JOE O’Neill jokes that he thought his term as Berehaven Golf Club captain would come later in life, but it’s a role he’s glad he accepted.

‘I’m loving it,’ smiles the 28-year-old Castletownbere man.

‘When it was first offered to me, I honestly thought being club captain was something I’d do nearer retirement when I’d have more time. But I couldn’t really turn it down.’

Given this is a year where he has parked football to one side so he can fully focus on golf, Joe is able to devote the time to his captaincy that it deserves.

But it’s a team effort at Berehaven, he stresses.

‘A lot of people would say your captaincy is what you put into it. Some lads might take it in their stride and coast through it, but there’s a lot of work involved,’ he says.

‘In West Cork especially, clubs are relying heavily on volunteers because we don’t have massive numbers or huge resources. A lot of what keeps clubs going is the goodness of people giving up their time.

‘We’re lucky down here because there’s a really good core of volunteers and committee people. Once people see work being put in, they’re always willing to roll in behind you and help.’

It helps that Joe loves golf – and he’s better than most.

Playing off +3, he is a regular on the Irish amateur circuit. Already this year, Joe finished tied seventh in the Munster Stroke Play and 35th in the Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship.

Two years ago, he finished sixth at the Irish Amateur Open and earned a place on the Munster men’s interprovincial team. In the same season, he also reached the last 16 of the South of Ireland Championship. They are just some of the highlights on an impressive golfing CV.

Berehaven Golf Club's Joe O'Neill.

‘You can imagine trying to balance the captaincy in Berehaven and trying to play all these tournaments – it’s fairly hectic,’ he says.

‘I’ve taken a break from football with Castletownbere this year to focus on the golf club and my own golf because it just got too time-consuming. I couldn’t really do it all.

‘I always wanted to give it my all in the golf club while I was captain too, so I said I’d prioritise the golf and whatever happened after that was a bonus.

‘The season has been hectic already. I’ve had three tournaments this month alone and there’s another one, the East of Ireland, this weekend. June quietens down a small bit then before the Interpros and the South of Ireland later in the summer.

‘It’s really about trying to find the balance between practising, tournaments and making sure everything is done at home in the golf club too.’

His passion for golf shines through, and that dates back to when he was a kid.

‘My father always loved golf, and my mother and father actually ran the golf club for a few years when I was very young. We practically lived out of the place for a while. That’s probably where the love of it came from,’ he says.

‘But football was always the priority down here growing up. I didn’t really get obsessed with golf until I was maybe 12 or 13. Something just clicked.

‘I was going out practising before school and after school and I could see myself improving quickly. Then once I started getting better than my father, there was competition there too and that drove me on even more!’

When Joe finished school, he earned a golf scholarship to America, but admits the experience wasn’t for him.

When he returned home to Beara, golf took a back seat for a while before he slowly got back into the swing of things.

In 2021, Joe captained his home club to AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield glory, an incredible achievement as Berehaven became the first nine-hole club to win the national title.

It was also a change in mindset that helped him rediscover his love for the game.

‘At the start, I was putting way too much pressure on myself going out to competitions. I think because I’d done it before, I felt I had to be at a certain level straight away,’ he says.

‘Then, when you put life into perspective, you realise there’s more to life than golf. At the end of the day, it’s only a game. I started going out, playing freely and enjoying it again, and the results started coming after that.’

Representing Berehaven Golf Club is a source of pride, too.

‘When you go away to these championships, you’re playing lads from bigger clubs with huge practice facilities – driving ranges, floodlights, all that kind of thing. We don’t have that. We’ve no driving range, just a chipping green,’ he says.

‘But I nearly use that as motivation. A lot of fellas wouldn’t even know where Berehaven is. Nine times out of ten, someone will say, “Jesus, where’s that?” because we’re only a nine-hole club.

‘It drives you on to prove that lads from down here can compete with anyone too.’

And Joe O’Neill is proving exactly that.