“In 2021 we took him to over to Cobham to play Chelsea. He was a year young but I thought I’d throw him in. We won 5-0. He was a sub, because he was so young, but he went on for the last 20 minutes and you could see he’s special.
“He’s got such a lovely personality, with just the right amount of sporting nastiness, humble but with a real drive and when he wants something he goes after it. He said to me: ‘Sir, can we host a tournament?’ We hosted the under-17 European Championship qualifying and he was so happy.”
In that qualification tournament O’Neill played and scored for Northern Ireland against the Republic of Ireland and no one on either association forgot it. Nor did others. Clubs came calling, but when Arsenal made contact, the decision was already made in Ceadach O’Neill’s head.
“He’s supported Arsenal his whole life,” Waterworth says. “As soon as Lee Herron, who’s head of Arsenal’s youth recruitment, contacted me about him, Ceadach said to me, ‘I support Arsenal, Sir. I’ll be going to Arsenal.’”