BY JOHNNY CAROLAN
CORK hurler Damien Cahalane doesn’t envisage a return to the county senior football squad, even now that his uncle John Cleary is manager of the side.
Having made his senior hurling debut in 2012, Cahalane switched to football in 2013 before combining both codes in 2014. Since 2015, the son of two-time All-Ireland football medallist Niall has been hurling-only for the Rebels and it’s a situation that is unlikely to change now.
The 30-year-old is gearing up for an AIB Munster Club SHC tilt with St Finbarr’s, who face Ballyea next weekend, and beyond that he expects his football to be limited to club outings with Castlehaven.
‘John hasn’t called me yet anyway!’ he laughs.
‘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. I made my debut in 2012, 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.’
The Barrs’ win over Blackrock in the Co-op SuperStores Cork Premier SHC final ended a 29-year wait for the Seán Óg Murphy Cup in Togher and meant that Cahalane was a dual senior medallist, having won the SFC with the Haven in 2012 and 2013.
The dichotomy of playing hurling close to home in the city and football for his family’s club, 50 miles away, was never something that felt unnatural for Cahalane or his siblings.
‘When we were kids, I was lucky enough that my father played until he was 41 or 42, so he was still travelling west anyway for training,’ he says.
‘My mam was working as a nurse so it was easier for him to lump me in a car with him and take me west and have me train below there than to have somebody pick us up in the city and take us training, or for my mother to have to dip in and out of work.
‘Logistically, it just worked and it was also an opportunity for us to go down and see family, stay connected and that. It was something we were lucky to do, we were honoured to do and okay it was tough at times on our parents to take us down there but I suppose because of their history and affiliation to the club and their loyalty it was something they didn’t really see an issue doing for us.’
Certainly, the idea of defecting and kicking ball for the Barrs – whom Cahalane has faced in the Premier SFC semi-finals in the past three seasons – was never something that was raised.
‘No, it never really came up,’ he says.
‘When we were younger, the Barrs were very respectful in the situation we were in.
‘We’ve been lucky to be able to go down there, we’ve been facilitated by both clubs and that made it easier for us. Castlehaven don’t expect us down 100 percent of the time, but when we go down, you’d want to be ready to train and to play.
‘It is what it is. We’ve grown up playing football in Castlehaven and grown up playing hurling in the Barrs – we’re privileged to be able to put on both shirts, to be able to represent our family and our bloodline down in Castlehaven and be able to represent, again, ourselves, our family, a club with such history as St Finbarr’s and legends that went before us.’
