Pádraig O'Neill (1966 – 20 July 2024) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er. At club level he played with

Cooley Kickhams Cooley Kickhams Gaelic Football Club is a Gaelic football and ladies' Gaelic football club based on the Cooley Peninsula, County Louth, Ireland. History The club is named after the Cooley Peninsula on which it stands and was founded in 1887. Th ...

and at inter-county level with the

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

and

Louth senior football team The Louth county football team represents Louth in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Louth GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Se ...

Playing career

Born in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

, O'Neill's family moved to Carlingford,

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

at a young age. He first played

to a high standard as a student at the Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School in

, losing consecutive

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The winn ...

finals in 1982 and 1983. O'Neill later attended

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

and won three

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

titles. O'Neill's club career began at juvenile level with Cumann Peile Cuchulainn before progressing to the

underage sides. Louth MFC and Louth U21FC titles followed. O'Neill made his senior team debut in 1982. He won several Cardinal O'Donnell Cup and ACC Cup titles in a lengthy career that ended in 2005. O'Neill first appeared on the inter-county scene with

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the minor team beaten by

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

in the 1984 Ulster MFC final. He later progressed to the under-21 team. O'Neill was part of the senior team beaten by Donegal in the 1990 Ulster SFC final. He later declared for the

Coaching career

In retirement from playing, O'Neill became involved in team management and coaching. He was manager of the Naomh Malachi team when they won the Louth IFC title in 2009.

Personal life and death

O'Neill's nephews, Callum,

Rian RIA Novosti (), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (), is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013, by a decree of Vladimir Putin, it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created ...

and Oisín O'Neill, were part of the Armagh senior team that won the All-Ireland SFC title in 2024. O'Neill suffered a heart attack after attending Armagh's defeat of Kerry in the 2024 All-Ireland SFC semi-final. He died at Beaumont Hospital in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, on 20 July 2024, at the age of 58.

Honours

Player

;Ulster University *

: 1986, 1987, 1991 ;Cooley Kickhams * ACC Cup: 1984, 1987, 1998, 2003 * Louth Under-21 Football Championship: 1982 *

Louth Minor Football Championship The Louth Minor Football Championship is an annual competition organised by Louth GAA between the premier teams in minor (under-17) Gaelic football in County Louth. Trophy The winning team is presented with the Father Larry Murray Cup, named aft ...

: 1984

Management

;Naomh Malachi *

Louth Intermediate Football Championship The Louth Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition, organised by Louth GAA, among the intermediate grade Gaelic football clubs in County Louth, Ireland. History The competition, introduced as a bridg ...

: 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Padraig 1966 births 2024 deaths Cooley Kickhams Gaelic footballers Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Louth inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football managers