Anton O'Neill: 'Improving the skills will be the big thing for me'

CAMOGIE O'Neill sets sail as Meath manager after precious award is stolen

A few weeks ago Anton O'Neill, the new manager of the Meath camogie team, and his family, had to grapple with a nasty experience. Their house was broken into.

Among the items taken was something from Anton's own distinguished career as a hurler which he understandably regarded as a precious memento from his days in the sun.

It was RTE's Sunday Game Man of the Match award - a watch - that was presented to him after the Leinster SHC encounter between Meath and Offaly at Croke Park in the summer of 1996. Meath, who were managed by the legendary John Davis, lost the game that day but O'Neill gave an outstanding display.

Normally a corner back, the Kilmessan man played wing back that warm day at HQ and nothing got past him. With his strength, allied to a fierce determination, O'Neill had, throughout his career, an uncanny ability to emerge from rucks with the ball - and he had the skill to ensure he could make good use of the ball once in possession.

He was a forward's worst nightmare because they rarely managed to escape his clutches and get the time or space they needed to translate possession, they invariably won the hard way, into scores.

That day in Croke Park O'Neill was particularly on form and he ended up with the RTE award; an honour few Meath hurlers have managed to claim over the years. That day also Offaly put a number of players on O'Neill including Michael Duignan (later to manage Meath himself) and Joe Dooley so the Man of the Match award was certainly well earned.

A few weeks ago the thief or thieves broke into the O'Neill household when no-one was at home during the day and stole the award as well items of jewellery. They also caused considerable damage to the back door.

"It was very annoying to say the least, to have the award stolen was very disappointing. It was one of the few honours I had from my years playing for Meath. What can you do, once no-one was hurt or injured that's the main thing. What can you do it's the way life has gone."

The experience of playing against some of the top teams in the country during his own inter-county career is sure to prove useful to O'Neill in his new role as manager of the Meath camogie team. He also had a fine career with his club. He started playing on the senior Kilmessan team at just 15 (something that couldn't happen now) and went on to win eight SHC medals.

He hasn't wasted any time in getting the grips with his role as camogie manager. He has appointed his backroom team and he is ready to roll. Brian O'Reilly, Richie McCabe, Thomas Duignan are his selectors while Ed Riordan and Georgia O'Halloran will be helping out behind the scenes as they have been doing very competently indeed in recent years.

O'Neill has coached camogie teams at under-age level and was asked to join the senior Meath set-up under Brendan Skehan two years ago. He also took charge of the Cappagh club in Kildare and guided them to an intermediate title in 2023. He was also coach with Cavan for a time and helped to improve their fortunes.

He admits there are problems facing Meath camogie. Formidable problems.

"It's not at a good standard right now, the concerns are with the type of coaching that has been done with girls, that's not being critical of people who have come on board and tried to help out, but camogie is a different animal, you have to try to keep people motivated and getting the skill levels up to a very high level so that we can compete with the top teams.

"The biggest problem is probably trying to get players out to try and buy into what we are doing and bringing a bit of new angle to it, although I'm old style, always will be, so I will be working on the first touch, the basics.

"Improving the skills will be a big thing for me, we seem to be a little bit behind in that way. We're reacting to certain situations and the way we think about the game and stuff like that so I'll be trying to address those kind of issues. It won't be easy."

O'Neill will be looking to the players to do some work on their skills set away from the normal training and playing routine - but he's very aware too people have busy lives, all that too has to be taken into account. Training, he feels, should be fun for players, something they enjoy, not a relentless grind.

The Kilmessan man can recall from his own hurling career when Meath played top teams in the country including Kilkenny, Cork and Dublin and, of course, Offaly. In 1996 they defeated Wexford in the NHL before the Model County went on to win the All-Ireland that year.

He has watched, over the years, Meath's hurling fortunes nosedived. He wouldn't like to see Meath camogie hurling suffer the same, sharp descent.

He knows what winning a All-Ireland Intermediate Championship in 2025 would mean to the team. How much of a boost that would give the whole Meath camogie project.

He has his plans in place, he's just eager to get the journey underway. He would also be delighted to get that RTE Man of the Match award back.