Kieran Shannon: Cork captain Robert Downey turns to the Glen for advice, comfort and inspiration

Most people or players of Rob Downey’s age aren’t inclined to meet up weekly with old-timers talking about old times. The Cork skipper is not most people or players. Instead of being bored or burdened by his club’s past, he is intrigued and inspired by it. 

Cork captain Robert Downey poses for a portrait during a Cork Hurling media conference at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork ahead of the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

WHEN Robert Downey walked down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh after work at Pat Ryan’s request one evening last October and was told that he was Cork captain for 2025, he turned to a familiar source of advice, comfort and inspiration: the Glen.

Almost all his life it has been that way. As a kid there was hardly a day when he wasn’t down at the club field or the indoor ball alley with his friends Ruairi Byrne, Simon Kennefick and Danny Morris with his kid brother Eoin tagging along. Inevitably down there they’d see Patrick Horgan. Cork selector Wayne Sherlock has often mused how that the two Downeys are 'like [Wayne] Rooney, pure street players – you hardly ever see them without a hurley in their hand' – but it’s no mystery given the local deity in their midst.