COLM O’NEILL HIT another milestone on the road back form injury when he struck his first goal for Cork since the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Donegal in 2012.
The Ballyclough man came on for Daniel Goulding at half-time in the league draw with Tyrone at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday and soon made an impression.
“Andrew O’Sullivan handpassed me the ball,” he said afterwards. “I beat my man and I was one-on-one then so I just hit it.
“Thankfully it went in, I was getting a bit of slagging from the lads, it was nearly about time I started getting goals again. Hopefully there’ll be a few more down the line, that’d be alright.”
The Rebels forward is, of course, back in action after recovering form a third cruciate injury. And O’Neill insists he’s now in good condition.
“I’d feel I’m at full fitness, I’d think to myself sometimes that maybe I’m shooting myself in the foot doing so well coming off the bench.
“The challenge for me now is to nail down a starting position from the off. It’s clear to see that the competition among the forwards and all over the field is good.
“It’s very much a 20-, 23-man game now, even with the black cards fellas are going to get opportunities. The pace of the game has got so high, fellas find it very hard to last the 70 minutes.
“It’s very important for us to have a strong panel, having five or six players to come off the bench and make an impact. That was there to see against Tyrone.
“In fairness to Brian, he has brought in a lot of new lads but everyone is buying into it. There is a great camaraderie within the team and it’s going to take a few games for fellas to step up, but I think that the younger players have acquitted themselves very well.
“It’s all good going forward into the league semi-final.,” he added.
