RIAN O’Neill is the kind of footballer that makes you feel good about the game. On Saturday night in Croke Park, he provided a glowing reminder that the marquee footballer is not extinct and that the game still whispers of infinite possibilities.
Former Armagh defender Justin McNulty posted on social media two video clips simultaneously – one from the 2002 All-Ireland final, showing Stevie McDonnell hitting an instinctive point on the turn; the other showing Rian O’Neill planting the ball in Dublin’s net last Saturday evening.
The video clips lauded two sublime finishers of the game, cut from the same cloth, while the post also saluted the long, diagonal ball which Armagh turned into an art form in the ‘Noughties’.
Call it dogma or straightforward self-belief, but while the entire country over the last number of years were refusing to kick the ball in - bar Kerry perhaps - Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh team never lost faith in the diagonal pass – a tactic copyrighted by giants of the game such as Joe Kernan and Dessie Ryan.
It was a tactic ‘Geezer’ was a fanatical disciple of. But, of course, Armagh’s attacking play has had to become more nuanced – more runners, knowing when to run, the off-loads, the angles of the off-loads and width.
Clearly, Armagh are making incremental improvements evidenced by their ceaseless and somewhat arduous climb back to Division One, as well as their mauling of Dublin last weekend.
At the risk of bursting Armagh’s balloon this week, no match analysis would be complete without acknowledging Dublin’s ramshackle display.
Akin to the post-Fergie years at Manchester United, Dublin were so far off it you immediately wondered just how great a leader Jim Gavin actually was - and that perhaps the runaway train an entire nation feared for a decade was always going to run out of steam once the Brogans, the Michael Dara McAuleys, the Cian O’Sullivans, the Philly McMahons, the Stephen Cluxtons and Kevin McManamons got too old.
The All-Ireland Championship has definitely opened up. It has become a proper, authentic, winnable race again. How many teams can actually count themselves as contenders will become clearer towards the end of this season’s National League.
In 2017, Tyrone were a speck in the distance to Armagh. That’s no longer the case.
One of the main reasons why Armagh have moved up the pecking order is because of players like Rian O’Neill.
On the burnt field of Pairc Esler last summer against Monaghan, O’Neill produced a truly awesome display.
He made a few basic errors too that day but the great thing about him was he didn’t care.
He didn’t care about the stats or the possessions-lost column. Mistakes and all, he was still brilliant.
He kept rolling the dice against Monaghan, kept taking risks and kept backing himself.
In Pairc Esler last July and in Croke Park last Saturday night, there was one prevailing thought above all others.
Who coached this young man? What advice did they drill into him when he was 10-years-old?
Was their coaching a light-touch approach? Did they teach him not to be afraid of missing?
If they did, he has absolutely retained that fearlessness.
Whatever his underage coaches and mentors did, they gave him every chance to be the best that he can possibly be.
O’Neill does things on a football field that have been coached out of other young players; those who don’t take risks, who are too mindful of the possessions-lost column and who follow the rules.
It’s like an underage coach trying to encourage the dribbler to pass the ball more when in actual fact it’s these precious skills that must be nurtured and protected because when big games are in the balance in 10 years’ time, the dribbler will be the difference.
How Rian O’Neill was coached as a kid is the reason why his star is soaring on the inter-county stage right now and why Armagh look a better bet.
Justin McNulty’s video clips provided a reminder of the rich potential associated with the long, diagonal pass and the spontaneous nature of forwards like Stevie McDonnell and Rian O’Neill.
In his pomp, McDonnell was a joy to watch for Armagh.
No forward in the history of Gaelic football relied more heavily on his marker being touch-tight so he could use them to spin away and shoot. All he needed was a quarter of a yard. He was just a devastating attacker.
Off balance, right foot, left foot - McDonnell was oblivious to the safe off-load or recycling the ball.
Where O’Neill and McDonnell are similar – if not identical – is their disdain for playing the percentages, ignoring the parameters of the scoring zones and always backing themselves to be the difference.
Once a player has full confidence in their game, the stage they're on is totally irrelevant.
When Rory Grugan kicked an inch-perfect pass into O’Neill in the 19th minute, the Crossmaglen man could've off-loaded to Ciaran Mackin but instead he swivelled and found the target.
When he accepted Aidan Nugent’s long diagonal four minutes later, you just knew the ball would end up in the net. This is exactly the devil-may-care, uncomplicated element that has been missing in Armagh's play.
His 25th minute point from a ridiculous angle and distance needed Hawkeye but only a handful of players in the game would have attempted it.
Elemental to this Armagh team is the leadership of players like Rory Grugan and Aidan Forker and the solid base they help provide.
Players like them and the Orchard County in general have been crying out for someone like Rian O’Neill in order to reach the next level.
But the privilege stretches far beyond Armagh. The game itself is enriched by the presence of the languid Crossmaglen man.
His coaches should also be proud.
