Eoin Cadogan's exit signals the end of an era in several respects
Eoin Cadogan: His retirement means the end of an era - in more ways than one. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The announcement of Eoin Cadogan’s retirement is a watershed moment in Gaelic games.
For the player himself, ending a decade-and-a-half’s worth of commitment to the inter-county scene is a significant milestone, obviously enough. The commitment becomes part of a person’s life, with all activities becoming oriented around a single commitment that controls everything — right up to the moment when it doesn’t control anything any more.
For Cadogan that moment came at lunchtime; it comes to every player eventually, though in the Corkman’s case it was a dual commitment rather than a singular one.
Within Cork it’s also a significant moment — it brings an end to the connection at inter-county level with the last senior team from the county to capture an All-Ireland senior title, the 2010 footballers, though many of those players remain active at club level within the county.
On a wider level, however, Cadogan’s departure from the county arena means the first player in decades to line out in both All-Ireland football and hurling finals has now retired.
Alan Kerins of Galway played in the All-Ireland football final of 2001 and the hurling decider four years later; Cadogan played in that 2010 football final before lining out for Cork in this year’s hurling final.
The fairytale finish for Cadogan would have been victory in that All-Ireland hurling final, but Limerick were far too good on the day.
It will still be a matter of pride within the Rebel County that a tradition which involves the likes of Jack Lynch, Denis Coughlan, Ray Cummins, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Teddy McCarthy and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín survived up to this season through Cadogan’s efforts.
The demands of physical conditioning and ever-growing fixture schedules now conspire against the prospect of dual players succeeding even at club level: In time Cadogan’s appearances in All-Ireland finals in both codes may become so implausible that independent adjudication may be needed to verify them.
The player himself said three years ago that “some of the best performances I gave were actually when I was a dual player. Say 2009, ’10, ’11, ‘13, Cork were reaching All-Ireland semi-final stages in both codes, at different times as well as All-Ireland finals.
“I certainly wouldn’t look back and say that hindered my performance. You were playing against the best teams at the latter stages of the championship, and I don’t think it hindered my performance.”
Still, Cadogan’s dual commitment looks unlikely to be repeated. Making himself available for inter-county duty involved plenty of physical punishment, which resulted in getting well acquainted with various MRI scanners as well as — to take one example — back surgery last year which put him on the flat of his back for almost six weeks, making this year’s All-Ireland senior hurling final appearance all the more remarkable.
Ankle, knee, shoulder, and back injuries tested the Douglas man’s resolve over the years, but he returned to the fray time and again, picking up some of the most testing opponents in hurling and football. A quick roll call of the players marked by Cadogan in his 15 years in red and white gives another perspective on the challenge of the dual player: Summers spent playing football put him in the neighbourhood of Colm Cooper, Paul Galvin, and Marty Clarke. Seasons with a hurley in the hand meant chasing Henry Shefflin or Joe Canning, Gearóid Hegarty or Aaron Gillane.
In that sense Cadogan’s inter-county career bridges a fascinating period in hurling and football’s development.
Though 2007 is hardly the Dark Ages when it comes to tactical sophistication, Cadogan had one foot in the age of the relatively orthodox 15-on-15 approach in both codes, with quick delivery the template for success — and another in the current dispensation, with double sweepers and patient recycling of possession, waiting for a defender’s concentration to fray enough to provide an opening.
Being able to cope with two such different contexts — the one-on-one challenge of marking an opponent in the early days, fitting into a system designed to confound an opposing attacking unit in the latter — shows an ability to change which few others mastered as well.
Then again, Cadogan had plenty of practice in juggling different challenges. Keeping track of training and match commitments could be testing enough.
Going as far back as 2016 he admitted in one interview that he’d had 100 training sessions before May — “three weeks out from the first championship match,” he added.
A quick check of the records shows Cadogan first played senior inter-county (football) in 2007 and alternated between codes for several years — in 2009, for instance, he played senior hurling for Cork until they exited the championship, when he rejoined the footballers and came on as a second-half substitute in their All-Ireland final defeat at the hands of Kerry.
Cadogan later focused on football exclusively in 2013 — though he still picked up a Munster senior hurling medal as an unused substitute the following summer.
In 2017 he opted out of football in favour of hurling, winning another Munster senior medal in 2018 when Cork won the last provincial decider played in the old Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
At senior level his medal haul includes one All-Ireland SFC medal, two Munster SFC medals and two Munster SHC medals, as well as a stint with Ireland in the Compromise Rules series of 2017.
His experience made Cadogan well qualified to distinguish between the two codes.
“Hurling is a good game,” he told this newspaper in 2017. “A centre-back can catch a ball above his head in hurling and lump it over his shoulder. Imagine a centre-back in football catching it and kicking it as far as he could: He’ll be taken off.”
Not the good ones, though.
And for a long time Cadogan was one of the best.
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