A Limerick midfielder who would run all day

HALF the changes in Limerick's team, compared to the All Ireland final line up of two years ago, consist of the O'Neill brothers. Owen's tenure in the right corner has occasionally been questioned but he has bought the answers in the welcome currency of goals, most notably the brace he kicked against Tipperary in the Munster final replay.

Sean O'Neill, on the other hand, has never drawn ambiguous glances as he went about his thundering business in the middle of the field. One of the unqualified success stories of two years of team adjusting, he came in at midfield for his debut last summer against Tipperary and buckled into the business at hand which was complicated by the poor form of his partner Mike Houlihan who was struggling after injury.

His relative anonymity might have fooled some people but those with wider ranging memories remembered a father, Owen, who had played full forward for the county and in the words of one contemporary, "would run through a wall".

"He was introduced in last year's championship and is one of our younger players," says Limerick manager Tom Ryan. "He has good qualities. He's strong and mightn't look like he has great skill but he has. He's a bit like a younger version of Michael Coleman. A bit raw but at the moment that rawness is his strength. He gets particularly fired up.

"Sean had very little under age experience but developed along the way and will develop a lot more. He's a bit green but fearless and brave as well and when he catches a ball, he won't drop it."

The fanfares that greeted his first championship appearance died away aghast at the Munster final of that year. Not that O'Neill was at fault as he tipped away at the match, apparently oblivious to its inexorable direction. It was a momentous and emotional occasion for Clare but for Limerick, whereas they mightn't have begrudged it, they certainly would have preferred it had happened to someone else.

Clare trainer Michael McNamara knows O'Neill well enough. Although he had to leave injured shortly after half time in this year's epic Munster semi final, his resolute qualities shone through last year. He started very well on Jamesie O'Connor and only began to falter when Fergal Hegarty moved in after Clare made their trademark switch.

"He's an aggressive player," says McNamara, "not that stylish but with a level of fitness that keeps him going all out for an hour and 10 minutes, longer if necessary. You just don't seem to be able to get the better of him. Beat him to three or four balls and he's still there, never lets his head go down.

"Against us last year, he played well although on a better player but later on, he was still as eager after an hour of the team being beaten as he was when he came off the bench.

"Players coming from a weaker club often have a little bit extra because the county involvement is something they never dreamed of so when they get a chance they take it. It's different in the likes of Patrickswell where every hurler probably thinks he's a good chance of making it.

"If he has a weakness, it's that he can be over aggressive. He'd rather go through a man than around him to get to the ball and has a slight tendency to play the man rather than the ball."

Looking ahead to Sunday McNamara sees O'Neill's physical power as being an advantage in one way but not in another.

"The first point to make about Sunday is that Croke Park seems designed for big men. It has that sort of aura but Wexford have done a lot of upper body work. They got tired of being shoved out of the way, something like ourselves I suppose.

When it came to picking up the pieces after last year, Tom Ryan and his selectors had acquired at least one useful asset during the disappointing campaign. Nonetheless, Ryan knows that O'Neill can get better.

"I was impressed with his enthusiasm and wanted to get him fit and get some coaching into him. He's one of the successes, a young player that got on and kept his place.

"There are areas of his play that we have to work on - there's a lot we are trying to improve but we're very pleased with him as a player we spotted and brought on and developed. You can't buy players in this game so we work with what we have."

The Limerick manager is also aware of the dangers that can beset young players making their way past a certain point.

"Maybe consistency at the top level. He can drift in and out of games if not properly focused.

"There are a lot of sides to coaching and patience would have to be high on the list. He's a player I have under my wing as regards improvement, an ongoing job."

Enthusiasm can have its downside in a team game. "He has a tendency," says Ryan, "to go for a ball that's not his and to crowd Mike Houlihan - a bad man to be crowding - but even last year they got on well together.

"He's an excitable personality, wouldn't be as cool as Houlihan but that's because of experience. They're two contrasting characters and it's great gas to see one marking the other in training. He's young and impetuous, Houlihan's calculated and deep. He'd be like a young pup, tends to dive in - and when it comes off, it's great. He's reckless for the right reasons.

"I'd always prefer young players coming on to old players going off."

About this particular young player coming in to his first All Ireland, Ryan is unreservedly positive.

"I think he's a tremendous future. He lives for hurling, a great sportsman. He's really fit and fast, can grab a ball and hit it accurately. What's he going to do next? The answer is that he can do anything. He's a type of player I like and comes from a tremendous hurling background, in (Murroe) Boher."

Seventy minutes on Sunday and the O'Neills could be the main components of that background for generations to come.