Aiden O’Neill comes ‘home’ for the summer

Former Premier League player Aiden O’Neill was looking to get back into the limelight with his loan move to the Mariners.

Aiden O’Neill has joined the Central Coast Mariners on loan from English Premier League side Burnley. Picture: AAP

A little over two years ago Aiden O’Neill was living the dream.

Having not long turned 18, the young Australian came on as a substitute in the dying seconds of Burnley’s 2-0 win over the mighty Liverpool. It might have been just a 60-second appearance, over in the blink of an eye, but he got a sore arm from pinching himself so much to make sure it was real.

O’Neill would go on to play 33 minutes against Chelsea a couple of games later before again coming off the bench for a 49-minute run against Southampton.

With his playing time very limited at his parent club, a couple of loan deals with Oldham Athletic and Fleetwood Town in the lower English leagues followed as he looked to establish himself in the cutthroat world of English soccer.

The personable 20-year-old Brisbane-born midfielder now finds himself looking over the picturesque surrounds of the coastal suburb of Terrigal on the Central Coast of NSW, having joined A-League club Central Coast Mariners on a loan deal in August.

It’s a long way from the Lancashire market town of Burnley and the glitz and glamour of the English Premier League, but O’Neill could not be happier, even though there were opportunities for him to still be playing in England.

O’Neill had become a regular with Fleetwood Town, where he played 21 games and scored once before returning to Burnley at the end of last season.

But there was this nagging feeling inside of him. He had been in England with his parents since he was 14 and he knew the time had come for a change of scenery.

“The decision to come here was not about getting regular football because I was getting that in League One,” O’Neill told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

“I just wanted something different, a change.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love it over there and definitely want to go back when my loan is done here. Those five or six years helped me mature a lot as a footballer and a person.

“I just wanted to enjoy my football and to be close to my family.

“Mum and Dad have been with me all the way through as they moved to England because of work opportunities when I was younger, but I have a big family in Australia.

“My sister lives in Brisbane and I wanted to be a little closer.”

O’Neill also does not hide from the fact he felt the Mariners and the A-League would be a good chance for him to “get myself back in the limelight”, especially in terms of the Socceroos.

When coach Mike Mulvey contacted him, he jumped at the offer.

“When you are overseas and not playing in the Premier League a lot of people don’t even know you are there,” he said.

“I just wanted to get back here and into the limelight for the Socceroos, if that ever happens.

“I want to show what I have got.”

What he has got is a solid, all- round game that has benefited from his time in England. It also ­attracted the interest of officials involved with the Irish national team.

“I think it was when I was around 18 that they made contact with me thinking Aiden O’Neill, actually Aiden Connor O’Neill as well, was Irish,” he said. “But, there is no Irish there whatsoever.”

O’Neill said he was happy with his transition to the A-League. He has adapted quickly to the speed and the physicality after missing a good part of the pre-season with a slight tear in a quad. “I played with it a little bit during the pre-season with Burnley so it was a bit tough here,” he said.

“I couldn’t push through, so I had to rest it a bit and it took longer than expected.”

O’Neill has started in the past four games for the Mariners and broke through for his first goal in the 3-2 loss to Perth last week, a cracking effort from outside the box.

“The previous week against Melbourne Victory I got one out of the laces and it went for six points, not one,” he said. “But, the Perth effort I hit it as sweet as and it was great to see it go in, though losing in the last seconds of the game took the gloss off of it.”

O’Neill will hope he can pull off something special against Sydney FC at Central Coast Stadium tonight, but he will be more content if the Mariners can break through for their first win of the season.

“We just need to cut out the mistakes because I feel we have a good team. The gaffer (Mike Mulvey) is doing a great job, so we just have to keep working hard.”