John O'Neill (rugby Union, Born 1973)
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John O'Neill (born 18 September 1973) is an Irish former
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player.


Career

Born in Ballina, O'Neill first began playing rugby for Highfield's underage teams, before joining their senior team at the age of 17. He then joined another Cork club, Sundays Well, where his performances saw him join the
Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
squad ahead of the 1998–99 season, going on to play in the 2000 Heineken Cup Final defeat against English side
Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...
and again in the inaugural final of the eltic league finaln 2001 defeat against Leinster. In 2002 he went on to play against Leicester in the Heineken cup final in the millennium stadium where Munster were defeated again . He is perhaps best known for scoring the infamous "try that wasn't" in Munster's 16–15
Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
semi-final defeat against
Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...
in 2001. O'Neill scored a try in the corner to win the game but it was disallowed by the referee, who had judged that the ball had gone into touch before O'Neill grounded it. Despite television replays proving that O'Neill had in fact scored a legitimate try, the video evidence could not be used, as it was only available in the Six Nations at the time. The try would have given Munster the win, but instead Stade hung on for the victory. O'Neill was called up to the
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
squad that toured
new Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in 2002 but he never won any international caps. He retired from rugby due to an ankle injury in July 2004 and has since gone on to become a community rugby officer for the province.


References


External links


Munster Profile
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John O'Neill
at
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Living people 1973 births Rugby union players from County Cork Irish rugby union players Cork Constitution players Sundays Well RFC players Shannon RFC players Munster Rugby players Rugby union wings {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub