Damien Cahalane: Expectation of success must drive Cork on

The expectation on Leeside is for a return of Liam MacCarthy. Cahalane knows it’s there. He’s lived it for long enough. Best to let it be part of the mix that fuels your endeavours

MADE IT: Cahalane was part of the Cork side which reached the 2021 All-Ireland hurling final. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

17 years and counting. Soon to be 18 years. They’ve never known a wait like it.

The pinning of a fresh calendar on the wall brings with it fresh hope. But equally, there is fresh expectation. Pressure too.

Damien Cahalane has been around the Cork hurling dressing-room since 2012. Football had his eye – and his full attention - the following year, meaning 2023 is season number 11 with the hurlers.

The expectation on Leeside for a return of Liam MacCarthy, the 30-year-old doesn’t try to deny. Or dodge. Or dampen. He knows it’s there. He’s lived it for long enough. Best to let it be part of the mix that fuels your endeavours, rather than try and deflect or shy away from reality.

“I think there's an expectation when you play with Cork that, traditionally, when I was growing up, Cork would have nearly always been one of the favourites to win nearly any competition they were entered in,” Cahalane begins.

“I suppose over the years, for a variety of different reasons, it hasn't worked that way for us coming through. We've made a couple of finals, won a couple of Munster championships. That's what we have to show for it.

“But it hasn't been for the want of preparation either. We've come against exceptionally good sides. Maybe other years we weren't as good as previous Cork teams and there's just times like that as well.

“But yeah, there's definitely an expectation, but it's something that you have to use as well, to fuel yourself to prepare to go out and try to succeed. It can't be something that you let shrink into yourself. You have to kind of grow into that.” 

As Cahalane mentions, there have been Munster titles in 2014, ’17, and ‘18. All-Ireland final appearances came in 2013 and ‘21.

Reflecting on his decade-plus in red, is it too obvious a question to ask as to whether he would like to have won more by this point in his career.

“No bones about it, every competition that you go out to play you're going out to win it, be it the Munster Senior League or the National League or the Munster championship or the All-Ireland championship. But it doesn't always work out.

“The path that my career has taken me on, I can't really say that I'd do anything differently. Myself and other guys that are there, we've done everything to the best of our ability and our ability and preparation has taken us this far.

“Three Munster medals isn't any mean feat either, and I wouldn't swap them for anything. I would have liked to have won more but it's easy to say that. Your career kind of takes you on the path it takes you on and that bit of experience I hope will serve me well going forward.” 

A few months back, Cahalane’s teammate Patrick Horgan said his career won’t be defined by whether he finishes his time in red with or without a Celtic cross. The Barrs defender is of a similar view. There’s enough external pressure without telling yourself at the start of every season that it’s an All-Ireland or failure.

“It definitely is the ultimate for every player. But I think it is a massive pressure to put on yourself to come back every year, that it's an All-Ireland or absolutely nothing.

“Look, I'm enjoying my hurling at the moment and really enjoying the challenge. What keeps me going back every year is to see can I be the best that I can be? Can I improve from the previous year? Can I learn something new and can I better myself? That's what keeps me coming back, that hunger to want to be better.

“The better I am for myself and the group, the better it's going to be for Cork hurling. A lot of the guys are the same, they love that challenge of trying to go to the next level.” 

The Barrs’ success in ending their own wait for ultimate glory back in October has led to an influx of Togher men in Pat Ryan’s panel for the forthcoming season. Joining Damien and his younger brother, Conor, are the likes of dual talent Brian Hayes, who has switched from football to hurling, Ethan Twomey, and Ben Cunningham. The latter is still a teenager. Twomey, meanwhile, only recently said goodbye to his teenage years.

Instead of lads 10 and 11 years his junior making Cahalane feel his age, he said these new additions have had the opposite effect.

“As you get older, that little bit of fun, not that it goes, but it becomes very serious, whereas the youth kind of have that bit of exuberance and that bit of fun about them that brings you back down to their level a small bit, which is refreshing. So definitely the younger fellas help you kind of feel a bit younger.

“They're coming in and they're bringing a massive amount and array of talent, but talent doesn't guarantee you anything. It's about how you apply it and the work that you put into it. For those of us that are there a good while and have been through the ups and downs of it, we'll do our best to guide them, but they're going to have their own unique skillset that they're going to want to impose on it. We'll get that bit of youthful exuberance out of them, and they might get the little bit of guidance or the little bit of experience off the older guys.

“It's an exciting time to be in the group because of the two different demographics and the dynamic that's there, so yeah, looking forward to getting back to work with the fellas.”