Confirmed: Rob Heffernan joins John Cleary's Cork senior football setup 

The Olympic medallist is the latest to link up with the footballers after Kevin Walsh took up a coaching role in recent weeks.

ON BOARD: Rob Heffernan. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Olympic medallist Rob Heffernan has joined John Cleary's Cork senior football backroom team for the 2023 season. 

Heffernan will link-up with Cleary and Cork, who have recently added former Galway and Sligo manager Kevin Walsh to their setup. 

Walsh has joined as football coach, while Cork native Heffernan will take up the role of performance coach.

Heffernan and Walsh join James Loughrey, Mícheál Ó Cróinín, Ray Keane and Barry Corkery, who were confirmed as the selectors for the coming campaign. 

Cleary was ratified as Cork boss on a three-year-term during the summer, having taken over from Keith Ricken on an interim basis the previous April. 

Rob Heffernan to join Cork Football Backroom team for 2023 season https://t.co/UMXxWSpsCG#SportsDirectIreland #BorntoPlay pic.twitter.com/19QMviHZuV

— Cork GAA (@OfficialCorkGAA) November 25, 2022

44-year-old Heffernan now coaches elite athletes in his field, having retired from international race-walking in 2013 on the back of a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics and gold at the World Championships in Moscow the following year.

The Cork footballers will be looking to build on a positive campaign in 2022, which culminated in an All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Dublin. Cleary's charges will face a tough challenge in Division 2 of the Allianz League, given the presence of the aforementioned Dublin, Kildare and Derry. 

They face Colm O'Rourke's Meath in the league opener, while the Munster Championship draw has pitted them against Colm Collins' Clare outfit.