Mark Keane: ‘I just feel like it was the right time to go home’

Leaving a professional career behind was always going to be tough to do, especially with one year left on the contract at Olympic Park Oval

Mark Keane is expectged to feature for Cork’s hurlers in Friday's Canon O’Brien Cup fixture against UCC (Mardyke, 7pm). Keane has not ruled out playing football with Cork again either, however. ‘Football is a big love of mine since I have been a child, especially here in Mitchelstown. So, no I will not be ruling anything out at the moment.’

After going through the AFL Combine in Dublin in late 2017, Mark Keane at 17 years of age started to raise certain eyebrows across the AFL scouting group and eight months later, he was offered a rookie contract by Collingwood.

Three years on, the Australian adventure is all over and he returns home to Ireland for good.

“It is always been on my mind myself thinking about home and how much I like being here anything time I do come home from Australia, and I found it very hard to go back each time,” he said.

“I know it is not always going to be like this, but I just feel like it was the right time to go home.”

Leaving a professional career behind was always going to be tough to do. There was one year left on the contract at Olympic Park Oval but Keane says he wants to leave the club with no bad feelings, towards the club or its personnel.

“I am leaving on good terms with Collingwood and I have told them that. This was a personal decision. I will be forever grateful to the Collingwood Football club. They have given me an opportunity of a lifetime that I could not refuse at the time and stuck by me throughout my time in Australia. The time has come now for me and it is time to move on.”

The Cork hurlers’ Liam MacCarthy Cup ambitions have received a definite boost with the news that Keane will throw his lot in with Kieran Kingston’s panel for the 2022 season.

Keane, who is set to feature for the county in tonight’s Canon O’Brien Cup fixture against UCC (Mardyke, 7pm), is understood to have lined out for the Cork hurlers in a challenge game against Limerick prior to last weekend’s Munster Club JHC final win with his native Ballygiblin.

“I played a challenge game with the Cork hurlers last week against Kilmallock to sharpen up my hurling ahead of the Munster final,” said Keane. “When I got home, I only had one game over the Christmas period so needed another game to get my eye in.

“I will never rule out playing football for Cork. Football is a big love of mine since I have been a child, especially here in Mitchelstown. So, no I will not be ruling anything out at the moment.”

Summer 2018 saw Keane starting with the Cork U20 footballers when he was marked by the Kerry full-back, Stefan Okunbor (who was with AFL side Geelong up until last year) and Cork were beaten in the Munster final 3-11 to 0-14 in Tralee.

He also was starting on the Mitchelstown football team that season under coach Larry Tompkins and had to leave before their third-round game against Youghal, which Keane found quite daunting. “I had just finished my Leaving Cert when I got the call to go on that Wednesday. I just turned 18 and I moved out to Melbourne on my own. It was a big move on the same time but a great opportunity. I said to myself at the time that ‘I would take the chance with both hands’.

“I’ve had a great experience in Australia, met some really great people and I’ll be forever grateful to Collingwood for taking the chance on me. I have made friends for life. I have great memories bringing out my family out there, bringing out my girlfriend out there. I have really matured out of it, learning on how to live on my own.

“The goal going out was to play senior football with Collingwood and I am glad I got to do that.”

Keane will be synonymous with the famous goal he scored with the last kick of the game against Kerry in the 2020 Munster Football semi-final in an empty Páirc Uí Chaoimh but Keane did not want just to be remembered for that. He wanted to come home to win silverware with his club.

He succeeded in that when helping Ballygiblin win the County Junior ‘A’ Hurling Championship back in in November, scoring a goal in the process. But a few weeks later, he found it difficult watching on a laptop screen, the Irish Examiner live streaming of the Cork IAFC final between Uibh Laoire and Mitchelstown.

“It was tough watching that game from a screen half way around the other side of the world. It did not work out on the day for the footballers which was a pity but we will gather ourselves and go again this year.”

Last Sunday was a dream come true for Ballygiblin, going from struggling to win the North Cork Hurling Championship to facing into an All-Ireland semi-final next weekend.

“Winning the North Cork championship was the team goal at the start of the year but winning the county was unreal. We did not expect ourselves to be getting this far. Winning the Munster final last Sunday was a dream come true especially when we were beating our next door neighbours. We look forward to a semi-final against Fullen Gaels next week.”