Oliver John O'Neill (born 8 January 2003) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Leyton Orient and the Republic of Ireland U21 team.

Early life

Brought up in West London, O'Neill was in the academy at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

from the age of seven until thirteen when they made the decision to disband their academy. O'Neill attended the City of London School where he received 11 A* GCSE grades and two A* A-Level grades.

Club career

Fulham

O'Neill signed his first professional contract with Fulham in February 2020. He was named the scholar of the year in the Fulham academy in 2021. He called up to the first team squad at Fulham for the first time being an unused substitute against Leeds United in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

in September 2021. He signed a new three-year contract with the club in July 2022. He had interest from other English clubs for a loan spell but was injured over the January 2023 transfer window and no moves materialised as a result.

Derry City (loan)

O'Neill joined

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

on a six-month loan deal in February 2023. He said he was attracted by the style of play of Derry manager

Ruaidhri Higgins Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king", ...

. He made his League of Ireland debut for Derry City on 20 February 2023 in a 1–1 draw at

St Patrick’s Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origi ...

. He scored his first league goal for Derry City on 6 March 2023 against UCD. He played nineteen games, starting twelve, before returning to Fulham.

Leyton Orient

On 23 January 2024, O'Neill signed for

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side Leyton Orient for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

International career

O'Neill began representing Republic of Ireland at the under-16 Victory Shield. He scored a 92nd winner for the Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

on 17 November 2021.

Personal life

He was brought up in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

, London with his parents and brothers and sisters. They have Irish family in Waterford and Galway and Kerry. His father’s family are from Waterford and his mother's family are living in Galway.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Ollie 2003 births Living people Footballers from London Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers English men's footballers English people of Irish descent Men's association football midfielders League of Ireland players Derry City F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players English Football League players