Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
G O F C U A L Club hero puts All-ireland bid before €4k scholarship
CUALA’S Con O’callaghan has revealed how he turned down a scholarship with UCD to prioritise his All-ireland club dream.
The dual star featured for the Dublin footballers in their All-ireland winning run last year but rounded out 2016 as the star turn of Cuala’s Leinster club hurling title success, hitting 6-10 in three matches after being parachuted into the side (right).
It was more than enough to see him collect the AIB Provincial Player Award yesterday, though Cuala’s progress presented him with several dilemmas.
The fact their All-ireland semi-final against Slaughtneil was pushed back to February 25 makes for a direct clash with the Fitzgibbon Cup weekend and while O’callaghan’s brother Cian, Colm Cronin and Jake Malone will do their best for the college between now and then, the 20-year-old has taken a step back from all third level action this year.
He will play for the Dublin under-21s however, with their Championship opener four days after the club semi-final.
“I had to prioritise what I was going to do and I couldn’t have committed to all of those teams and I have the 21s as well with Dessie Farrell,” he explained. “I decided Cuala was going to be my focus and to be honest Jim Gavin and Dessie agreed with me as well. It’s not often you get these opportunities with the clubs so you have to take it with both hands.
“At the moment I am just training with the club. I do a gym session with the Dublin seniors. Then I just tick away with the footballers, do a bit of kicking at the sessions.
“This is my last year under21. Next year I look forward to playing probably Sigerson and if I can manage Fitzgibbon as well I’ll give it a go but that’s too far in the future I’ll just play it by ear at the moment.”
Given that he is fancied to become a regular starter for the Dublin senior footballers this year, O’callaghan was set to be awarded a scholarship at UCD, though to be worth around €4,000, but he declared his position on that from an early stage.
“I was told I would get a scholarship but I hadn’t been really approached so it made it a little bit easier and I said, ‘Look before you offer me anything I’m going to take a step back’. They were very understanding.
“Dessie would have been involved in with Na Fianna in the All-ireland and Jim was very understanding. He said it was the same protocol with Vinnies and I’ll be doing the same as they do.
“Opportunities don’t come around in the club very often and really it’s a great problem to have - to be in between a load of teams. It’s kind of a costbenefit or whatever!
“You have to look at the potential benefits, and it’s really special playing with your clubmates and brothers and
cousins.”