O’ Neill entered the fray midway through the second half with the sides level at 1-17 to 0-14, after Dublin substitutes Jack McCaffrey and Paul Hudson combined to draw Dublin level.

Then the Ballyclough clubman took centre stage at GAA headquarters swinging over a gorgeous point over the bar from out on the right.

“I was thinking about it until I got the first ball. Then you don’t have time to think about it. You’re just going on instinct then,” O’ Neill told the Irish Examiner.

Two weeks shy of the year anniversary of O’ Neill’s third cruciate injury, the Rebels’ talisman illustrated just why the game has missed him so much when, in the 70th minute, he added his second score of the game to seal victory for the visitors.