Bishopstown's Shane O'Neill gave great service to his beloved club and county

There have been a number of quality defenders on Leeside over many decades and for the former Bishopstown corner back Shane O’Neill ten years of playing at the top tier of the sport was a mighty honour.

Born in Bishopstown near the club pitch it was almost inevitable he would join the club in the local Street Leagues and from that point his career took off.

Looking back O’Neill has very fond memories of the club.

“When I do reflect I think of people like Bill Sherman who drove the Street Leagues and encouraged us to play for the club and I guess my longest manager was Padraig O’Donoghue from juvenile to the top tier,” said Shane.

Bishopstown had some quality teams that included fellow Cork Senior hurler Pa Cronin as O’Neill reflected on the good old days.

“I think what I took out of the GAA was the fact I grew up with all my teammates as we were all friends on and off the pitch and that made our successes that bit more special.” 

It was from U15 that the Town took off winning county championships that included two minor (2003, 2004) and two U21 (2006, 2007). After representing Cork at both minor in 2003 and U21 in 2005 levels and his performances brought him to the attention of the Cork senior hurling selectors.

O'Neill was brought on to the extended panel in 2005, a week before the All-Ireland semi-final that ultimately saw him part of the squad that last won an All-Ireland medal.

In 2007, he made his full debut and played up to 2015, a tremendous athlete and quality player. That included the two epic All-Ireland finals with Clare in 2013.

No easy answers

Is O’Neill surprised that Cork haven’t won an All-Ireland for 21 years?

“That is a difficult question because if people knew the answer, it could be rectified very quickly. You've to give credit to the squad over the last five or six years, they have come so close without getting over the line.

“Maybe we need a small bit more luck as it shows with Limerick, once they got the monkey off their back winning became a habit and you can see the confidence that is within that group of players.” 

After playing at the top level for a decade what difference does O’Neill see with the modern game.

“It is a very different game to the one I finished playing and that was only 10 years ago as the preparation, effort and sacrifices are unreal. 

“To be frank, I don’t think you will see many players competing at the top level in their early to mid '30s in the coming years given the demands.” 

In the words of O’Neill, hurling has now become a young man’s game.

The demands are really incredible and that’s why I never criticise players as they certainly put in some effort and that goes to the entire squad.

“Another change for me is the amount of tactics in the modern game, it's evolved since I was playing club and inter-county levels. When I played at corner-back, I stayed in that position but now we are in a completely different mode when it comes to movement and positioning.” 

Playing and representing Cork was the pinnacle of O’Neill’s career.

“Every young lad playing hurling aspires to putting on the red and white jersey and it was always my dream to do that and fortunately I was very lucky to have achieved this in my life.” 

For Bishopstown life on the pitch has been difficult in recent years and this season getting back involved as a selector was something, he was happy to do.

“There is a trend that has unfortunately developed in both codes over a number of years and with our Premier Intermediate hurlers we started well in our first two games but ended up losing both.

We played well for the opening 20 minutes, but games are not won in that period and the Premier and Senior A games are all very competitive.

“The trend over the last few years is we have lost more games that won and that’s not easy to fix and we might give excuses like lack of house building but the reality is there is good numbers coming through our gates and we need to find the winning formula.” 

Married to with Tara, with two children Sophie (3) and Cian (2), Shane works as an accountant and resides in Glasheen.

When the going got tough in games for Cork over the years O’Neill was the one defender you wanted in the trenches and he should be saluted on his career for both club and county.