King Con bidding to join an exclusive club of All-Ireland dual winning heroes

Declan Bogue

IT ALL DEPENDS on what you think your playing career amounted to. Was it really about the journey and not the destination? How is your juice to squeeze ratio? Did it teach you things about yourself?

All the same, it might have been nice to end up with a shitload of medals.

So take Con O’Callaghan’s career, crunch the numbers and sit back in awe.

In hurling, he has four county senior titles, two Leinster titles and two All-Irelands with Cuala.

In football, he’s just after winning his first Dublin and Leinster titles and this Sunday has a chance of winning an All-Ireland when they face Errigal Ciaran.

For Dublin, he has nine Leinster titles, and six All-Irelands.

He has three National League titles, and three All-Stars.

He has a Sigerson Cup with UCD.

It’s astonishing, but it’s even more impressive to note his honours list in a 12-month period from St Patrick’s Day 2017 to 2018; Two All-Ireland club hurling titles, one Dublin club and Leinster. He won the Leinster U21 and All-Ireland football. Doubled it up with a Leinster and All-Ireland in senior football. An All-Star, a Young Footballer of the Year and a Sigerson Cup.

Should things go his way on Sunday, he would join a very select band of players to have won an All-Ireland in both codes.

In action against Coolera-Strandhill. Lorraine O’Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O’Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO

Others in an exclusive club include Jimmy Barry-Murphy who won four senior medals (hurling in 1975 and 1978; football in 1980 and 1981), and Alan Kerins, who was part of the Salthill-Knocknacarra team that won a football title in 2006, before winning a hurling championship with Clarinbridge in 2011.

Barry-Murphy was part of a golden St Finbarr’s dual generation with Christy Ryan and John Allen both also winning four medals (three football and one hurling).

Jimmy Barry-Murphy at last year's Cork 1999 Jubilee team presentation. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Alan Kerins celebrates Clarinbridge's 2011 All-Ireland club final win. Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO

That is the company O’Callaghan could be about to sit alongside. With all that success it’s easy to forget that O’Callaghan the hurler arrived like a comet in Cuala’s dream season of 2016-17.

He was still an U21 player and had played in fits and starts for Cuala throughout the club championship. But then they faced Borris in Ossory Kilcotton on 6 November in Parnell Park.

Sitting in the stand that day was Michael McShane, the then Slaughtneil hurling manager with half an eye on a potential meeting down the road. He was vaguely aware of O’Callaghan, but as a promising young footballer.

By half-time, Con had chalked up a hat-trick of goals and finished with 4-3.

A quick run through his stats to follow in Leinster; he grabbed 1-3 against St Mullins of Carlow in the semi-final and blitzed O’Loughlin Gaels for 1-4.

It was they who would face Slaughtneil in the All-Ireland semi-final.

“We knew him as a footballer and he came out that day and hit 4-3 [against Borris in Ossory]. He was unplayable. Now, Borris were maybe not the hardest to play against but that was the red flag up immediately,” says McShane.

“We were keeping an eye on him going through that championship and he was notching up good scoring tallies in all the games, but his general play was also getting better and better.

“So when it came to us, we had him in our crosshairs and we put one of our best markers on him. He couldn’t deal with him and we had to make a switch at half-time.”

They had lined up Paul McNeill for the man-marking job. But they had to sacrifice their marquee attacker Brendan Rogers and bring him back.

Brendan Rogers stops O'Callaghan at all costs. Presseye / Matt Mackey/INPHO Presseye / Matt Mackey/INPHO / Matt Mackey/INPHO

McShane adds, “The thing about him was, he wasn’t the most technically gifted hurler. But he was so powerful, so athletic that when he got the ball in his hand, he was unstoppable. He had the power to go past people.

“And what a finisher! When I say he wasn’t technically gifted, that’s maybe wrong. But he wasn’t the standout hurler as in a Dotsy O’Callaghan or that ilk. Maybe he wasn’t playing enough hurling to get him there.

“But as every game went by and the more training he got with Cuala, he just got better and better. Cuala had a great system whereby they were creating space and got him into situations where he was one on one. And once he had the ball in his hand, you weren’t getting it off him.”

In the semi-final played at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh, Cuala swamped the Derry and Ulster representatives, 3-21 to 2-11. O’Callaghan collected a ball out by a sideline, cut along the 20-metre line and stitched his shot into the near top corner of his supposed weaker side.

One of his many strengths is his utter audacity. How could anyone forget how the much-anticipated Tyrone challenge in the 2017 All-Ireland football semi-final was almost immediately put down after his hip-swivel sent Colm Cavanagh sprawling to the floor as he laced the ball high into the roof of Niall Morgan’s net?

Or his two goals in 2019 in another semi-final against Mayo?

Against Mayo again, a year later?

His record of goal-scoring in All-Ireland finals alone is evidence of his appetite for the biggest stage.

And over the winters, his morphing from athletic young fella into full beast mode has been the stuff that strength and conditioning coaches can only dream of.

While Dublin football clearly pulls rank for his preferences, his ability to switch codes doesn’t happen by accident.

“I think what he does do, and this is a point that’s very valid; they say the day of the dual player is gone,” says McShane.

“Con O’Callaghan proves that wrong. Brendan Rogers proves that wrong, Shane McGuigan proves that wrong.

“Throughout his career, Con O’Callaghan has had the benefit of very understanding managers who were prepared to manage his workload and allow him to play whatever he wants to play.”

McShane adds, “He obviously wants to play football and hurling and he wants to be successful at everything and has been lucky enough to have managers who understand that.

“But credit goes to him in how he looks after himself. He clearly looks after himself like a top-level professional. Very seldom do you hear of him being injured. He is an incredible athlete and figure within the GAA. I think he should be highlighted more often in light of his dual exploits.”

In a year when Cuala won their very first Dublin title, the scale of their ambition means they refuse to stop.