a talented County GAA footballer<\/a> with Derry, had an impressive career in the Irish Premiership with Coleraine and Glenavon.<\/p>\nO\u2019Neill told the Arsenal website: \u201cI feel like my season has started really well. I scored five goals in our first three games and I\u2019ve definitely hit the ground running. Moving to London has been a big change, but I\u2019ve really enjoyed it. Growing up in Ireland was much quieter, so life here feels completely different but I like the new lifestyle and the chance to throw myself fully into full-time football.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside of football, I\u2019ve been playing a lot of golf. I went a few times in the off-season. I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m the best, but I\u2019m definitely not far off!<\/p>\n
\u201cI still keep up with Gaelic football as well. My club has been competing in the championship recently, and my cousin plays, so I\u2019ve been following that closely. I also support Derry (county side), so I was keeping up with their results over the summer.<\/p>\n
![\"Ceadach](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_gettyimages-1165762630-594x594.jpg\")
Ceadach O’Neill representing St. Columbas PS, Kilrea, Derry in Dublin colours during the INTO Cumann na mBunscol GAA Respect Exhibition Go Games in 2019(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I was back home, I went to watch my local club, especially since my younger brother still plays and my dad coaches one of the U14s teams in Kilrea.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill was thrilled to get his first Under-21 call at international level. He said: \u201cOn the pitch, I think I\u2019ve developed a lot. I\u2019ve improved technically, and my understanding of the game has grown massively.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting called up to the Northern Ireland U21s has been a huge moment for me, especially since I\u2019m still only 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a good relationship with the coach, Tommy Wright. Having my roommate Braiden Graham there as well, who\u2019s also my age and plays for Everton, has made it even better.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has been really welcoming and I\u2019m enjoying every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his first year with the North London giants, he said: \u201cI thought it was a strong one for me. The team did well, even if we were a bit unlucky in the league. We had a good FA Youth Cup run, I played a lot of games, and gained valuable minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the standout moments was playing at the Emirates in the Youth Cup in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole day was surreal – from having breakfast with the team, to arriving early at the stadium, walking out onto the pitch, and just taking it all in. I had six family members there, which made it even more memorable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s something you dream about as a kid and I feel blessed to be living it now.<\/p>\n
\u201cSigning my first professional contract in April was a really proud moment – especially with all my family there, including my Grandad.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hadn\u2019t been over much in recent years, but he came to a lot of my games growing up, so having him there made it extra special. It\u2019s something you dream about as a kid and I feel blessed to be living it now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"O’Neill is a nephew of another former sporting star – ex-Derry GAA and Irish League forward Eoin BradleyCeadach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[6167,29309,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-433776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-arsenal-fc","9":"tag-linfield-fc","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115225693121387212","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Ceadach](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_GettyImages-2202541772.jpg\")
Ceadach O\u2019Neill of Arsenal is challenged by Jaydan Kamason of Manchester United during the FA Youth Cup quarter-final at Emirates Stadium(Image: David Price\/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n