Seán Powter won't be part of Cork football panel in 2026

Seán Powter of Cork in action against Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne of Dublin during this year's All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Seán Powter will be unavailable to the Cork footballers in 2026, the 28-year-old having this week informed manager John Cleary of his plans to emigrate to Australia.

The dynamic Powter will be a loss to the Cork set-up chasing escape from Division 2 and a first return to the League’s top-flight since 2016.

The Douglas man was out of starting favour during this year’s championship, coming off the bench in four of Cork’s six outings. In the two games he did start, the extra-time Munster semi-final defeat to Kerry and subsequent Sam Maguire group defeat to Meath, he was subbed off before the finish.

An All-Star nominee in 2022, Powter, who was employed as both a sweeper and half-forward during his now paused time in red, made his championship debut in the infamous 2016 Munster semi-final defeat to Tipperary.

By the end of the following year's campaign, and only just turned 20, Powter had established himself as a key component in the Cork line-up and was duly nominated for young footballer of the year. In the same off-season, he was included in the Ireland squad for the International Rules series in Australia.

Injury would cruelly stall that rising graph, Powter’s 2018 season beginning and ending on the opening weekend of League action. The then 20-year-old had kicked a point and won a penalty at home to Tipp when his right hamstring went 13 minutes into the second half.

His rampaging goal during the 2017 extra-time qualifier defeat to Mayo was to prove his last championship appearance until his man of the match performance in the Munster semi-final upsetting of Kerry in November 2020 - a gap of three years, three months, and 17 days.

A short-lived return, mind, as injury would deny him involvement in the subsequent Munster final defeat to Tipperary.

Chatting to this writer on the eve of the 2021 championship, Powter counted nine hamstring tears since first falling in with the Cork seniors in 2016.

“Before the Kerry game [in 2021], there was a headline in the Examiner which read ‘Seán Powter’s 1,205-day wait for Championship football’. I had that up on my whiteboard in college in the days before the game. It was a nice little reminder of how far I have come. In my mind, I was saying, ‘you’ve been through a lot to get to this moment so just enjoy it’,” Powter said at the time..

“Right after the Kerry game, I was talking to Ian Maguire and he was like: ‘I actually didn’t think you’d be able to get back to that level’. He was delighted for me to be able to reach that level again. For me, it was relief as I believed I could get back there.

“You do kinda get sick of the pity and stuff. I feel like I am more known for my injuries rather than what I do on the field, and that is kind of annoying. But it is also a motivator to get back fully fit and to stay fit. I want to show people that I am not a person who could have reached their potential but didn’t because of injuries.” 

The aforementioned All-Star nomination of 2022 was evidence of his success in writing a new chapter free of setbacks.

In more recent years, he balanced inter-county football with his medicine studies in UL, qualifying as a doctor last year.