CORK HURLER SHANE O’Neill insists that Eoin Cadogan has the backing of their squad after deciding to focus on the county’s footballers for the 2013 season.
Cadogan announced last week that he will not be plying his trade for both of Cork’s senior squads this year.
And O’Neill, who has soldiered with Cadogan for Cork hurling teams since minor level, understands the Douglas clubman’s decision and admits it is not a surprise.
“Speaking to him over the last few years, he probably gets a lot of people saying is he going to pick one. I don’t think it was wrecking his head, if it was he definitely didn’t give that impression.
“He took time out over the last few months to go travelling and probably had the time to think about it properly. He’s made his decision and it’s very hard to blame him.
“It’s such a tough thing to do to play just one with the level of commitment and preparation that goes into it. It’s no joke what he’s done over the last few years playing both and Douglas are a dual senior club as well.
“We’ve all backed him when he played both and we’ll all back him when he’s just playing one as well. I don’t think it came as a massive surprise to us. But he is going to be a huge loss.”
Cork also have to cope without Darren Sweetnam this year after the promising young player has opted to forge a rugby career with Munster.
“He was a huge player for us,” admitted O’Neill. “I think we all realized when he was training with us this time last year that this guy definitely has it.
“It’s everyone’s dream growing up to be a professional sports person and he’s been given the opportunity to go down that path. It’s very hard to blame him.”
Cadogan’s decision to concentrate on life with Conor Counihan’s football squad is reflective of a growing trend within Cork GAA.
Damien Cahalane has made a similar choice recently while the likes of Aidan Walsh, Ciaran Sheehan, Colm O’Neill and Mark Collins – who have all shone at underage level in hurling – are now committed to football.
O’Neill believes the hurling squad can learn from their football counterparts who have been successful in recent years.
“You go back to this time ten years ago, Cork were there or thereabouts every year in hurling. Unfortunately over the last five or six years, we haven’t been as successful.
“I can see the point about it being cyclical. Cork footballers weren’t as successful going back to 2003-2005. You see now the level of effort and preparation that the footballers put in.
“What they’ve done over the last few years is definitely something we can learn from. And I’m sure going back to say ten years ago, the footballers learnt a lot from the hurlers in terms of the setup and as to how to behave on and off the field.
“We all get on very well, we’d see each other a lot with training in CIT and Páirc Uí Chaoimh. We’d be close-knit that way.”
Cork also face into the 2013 campaign without experienced campaigners like Sean Óg Ó hAilpín and John Gardiner. Yet O’Neill refuses to accept that this can be used to explain any below-par displays this season.
“Those first few years when I was learning my trade, they (Sean Óg and Gardiner) were the kind of guys I looked up to and learned from. It is going to be strange to play without them.
“But it’s no excuse. We have to pick up where they left off and keep the bar at a high level for the younger fellas coming through. The easy option is to point at those players that are missing and use that as an excuse for 2013.”
