugs like we have in lots of teams in our game, including Tyrone. I believe Stevie rang up Joan Toal the night it happened in hospital and expressed his regret of the incident. Can you imagine someone like Ricey, Francie (gentle as he is), Casey from Dublin or Galvin from Kerry having the decency to ring someone up. I think NOT!

As a few posters said. IGNORE such sad Pathetic posts as that's all they deserve.

Correct, but for the record this was the one and only contact he made with John Toal who was at least 18 months in recuperation. I am making no observation, merely stating a fact!

Well to be honest I would have thought that was enough. He contacted him after the incident and expressed his regret. It's more than alot of players would have done.

[bloody mary]

didn't o'neill get a goal against laois in the 98 all ireland minor final?

[M.Schofield]

Well in defence of Ricey he did actually visit Brian" Beano " McDonald in hospital when he horrendously broke his leg in the champoinship in 2004 even tho there was never any blame levelled at him.

Enda McGinley and Mulligan scored both goals in the 98 minor final by the way Bloody mary

[longball]

this doenst come as a shock to me at all. i heard back in november that a number of the tyrone players 7 i believe were very unhappy about training and the way things were going. Stevie was one of these players and was put forward as a spokes person to address this to management, whom refused to take this information on board. from them himself and MH have not seen eye to eye MH obviously thought that current training methods etc was more important than a forward like Stevie O'Neill.

[feetofflames]

Theres a lot of guys on here talking about a lot of Gossip.  Uladh your comments would make a tr**p blush, you are a disgrace to your county.

[ONeill]

All this talk has made me thirsty for the 2005 ten steps to glory DVD. Must get the stout in. Phone off between 10-12.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Its bit ironic Armagh posters saying theyve lost respect for a player over one late challenge that they say was dangerous. Francie Bellew and a number of other Armagh players icluding McKeever go in late all the time late. What about the the day Bellew went straight through a 40 year old Mickey Linden in the ulster club (that could have had serious consequences). Every time Francie's name is mentioned on the website you dont see uladh (or his mates) coming on saying he's lost respect for him due to that late challenge or many others he carried out.

[Thumper]

Adrian Logan interview with SON on tonight on UTV sportsnews at 6.15

[ONeill]

You're going to turn the DVD off after the semi final, aren't you?

Message to all: If ONeill has your phone number, leave it off the hook. He'll be ringing you up, looking for tickets later.

Yes, could be an expensive night. I can see a holiday being booked after the replayed Ulster final.

[Puckoon]

Conclusive interview - thats that then.