ONE man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. If Eoin O’Neill had 2022 to live all over again, the classy Dunloy forward might make a couple of different choices.
O’Neill decided to take a sabbatical from Dunloy hurling and headed off to London with the intentions of spending some time in Australia.
As it turned out, he played for London club Robert Emmet's before cancelling his Australia trip and returning home – but he couldn’t transfer a second time in the same season and as a consequence will miss Dunloy’s crack at All-Ireland glory this weekend, a stage he would have undoubtedly graced.
Speaking at the club’s press night last Wednesday, Cuchullain’s boss Gregory O’Kane said: “Eoin decided to travel at the start of the year. You don’t want to hear it but you shake hands and you wish him good luck.
“It was a loss for him, a loss for the team – but it also opened up the door for somebody else. You’ve Chrissy [McMahon], Decky Smyth and Eoin McFerran, so if somebody loses out there’s always somebody there that can take advantage of it. It’s been good for them and it’s been good for us as a group.”
O’Neill is already back with Antrim having featured in Darren Gleeson’s Walsh Cup line-ups this month, but will be a supporter during next Sunday’s All-Ireland Club final.
McMahon, Smyth and McFerran have all featured during Dunloy’s successful county and provincial runs.
Smyth and McMahon suffered injuries in recent times but both are expected to be available for selection for this weekend's All-Ireland final against Ballyhale Shamrocks.
Aaron Crawford is the only definite non-starter after the wing-back suffered a shoulder injury in Dunloy’s dramatic All-Ireland semi-final win over St Thomas’s, while Paul ‘Shorty’ Shiels (back injury) has been declared fit following substitute appearances against Slaughtneil and St Thomas’s.
Dunloy are aiming to win their first-ever All-Ireland senior title having finished runners-up on four occasions: 1995, 1996, 2003 and 2004.
Current boss O’Kane played in each of those four All-Ireland finals and has been either a player or manager in each of Dunloy’s county championship wins that tally 16, the first coming in 1990.
“I always say I was lucky to play with great players – people like Gary O’Kane, Alistair Elliott, Nigel Elliott, the McMullans – all great players," O'Kane said.
“They were the best times of our lives. We were just in that bubble, the games kept coming and we’d good times. But the era of players we’re interested in now is this era and them being the best they can be. They have to be their own team and see where it takes them.”
O'Kane's name is already etched in the annals of Dunloy and Antrim GAA. Drafted into the county panel as a rookie by the legendary Jim Nelson in 1991, O'Kane went on to have a brilliant career, winning an Allstar nomination under Sean McGuinness.
He represented Antrim for well over a decade and retired under former boss and Tipperary native Dinny Cahill in the early Noughties.
One of the most consistent forwards on the club and county circuits, O'Kane continued to play for Dunloy after his county career ended and later stepped into the managerial breach at the north Antrim club where he has guided the Cuchullian's to five county championships in six years.
For him, the most fulfilling aspect of managing Dunloy is seeing young players fulfil their potential.
“To see players at a level where anything’s possible – that is reward. You do it because you never want to see a young player not fulfil his potential.
"How many young people get the opportunities we get? We are privileged, we live in a fantastic village, we hail from an unbelievable community, so we’re grateful for what we have. And if you get young players who you know have ability you just want to push him to get the best out of myself, just in life in general. I suppose it’s challenging young people to get the best out of themselves."
Asked if it's important for a manager to be liked or respected, or both, O'Kane replied: “Players aren't going to necessarily like you because you’re not going to please them 24/7, 52 weeks of the year because you’re going to have ups and downs.
"It’s a relationship where everybody wants success. The player might have different versions of the game and the management might have a different version of the game but respect is everything. If you can’t be nothing, be honest because players see it, they see bullshit for want of a better word. So you don’t get away with bluffing.
“But I'm enjoying this group and to see them perform in Croke Park the last day was lovely. I always felt if this group ever got out of Ulster, Croke Park would suit them.”
