Dual star Walsh opts for hurling with Cork

Cork football boss Brian Cuthbert is "disappointed" dual player Aidan Walsh has opted to play hurling only in 2015, but the manager has an eye on another dual talent, Alan Cadogan, who starred for the hurlers this year.

Cuthbert said that Alan Cadogan, younger brother of dual star Eoin, is a player he intends to speak to about playing senior football for Cork next year.

“He’s (Alan Cadogan) a player who would figure in a lot of football managers’ plans if they could get him. We’re going to have discussions with him but, at the same time, he’s made his mark with the hurlers nationally. In addition, I don’t think I could justify dual player status for one player and not for another. It’d be a case of asking him to play football alone.”

Cuthbert was speaking in the wake of Walsh’s decision to opt for Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s hurling squad for 2015; the football manager outlined the process through which the decision was reached.

“There were discussions over the last four or five weeks and, as he said himself, it was a personal choice, but it was never going to be a case of him playing both next year, put it that way.

“Am I disappointed? I am disappointed but we couldn’t go forward with 50% commitment either. I think Aidan himself said that this season he didn’t do himself justice. The dual players had a discussion with us last year and it was agreed to try the two sports for a year and then we’d review it and come to a decision.”

Cuthbert said that “on the totality of the year” it was clear the dual experiment had not worked out.

“It worked out well at different times of the year and not at others. The Munster championship worked out fine for the hurlers, for instance, and football people would feel the Munster championship didn’t work out as well for us, obviously. It was also reviewed regularly during the year. After the league we reviewed the situation and it seemed to be working out fine, given that the hurlers had gained promotion out of Division 1B and the footballers topped 1A in the league.

“Obviously, though, you’d feel on the totality of the year, that it didn’t work out – I think Aidan would feel that by the time Cork played Tipperary in the hurling he was out of juice.”

There will be keen speculation about the plans of two other dual players on the Cork panels, Eoin Cadogan and Damien Cahalane, and Cuthbert said he expects a decision from them in the coming days.

“Eoin and Damien’s situation is ongoing, but neither of them will have a dual mandate next year. They’ll play either hurling or football in 2015. I’d expect the whole thing to be put to bed within the next week to ten days.”

Aidan Walsh gave the reasoning behind his decision to Cork radio station 96FM yesterday, saying this season had been “very difficult” for him: “It’s something I can look back on and say ‘I did it’, but I don’t think I have any intention of doing it again for the coming year or for the rest of my career. I’ll just try to focus on one of them.”

“It was a very, very hard decision to make but I’m happy now that it’s over with. I’m just looking forward to getting the head down and just getting into the alley now for the winter and hitting the ball off the wall and getting as much hurling as I can to try to improve. Hopefully if we get the chance in 2015 we’ll put up a better display, but like that I’m going to look forward to giving 100% to the hurling.

“It’s going to be a massive challenge but one I’m really looking forward to.”