‘I’ve kind of made my bed’: Cork hurler Cahalane has no plans to return to county’s football squad

Damien Cahalane does not foresee a return by him to the Cork senior football squad.

Cahalane, whose father Niall was part of two Sam Maguire triumphs with the Cork footballers in 1989 and 1990, last lined out as a dual intercounty player in 2014. That November he decided to focus solely on hurling with the Rebels.

But current Cork football manager John Cleary is not only a fellow Castlehaven clubman, he is also Damien’s uncle, so would that open the way for a possible return to the county’s football squad?

“John hasn’t called me yet anyway,” smiles Damien. “No, look, I haven’t even thought of the likes of that yet, I’m still kind of stuck in season 2022. I would imagine at this stage that I’ve kind of made my bed.

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“I went down the hurling route and have loved every minute of it. There have been tough times but better times than the tough times. I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m still trying to improve as a hurler and looking forward to next year.”

Sean O’Donoghue was this week named as the Cork hurling captain for 2023 and Cahalane believes his fellow defender is a good choice by new manager Pat Ryan to be the team’s on-field general.

“Sean is a serious operator,” adds Cahalane. “He’s a guy that you want in your corner, an ultimate professional, a really solid guy.”

It has been a hectic period for 30-year-old Cahalane, who lost a county senior football semi-final while playing for Castlehaven against St Finbarr’s on October 2nd, but then two weeks later won a county senior hurling final lining out with the Barrs, which was the club’s first triumph in 29 years.

“Growing up, I never dreamed of playing hurling for Cork, I was lucky to go on and play hurling for Cork,” says Cahalane. “I worked hard to get to that level, but I never really aspired to that because I didn’t think I’d be good enough.

“I didn’t play underage for Cork, things like that, I never got picked. I didn’t know that was there ahead of me. What I was dreaming of growing up was the likes of county finals with the Barrs, winning titles with your club, so to reach that was definitely satisfying.”

On November 20th they will face Clare kingpins Ballyea in the semi-finals of the AIB Munster club championship. The last Cork outfit to win a provincial club SHC remains Newtownshandrum in 2009. Limerick, Waterford, Tipperary and Clare have all since had winners.

“We’re not maybe looking at it that deeply in terms of what it does for the county as a whole but definitely I suppose the message we’d be trying to get across is that you don’t know when this opportunity will come about again,” says Cahalane.

“We won a county this year, which is a hard thing to do. Now you want to give this competition the due respect that you prepare for it as well as you can, you go out and you try to perform as well as you can and get on a run.

“I know we’re perceived probably as a young team, but I played in my first county semi-final at 16 years of age and I thought, ‘Great, this is going to happen every year’. It doesn’t, it’s the same for those lads coming through now, you don’t know when that opportunity is going to come about again.”

Cahalane was speaking as AIB marked its 32nd year supporting the AIB All-Ireland club championships