Signed from Coleraine in 1987, O'Neill made 60 appearances for Newcastle before joining Dundee United two in 1989, and he had his first match in charge of Northern Ireland last night.
It ended in a 3-0 loss to Norway at Windsor Park.
O'Neill: "I thought the scoreline was slightly harsh on us but I'm disappointed with the result, you can't get away from that.
"It's disappointing to lose two late goals when we were pushing to get something out of the game.
"We don't have a game for three months now and that's a long time to carry a defeat around with you, but unfortunately that's what I'm going to have to do.
"It's very difficult be analytical so soon after the game but I'll look at the game again in the cold light of day and I'm sure I'll find plenty of positives.
"The next game is away to Holland, which is a difficult game. It'll be a big challenge but we have to prepare for difficult opposition because we have Russia and Portugal [in our World Cup qualifying group]."