Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE, (born 1 March 1952 in Kilrea, Northern Ireland) is an Irish former association footballer who captained the Northern Ireland national football team, also known for playing for Nottingham Forest and who has previously managed Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City and Celtic and is currently manager of Aston Villa. O'Neill was Celtic manager between 2000 and 2005, and led the club to three Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville. O'Neill was born into an Irish nationalist working-class family in Kilrea in 1952.

He was the sixth child and has four brothers and four sisters. He has a strong Gaelic football background, his father being a founding member of local club Pádraig Pearse's Kilrea. His brothers Gerry and Leo played for the club as well as being on the Derry senior team which won the 1958 Ulster Championship and reached that year's All-Ireland Championship final.

O'Neill played for both Kilrea and Derry at underage level as well. He also played Gaelic football while boarding at St. Columb's College, Derry, and later at St.

Malachy's College, Belfast. While at St. Malachy's, he first came to public attention as a soccer player with local side Distillery.

This breached the Gaelic Athletic Association prohibition on Gaelic footballers playing "foreign sports". When St. Malachy's reached the 1970 MacRory Cup final, the Antrim County Board refused to allow the game go ahead at Casement Park in Belfast.

The colleges involved switched the venue to County Tyrone to enable him to play. St. Malachy's won the game.

The dispute heightened O'Neill's profile. Before playing for Distillery in the Irish League, O'Neill played for the South Belfast side Rosario. While at Distillery, he won the Irish Cup in 1971, scoring twice in the final.

He also scored against FC Barcelona in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in a 3–1 home defeat in September 1971. During this period he was spotted by a scout for Nottingham Forest. He signed for Nottingham Forest in 1971, leaving Distillery and quitting his studies in law at the Queen's University of Belfast.

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