'It was bonus territory' - relaxed approach pays off for Haven's shootout hero Damien Cahalane 

The Cork man scored two and stood between the posts during the game's dramatic finale.

HAPPY DAYS: Damien Cahalane of Castlehaven, celebrates saving a penalty in the penalty shoot. PICTURE: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

As the sheets of rain bellowed into his face, Castlehaven’s latest goalkeeper Damien Cahalane just smiled.

Facing into his first penalty shoot-out as a netminder, it seemed as if he was laughing at the absurdity of it all. The storm, that he was being entrusted to keep Dingle out.

A goalkeeper in a former life and a former sport of his with Greenwood in Togher, he wasn’t too unfamiliar with taking his namesake Darragh’s place between the sticks. Roofing his two penalties to the net and saving Tom O’Sullivan’s, his switch was more than justified.

“I was going into the penalties, and not that it didn’t phase me or there was no pressure, but it was kind of bonus territory,” he explained of his cheery demeanour earlier in the wilds of this Limerick evening. “If you win, you win; if you don’t, you’ve gone to the well and you’ve tried to get there.

“Penalties are just, you can’t credit what’s going to happen. At that stage you have to throw caution to the wind and try to enjoy it. As I said, pick your spot and go for it. If the keeper saves it's what about it.” 

Prior to the penalties, Cahalane had been handed a slip of paper by Haven substitute goalkeeper Anthony Seymour. “The other goalies were very good to me to be fair. We have another brilliant goalie that’s a sub for us, Anthony Seymour. He would have seen a lot of their penalties and had done his bit of research but we couldn’t get him in because we couldn’t make a sub so that’s why I ended up going in goal and he gave me the bit of paper. A few notes.” 

For both of his strikes, Cahalane pumped the ball high and hard. “I’ve been practising them all along. I suppose keep doing what you’re used to. Going into the second one in particular, I was thinking the goalie might be thinking I’d hardly go to the same spot again. I just went to the same spot again.” 

Donning the No1 jersey harked back to his Greenwood days playing alongside Sheffield United’s John Egan but there was never any question what Cahalane wanted to do with his sporting life. “We had a good team. It was something I really, really, really enjoyed but it was something I didn’t want to pursue. This is what I wanted to pursue growing up.

“Even aside from wanting to represent Cork my main thing was representing Castlehaven. They would have been my club from two, three, four years of age. We were lucky enough then to go to the Barrs as well and we’re lucky enough to represent them in hurling. These are the days I grew up dreaming of. To put a bit of soccer experience into it was an aside.” 

Describing his players as being “devastated”, Dingle manager Pádraic Corcoran praised his charges for never going behind in normal or extra time but rued the mistakes at the end of both periods that allowed Castlehaven to carry on the final.

“Credit to our fellas, just a few mistakes towards the end. It was very difficult. The conditions were desperate and it was very hard to hold onto the ball. Credit for Castlehaven again, they put us under pressure and mistakes happen.” 

As for losing on penalties, Corcoran shrugged: “It’s in the lap of the gods really. Castlehaven have come out on the wrong side of it before a couple of years ago and they’ve come out on the right side of it.

“It’s a cruel way but they’re the rules, we don’t make the rules and we have to get on with it. Unfortunately, the day of the replay seems to be gone.”