The Wednesday after brushing aside Wexford to qualify for last year's All Ireland final, the Tyrone panel were summoned to a snap team meeting. There was just one item on the agenda. Stephen O'Neill, who had formally retired seven months earlier, had been sounded out about returning to the panel. O'Neill had intimated to Mickey Harte that he wished to play for Tyrone again but was more than willing to wait until the following January. He'd only return earlier on one condition – that he had the blessing of the players. If anyone had any objections about him parachuting his way back into the setup just 17 days out from an All Ireland final, he'd understand totally. It was totally up to them.

Seán Cavanagh and Conor Gormley were the first two to speak, not to offer opinions but to encourage them. They were both certain starters. Stevie wasn't going to be taking their spots. Such standing allowed them to play devil's advocate. Right, boys, how would you feel about someone waltzing in and maybe taking your spot when you've slaved all year for this? Would that be fair? Don't be shy. Boys will understand, even Stevie. Speak up.

Sure enough, the next two players to take the floor were on the fringes of the team, two forwards that would probably get less game time, maybe none at all, if O'Neill returned to the fold. Yet Brian McGuigan and Owen Mulligan were unambiguous. "We said we've known Stevie O'Neill so long there shouldn't even be a question of letting him back," says McGuigan. "'If Stevie wants to come back,' we said, 'we have to take him back.' There were no qualms from anyone. He was going to give us an extra option against Kerry and he was going to push those of us on the fringes even harder. It gave us an extra buzz leading up to the final that probably made the difference."

When McGuigan and Ciaran Gourley were called aside by Harte the Thursday before the final and told that they wouldn't be starting, McGuigan was sure it was O'Neill that was taking his spot. It was actually Martin Penrose, but before half-time O'Neill was in while McGuigan and Mulligan remained rooted to the bench. And still they had no qualms. Stevie simply had to come back, Stevie simply had to play. That's how selflessness they were and that's the respect and affection O'Neill commanded.

But before all that there was why Stevie walked away.

• • •

Very few people in the history of Gaelic football have ever played it as well as Stephen O'Neill played it in 2005. From the first game of the McKenna Cup to All Ireland final day he lit up virtually every defence, every pitch, every game he adorned. In the drawn Ulster final he kicked 10 points, six from play off Francie Bellew. He scorched Monaghan for 2-6. In the All Ireland quarter-final replay and the All Ireland semi-final he banged in pressure penalties before curving over points from all angles with both feet against Kerry in the final. He was the championship's leading scorer. He was the Vodafone, GPA, Texaco Player of the Year. He was unstoppable.

The following year he started out in much the same vein. When a purposeful Kerry came to Omagh, O'Neill's goal separated the teams. After that he took both Monaghan and Offaly for eight points each. He was on fire, in his prime, just 25.

Then a fortnight before Tyrone's opening game of the 2006 championship, O'Neill pulled a hamstring playing for Clann na Gael, ruling him out for the Derry game. He was back to start in the qualifiers against Louth but broke down in the same game. He missed the replay and against Laois could only hobble on as a desperation sub, helpless to prevent the team's exit from the championship.

The following year his left knee acted up, and in Tyrone's capture of the Ulster championship and subsequent All Ireland quarter-final defeat to Meath, O'Neill's role was limited to substitute appearances. It wasn't just his knee that was aggravated. His spirit was been denuded as well.

"You'd get this real sharp pain in the knee, doing ordinary things like sitting down. Running and turning, you had no real power on your left side. A lot of it was down to wear and tear and I'd also started a new job, working for Martin Shortt Auctioneers, in April 2006 that involved a lot more travel than when I was a teacher. I was covering five offices all over Ireland and you might be out the door at seven in the morning and not back until half-ten at night, because you'd have to meet customers after they'd finished work. It left me with no time for myself and I was just fed up.

"Maybe the driving too caused a bit of the pain on the knee. I'd come back at night and I'd be in no form for anything. Training and that? Didn't want to do it. I went back teaching after a year because the job was affecting my football. I wasn't playing well. I wasn't fit to play well."

Even changing jobs wouldn't help him play any better that summer of '07. He'd rush returning to training, trying to regain his place, which only made the knee worse. He'd tried everything, including cryotherapy in Wexford, but nothing was working. That Halloween he underwent an operation in Belfast which removed the tendonitis on the knee and some of the knee cap. After six weeks' rest he threw himself into rigorous rehab work up with Louis O'Connor, the Tyrone team physio, yet for all O'Connor's guidance and expertise O'Neill found himself "getting nowhere". By the middle of January he'd informed Mickey Harte and Tony Donnelly he was retiring from inter-county football.

"Mickey was going 'Jesus, is that you gone completely or are you just taking time off?' I said 'Mickey, it's been on my mind a long time. What's the point on being on the panel if you can't play or train?' I'd always said I'd do 10 years with the county and then 10 with the club and unfortunately the 10 years with the county had gone very quickly."

His departure would trigger one particularly nasty rumour. Harte had worked for the same estate agency as O'Neill and the word was they had fallen out over a deal in which O'Neill had got burnt. That's why O'Neill had quit the job and now quit Tyrone.

"That was probably the most annoying thing," says O'Neill. "I've never fallen out with Mickey Harte over anything. I suppose when I retired people were looking for reasons why but the reason simply was I wasn't enjoying my football. I was tired, I wasn't able to play and I wasn't doing Tyrone, the club or myself any good."

One person particularly jolted by the news was former GAA president Seán Kelly who made a point of putting O'Neill in touch with Ray Moran, the sports surgeon, to help him get back playing decent club football at least. To this day the exceptionally mannerly and soft-spoken O'Neill is grateful to Kelly and to Pat Darcy, the Tyrone county chairman, who covered the expense of that consultation even though O'Neill was now a former Tyrone player. The Moran visit would reaffirm the value of O'Connor's programme but the real catalyst in his recovery would cost a lot less. That April off his own bat O'Neill bought a cheap second-hand mountain bike and started doing eight-mile cycles around home a few times a week.

Soon he was out every night, clocking up about 30 miles each time. With the bike his joints didn't have to take the pounding they would if he'd been running like he used to foolishly do before. He could feel the strength returning to his legs. In the spring he was coming on in club games and could barely jog. By July he was back ripping up defences. One night a BMW pulled out in front of his car after training with the club. It was Brian Quinn of Rockwell Water, manager of the county team's sponsors. "Stephen, look, you need to come back for Tyrone now."

O'Neill appreciated the visit but felt he could hardly go back so late in the season. Quinn though had got him thinking and the following week on holiday in Lake Garda with his fiancée Phenah and former county panellist Adrian Ball, O'Neill decided he was going to go back with the county the following January.

O'Neill was still in northern Italy when he learned by a text from his brother that Tyrone had beaten Mayo. He was in Croke Park though for the win over Dublin and again when they disposed of Wexford, having no idea that the following night there would be a visitor at the house when O'Neill returned from his cycle.

It was Francie Martin from Carrickmore, who had played a bit for Tyrone himself way back. He didn't know O'Neill, he was just a friend of Tyrone who off his own initiative had tipped off Mickey Harte to say he was going to visit Stevie O'Neill that night.

"Francie tortured me for about an hour," smiles O'Neill. "He said, 'I want you back for this final.' I said, 'I can't just walk in now!' He said, 'Have you ever thought of coming back?' I said, 'Aye, I'll be back in January.' Francie said, 'Too late. Tyrone could have lost by then. Are you playing well enough to do something?' I said, 'Well, I feel I'm playing rightly.' He said, 'Well, that's all I needed to hear. I want you to do one thing – meet Mickey.'"

The following night he was over in Harte's house. O'Neill again expressed his fear his return would upset the camp but Harte reckoned that if he was coming back in '09 he might as well come back now. If he wasn't up to scratch right away, no harm done. If he was, the real harm would be not to have availed of him for this final. The following night while the players debated his return, O'Neill was out on his bike. He'd just showered when the call came through from Harte. "See you at training tomorrow night."

O'Neill was made feel welcome by everyone in the dressing room but it was only when he got out onto the pitch that he felt at ease, at home. In the first in-house game upon his return he scored six points from play, prompting Ryan McMenamin to proclaim O'Neill was "still the best forward in Ireland".

O'Neill's final performance didn't go as well as he'd envisaged. With his first touch of the ball he was harshly called for over-carrying and would finish the game scoreless. But Harte was pleased with his contribution. He'd set up the winning goal. He'd forced Kerry to assign their best man marker, Marc Ó Sé, onto him. "Stevie had the Peter Canavan effect," says Harte. "He distracted other defenders to free up our other forwards. He signalled danger."

At the final whistle O'Neill shook hands with Pádraig Reidy, embraced a number of teammates and supporters before bursting into the dressing room. He didn't intend to come back out until Enda McGinley ran in and insisted that he did. O'Neill acceded but when Conor Gormley pleaded for him to go up and lift the cup, an emotional O'Neill declined. A couple of months later he refused to collect his medal. He didn't even go to the function. He didn't go on the team holiday. In his eyes he didn't merit such awards and perks.

"I've got stick for coming back just for the glory but the only reason I went back was because I was fit, playing well and people thought I could do something to help the team. If I wasn't you wouldn't have seen me back. But I was only there for two weeks and nobody has to tell me what I deserve and don't. I knew myself that I didn't deserve to walk up those steps and lift that cup. It's the principle of the thing. If you're to get an All Ireland medal or lift that cup on the Hogan Stand you have to work for it for nine months."

That's the way he's going about this year. He trained hard over the winter, buying a proper racer to replace that old mountain bike, and in the first game of the season against Dublin in Croke Park scored six superb points from play. Just before half-time though he tore a tendon above his left knee cap and though sheer adrenaline got him through the rest of that game he wouldn't play the remainder of the league. This time he didn't rush coming back, resuming full training only three weeks out from the Armagh game. It did the trick and that day in Clones he scored a brilliant goal and towards the end, a glorious point with the outside of his left boot.

Incredibly, it was just his second championship start since the 2005 final against Kerry. Looking at him stroke that shot over, it was as if nothing had changed since that Sunday in September. And in a way, so much remains the same. He's back teaching, this time in St Patrick's primary school in Gortin. He's playing devastating football. And in his eyes his All Ireland medal count is just the same. All last year the Tyrone panel wore a cryptic crest with the inscription TINE. Two Is Not Enough. It's what drove them last year and the same thought propelled O'Neill around the country roads of Tyrone on his bike this past winter.

And more, unlike for a few years there, he's back enjoying the ride.

Back for More: Players who returned to the fold

BRIAN CORCORAN

Just like O'Neill, Corcoran was Player of the Year yet within two years was retired and burned out at just 27. In his first year back he won an All Ireland, and in an omen that augurs well for O'Neill, won another in his second summer back.

DJ CAREY

Like O'Neill, Carey missed out on a whole league and a provincial championship campaign in 2002 only to come right back into the team and win the All Ireland. And in a further good omen for O'Neill, he won a provincial title and All Ireland in his second year back as well.

COLIN CORKERY

Corkery never won his senior All Ireland but after two summers out of the inter-county game, he would return in his late 20s to play some fantastic football for Cork and steer Nemo Rangers to three consecutive All Ireland finals.

kshannon@tribune.ie