EXCLUSIVE NEWS: Tyrone GAA - SoN is Back!

[his holiness nb]

Saw Stephen hanging around outside Ballymun kickhams ground behind the airport quite a bit lately, anyone know any more?

[TyronePhilly]

O'Neill in flying club form
Tyrone says, 'door is still open'

BY ALAN RODGERS
a.rodgers@gaeliclife.com

STEPHEN O'Neill's storming club form has revived hopes that the former All-star could still play a part in Mickey Harte's plans provided Tyrone make it to the All-Ireland final. The 2005 Footballer of the Year was the stand-out player in Clann na nGael's league cup final win over Moortown, scoring four points from play and setting up an early goal. Match reporter at the game Kevin Kelly said O'Neill was in outstanding form. "Any time he won possession he was marked by a couple of players and yet he scored a number of real quality points. He really stood out as the class act," Kelly said. Still only 28, O'Neill announced his retirement from county football earlier this year. But even at this late stage the Tyrone management say that the door is still open for the two-time All-star to return to the county set-up.

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Stephen O'Neill still in the reckoning

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Last night Tyrone selector Tony Donnelly confirmed that O'Neill would be welcomed back to the team at any time. "Stephen is free to return to the panel when he feels that he has fully recovered from the injuries which have affected him during the past few years. He felt earlier this year that he could not do himself justice as a result of those injuries and nothing has changed as far as I am aware. The door has been and always is open for him. The will he, won't he Stephen O'Neill debate is still the biggest talking point in GAA circles across Tyrone and fans are already salivating at the prospect of scoring machine O'Neill teaming up with Sean Cavanagh in a lethal two-man full-forward line. While Tyrone insiders would still rank O'Neill's return a long shot, Mickey Harte has a reputation for producing big surprises in the closing rounds of the race for the Sam Maguire. In 2003 Peter Canavan was reintroduced into the action in the closing stages of the All-Ireland Final against Armagh, while the move of Sean Cavanagh to full-forward this year is another bold move which has paid off. Meanwhile, Donnelly insists the Tyrone team are keeping their focus ahead of Sunday's big game: "That speculation will probably always be there, but as a group we're totally focused on the Wexford game this weekend. There have been no approaches made to Stephen from the panel because the decision on whether to return or not was left to him and that's still the case."

[TyronePhilly]

Sorry, Bensars.......didn't see your post.

[Onion Bag]

Is there an echo here

[Main Street]

What's all the rumpus from the empty vessels (Ziggy excluded) about?

Stephen O'Neill is a Tyrone man, what's the big deal about him training with the Tyrone squad?
No one seriously believes he can get up to AI final standard, do they?

Tyrone have a very good team now, good enough to compete for an AI, what can a 50% - 60% fit player add to that apart from active moral support?

[Over the Bar]

cheers Benzars

[Whacker]

What's all the rumpus from the empty vessels (Ziggy excluded) about?

Stephen O'Neill is a Tyrone man, what's the big deal about him training with the Tyrone squad?
No one seriously believes he can get up to AI final standard, do they?Tyrone have a very good team now, good enough to compete for an AI, what can a 50% - 60% fit player add to that apart from active moral support?

I know where you are coming from here but I think you are being a bit naive.  He will A) Get the best out of the rest of the players around him because they know they have to step up a gear and B) Give Mickey Harte something else to ponder on the line, Another extra bit of Quality!

[rosnarun]

What's all the rumpus from the empty vessels (Ziggy excluded) about?

Stephen O'Neill is a Tyrone man, what's the big deal about him training with the Tyrone squad?
No one seriously believes he can get up to AI final standard, do they?

Tyrone have a very good team now, good enough to compete for an AI, what can a 50% - 60% fit player add to that apart from active moral support?

Smells like fear to me now I believe they are in deep negotiations with Peter canavan to came back and singlehandedly win a 3rd Final for them

[Sideshow Bob]

Surely O`Neills return will do more harm then good. A man that has had no part in training all year is now possibly in line for an All Ireland medal (though I still think Kerry will beat them). As there are limited medals available, who will be the unlucky panelist to lose out?

Also it was wrong to merge the 2 threads. Ziggysego broke the story yesterday evening, but his thread has been merged with another from last week???
Would the mods be quick to merge all of T Fearons sectarian rants or his Spurs have got new goalposts threads? It shows what this board is really about  

[JUMBODEMPSEY]

The more ammunition the better and when all the players agree with it, thats really all that counts.

[Bacon]

hard to know what to make of this. If he is fit enough he's good enough but as someone said earlier Kerry don't play in Tyrone Div 2. You'll only really know if he's up to it when get runs on to Croke Park and if he's not it's too late. It all adds to the interest for neutrals though.

[imtommygunn]

Ai but he'd not stand up to it in training if he wasn't fit enough.

One game marking Gormley or a boy like that in training would soon suss him out.

[tyssam5]

hard to know what to make of this. If he is fit enough he's good enough but as someone said earlier Kerry don't play in Tyrone Div 2. You'll only really know if he's up to it when get runs on to Croke Park and if he's not it's too late. It all adds to the interest for neutrals though.

Not really there's 5 subs to be made as some-one pointed out earlier. Plus it's probably a 10-15 min period at the end of the game we are talking about here. A good lift to the players and fans at the right time as has already been mentioned.

If there's one player with the football ability and perhaps more importantly personality (from his own perspective and that of the other players) to be able to come back in at the this stage then that man is SON.

Sure, if you were the player who got pulled off with 15 minutes to go or the player who didn't get on then you would be pissed off. But looking back at it in 10 years you'd be more pissed off about not having an AI medal?

[cadhlancian]

Tony,...."shameful indication"?

Your posts this last few days have just confirmed the shameful indication that you are a c*ck!!!

and a fat one at that

[charlie stubbs]

think its a disgace if he plays any part.lads have been training in the wind,rain,gutters all year round and he just walks back in.if he had changed his mind at quarter final stage or so you could maybe have accepted it a bit more.would have liked to have known his thoughts about a return after the defeat in newry....