Alan O'Neill (footballer, born 1957)

Not to be confused with Alan O'Neill (footballer born 1973).

Alan O'Neill

Personal information
Date of birth	(1957-07-02) 2 July 1957 (age 67)
Place of birth	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	St Malachy's
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1975–1983	Shamrock Rovers	143	(0)
1983–1985	UCD	56	(0)
1985–1993	Dundalk	233	(0)
1993–1996	Shamrock Rovers	98	(0)
1996–1997	Sligo Rovers	16	(0)
Total		546	(0)
International career
1978–1979	Republic of Ireland U21	2	(0)
1979–1995	League of Ireland XI	?	(0)
Managerial career
1996	Shamrock Rovers
2005	Shamrock Rovers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alan O'Neill (born 2 July 1957 in Dublin) is an Irish football goalkeeper who played in the League of Ireland in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Playing career

Son of Robert who played for Shelbourne, O'Neill made his League of Ireland debut for Shamrock Rovers at Milltown on Sunday 28 December 1975 in a 1–0 win over Cork Hibernians. In his second season under Sean Thomas he won his first medal, the FAI League Cup.

After the departure of Thomas, Johnny Giles took over as manager at the start of the 1977–78 season.

He played for the Republic of Ireland national football team amateur team that qualified and reached the semi-finals of the 1978 UEFA Amateur Cup.

On 8 March 1978 at Dalymount Park O'Neill played in the first ever Republic of Ireland U21 game and went on to win 2 caps in total. He also won an amateur cap and was called up 8 times for the Republic of Ireland side.

O'Neill picked up his second medal when Rovers ended a nine-year barren spell in the FAI Cup with their 21st triumph in 1978.

O'Neill saved a penalty in the 1982 FAI League Cup final but The Hoops lost 1–0 to Athlone Town.

His first taste of European competition didn't come until 1982 where, like his league debut, he kept a clean sheet on his European bow. Playing in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup games made up for the disappointment of missing out on the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup games four years previously through serious injury picked up on a pre season tour of Spain in August 1978.

He represented the League of Ireland XI representative side twice in 1979 and 1980 and was called into the Republic of Ireland national football team as cover in October 1979.^[1]

Jim McLaughlin was appointed Rovers manager in June 1983 but due to a misunderstanding that developed between them O'Neill signed for UCD. This came as a huge shock to Rovers fans and he got a tremendous reception when Rovers played UCD in the FAI Cup Final in 1984. UCD won the Cup after a replay and O'Neill was Man of the Match in both games despite being hampered by an ankle injury.

He kept another clean sheet when UCD played Everton in the 1984–85 European Cup Winners' Cup that autumn, a trophy the English club went on to win.

In June 1985 he signed for Dundalk F.C.^[2] In eight seasons he won all domestic honours. He was everpresent for 4 seasons from 1987 to 1991 and kept 105 clean sheets in 233 league games making a total of 327 appearances. In a 1987–88 European Cup Winners' Cup game against defending holders AFC Ajax he saved a penalty from Ronald Spelbos.

O'Neill signed back for Rovers in the summer of 1993 and subsequently won another League title that season under Ray Treacy keeping fifteen clean sheets in thirty two games.

O'Neill kept his 200th clean sheet in a 1–0 win over Sligo in the RDS Arena in September 1994.^[3]

He made his 500th League of Ireland appearance at Galway United in September 1995 in a season where he ended up with the Player of the Year award.^[4]

In total he played 6 times in European competition for the Hoops keeping 2 clean sheets and is the only Rovers player to ever win all three domestic trophies the League of Ireland, the FAI Cup and the League of Ireland Cup. O'Neill kept 54 clean sheets in his first spell at the Hoops and 34 in his second spell.

Management career

After Treacy was sacked in January 1996 O'Neill, along with Terry Eviston, was appointed manager.

After losing the first game of the 1996/97 the Rovers faithful were stunned when O'Neill and Terry were sacked.^[5] O'Neill then signed for Sligo Rovers F.C keeping a clean sheet on his debut on 5 October 1996.^[6] His final League of Ireland game was at Finn Park in April 1997.^[7]

O'Neill stepped in to manage Rovers for the playoff games with Dublin City at the end of the 2005 season.^[8]

In 2006 O'Neill became a Shamrock Rovers legend.^[9]

He was the goalkeeping coach for the Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team. O'Neill has four children. His younger brother Dermot O'Neill (footballer) also played in the League of Ireland as a goalkeeper.

Honours

• League of Ireland: 3
  • Dundalk F.C. 1987/88, 1990/91
  • Shamrock Rovers 1993/94
• FAI Cup: 3
  • Shamrock Rovers 1978
  • UCD 1984
  • Dundalk F.C. 1988
• League of Ireland Cup: 3
  • Shamrock Rovers – 1976
  • Dundalk F.C. – 1987, 1990
• Tyler Cup
  • Shamrock Rovers – 1978
• Leinster Senior Cup
  • Shamrock Rovers – 1982

Individual

• UCD Player of the Year (1): 1983–84
• Dundalk Player of the Year (1): 1992–93
• Shamrock Rovers Player of the Year (1): 1995–96

Sources

• The Hoops by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins (ISBN 0-7171-2121-6)

References

1. The Irish Times. Dublin. 26 October 1979. ISSN 0791-5144 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1979/1026/Pg003.html#Ar00302:05B6EB0887020AB4050B941F0B94050BD41F0BD4050CB41F0CD4040DA4200DB4050F041F0F04040FE4200714AD07C4C507D4AD0804C50804AD0A54C524B7922567A925779225A7A925A7922937A90906DC09E6F409E6DC0A26F40A26DC0CE6F40903750C33C5. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. The Irish Times. Dublin. 27 June 1985. ISSN 0791-5144 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1985/0627/Pg004.html#Ar00415:3986703C468543366345567845566345A67836F670389685. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
3. The Irish Times. Dublin. 12 September 1994. ISSN 0791-5144 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1994/0912/Pg031.html#Ar03101. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. Shamrock Rovers FC#Player of the Year
5. "First league win for Rovers". The Irish Times.
6. The Irish Times. Dublin. 7 October 1996. ISSN 0791-5144 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1996/1007/Pg030.html#Ar03007. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
7. The Irish Times. Dublin. 28 April 1997. ISSN 0791-5144 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1997/0428/Pg031.html#Ar03103. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2005/1126/198626-shamrockrovers.html^{[permanent dead link]}
9. "Shamrock Rovers F.C. -". shamrockrovers.ie. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007.