Emotional O'Neill will never forget Derry City experience

Ollie O’Neill believes that the best players in the League of Ireland are unable to show their true quality due to the poor infrastructure in place.

The attacking midfielder is currently in Austria with the Republic of Ireland U21s for friendly games against Ukraine and Kuwait ahead of his return to Fulham for pre-season training.

O’Neill spent the first half of 2023 on loan with Derry City, making 19 appearances and scoring one goal, making his last appearance as a substitute in last Friday night’s 0-0 draw with Bohemians.

The 20-year-old may only have been at the club for four months of competitive football, but the experience meant the world to him.

“I probably didn’t expect to have as much of an emotional connection as I do,” he admitted. “To leave Derry and genuinely think, ‘I loved it there’ and now I’ll be watching every game on Friday thinking ‘Please win’.

“This is all after the space of four months; I’m sure most four-month loans can be pretty much in and out in some places but I’ll be watching on very keenly. I loved living in Derry as well aside from the football aspect. It was a great experience. It was my first loan and there’s going to be ups and downs in terms of performance and things like that which is to be expected, but from my point of view, I got loads out of it.”

O’Neill came to Derry to experience first team football and he certainly played his part, making 12 starts along the way, helping Ruaidhri Higgins’ team stay in touch with Shamrock Rovers at the top of the Premier Division despite several difficulties at the club.

“I suppose my expectations and goals were to go and play men’s football and become hardened to senior football, which I think happened over the course of 15-20 games,” he reflected. “I came to Derry because I liked the project and how they played and the manager and they all matched up to what I thought was going to happen.

“It was obviously a difficult time for Ruaidhri and that was a more difficult time for the club on account of that, but overall, it was definitely an experience that I loved. I met people and formed relationships with people in Derry that I will keep with me for a long time.”

In-depth

During his time at the Brandywell, O’Neill got an in-depth look at first team football in the League of Ireland, and stated that the quality in the league is far better than some outsiders might think.

“The one thing I would say is that the players are even better than I thought,” he explained. “I know it’s a pretty good league, but there’s probably an element of the league where the players are so much better than the pitches and things like that, and it’s actually hard to show it sometimes.

“You can put really good players on some of the pitches and with the infrastructure, and you wouldn’t see as much of it if you know what I mean. So, there’s probably a little gap between the perception and where the level is actually at because I think the level has definitely gotten a lot better and is actually pretty high.

“Drogheda for example have good players. There’s a few boys there who are technically good players and if they played at Tallaght every week you’d probably go ‘Wow, these players are really good’.

“If I was to say to anyone in England, I would be very encouraging of them coming to Ireland, because I really think they could get something out of it and it would be a really good experience.”

O’Neill however, does not believe that the reason for Derry City’s poor home form this season is down to a pitch which he admits is not ideal.

“It’s not an excuse because we play on it every week and we should be used to it and we expect to win games there, but there’s no hiding the fact that the pitch is sticky and bobbly,” he continued. “It’s hard to be as fluid there as we are sometimes when we play away. But for the moment, until things change, it is what it is so there’s no point wishing it was otherwise.

“I don’t think any of us can say we can’t produce on the Brandywell because we can and we should do. Everyone would probably say we’d rather play on a grass pitch, but there’s no point leaning on that as a crutch. We all should be able to play well.”

Heavy schedule

Another aspect of League of Ireland football O’Neill found surprising was the heavy schedule of games, with the Candystripes facing three games in a period of just eight days on five occasions already in the first half of the season. That is something O’Neill had never experienced before.

“That was one of the things in the league that was a bit new to me,” he said. “I wouldn’t have played that many games in youth football in England that quickly. I know a lot of players probably prefer it to training because in that schedule you don’t train as much because you have game, game, game.

“I just wonder if maybe the quality would be better if there were less games. I know sometimes Monday games across the league can be a bit sluggish. I’d rather just play, play, play to be honest.”

O’Neill leave a Derry City dressing room filled with talented players and he is in no doubt that some of his former team mates are good enough to join him in England.

“There’s probably so much more than English clubs know about,” he said. “Brian (Maher) is exceptional, Jordan (McEneff) is very, very good, Adam (O’Reilly) is class, and a few others I’ve forgotten to mention. Obviously, everyone’s priority is with Derry at the minute and trying to achieve something, but there’s more than enough quality and class to go and play wherever they want, for a few of the boys especially.”