Sunderland star ‘could have cried’ before play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers

The midfielder-come-defender recently celebrated 200 appearances in all competitions with the Black Cats after joining the club in League One back in 2018.

Checkatrade Trophy and League One play-off final defeats followed before the Covid-curtailed season and then a loss in the semi-finals with a Papa John’s Trophy win along the way.

It has been a rollercoaster for O’Nien at Sunderland with the player hooked at half-time by Jack Ross during his Sunderland debut against Charlton Athletic, a game which was broadcast live on Sky Sports.

But three seasons later O’Nien started for Alex Neil as Sunderland finally ended their four-season stay in the second tier at Wembley in front of 45,000 Wearsiders against his former club Wycombe. And it was an emotional day for O’Nien with the ex-Watford youth teamer admitting that he was close to tears before the match.

“The national anthem came on and I could have cried,” O’Nien said: “You can’t be the first person (to do that). The emotion I felt when the national anthem came on was immense.

“Then I remember the video came on and I was looking around the whole stadium just thinking, ‘This is incredible’. I think there’s a video of me just looking around taking it all in and looking for my family.

“The emotion I felt and the pride I felt was just huge. We knew what was about to unfold in the game and what could be there and that with the family being there, with the intensity from the crowd, the pride and emotion I felt was impossible to describe. It was immense.”

Towards the end of the game and with Sunderland leading 2-0, O’Nien produced a brilliant tackle to thwart Wycombe on the counter-attack. It was Kevin Ball-esque, Sunderland fans responded with joy and O’Nien fed off their emotion by roaring back to them.

“I knew I would get on well with this fanbase when they cheer a tackle like a goal,” O’Nien said of the tackle. “Like, that is me! Probably because I don’t score many goals.

“When I make this tackle here, I think there’s about 45,000 people in the stadium tackling with me and I just let out all of the emotion in me. I thought ‘We have done it here,’ and it was one step closer to that trophy that me, Sunderland and all my teammates were desperate to get our hands on. It gives me goosebumps just talking about it. I’m not going to lie, I’ve watched it a few times.”

"The losses at Wembley. the really troubled times I had when I wasn’t in the squad and I was in the stands and I didn’t play. You doubt yourself and whether you have reached your limit.

"You read every comment on social media saying, ‘He’s rubbish and he can’t play in this position,’ and you find a way through it. But when you have a moment like that and you lift the trophy it is just in history and no one can ever take that feeling away from us and I just have immense pride looking back on that and it made so many people happy.”