O hAilpin already looking forward

Reaction to All-Ireland hurling final: Homecoming time, and as the Cork hurlers gather to leave their team hotel they realise their captain is missing.

Some of them are still more concerned about re-hydration, traditional style, but apparently SeáÓg Ó hAilpín hasn't been seen since he got back from his morning run. Last time he was seen before that was out on Dun Laoghaire pier at two in the morning, clearing the head.

As wild thoughts escape and someone suggests checking the bar, Ó hAilpín walks in a side door. He's dressed in the Australian International Rules gear and covered in sweat. It's lunchtime on the day after captaining Cork to back-to-back All-Ireland hurling titles and Ó hAilpín has just played two hours of football in the park around the corner. His youngest brother, Aisake, back from Australia for the final, was his training partner.

"I'd told Aisake to make sure he brought up the footy for the weekend. Sure it's grand, like. Other people like to chill out and have a few drinks. I like to do my own thing like that."

He'd been mobbed by Cork supporters on his return, so he finds a quiet spot to reflect on Sunday's victory over Galway. Before he looks back he looks forward. There's an Irish team being assembled for the next International Rules series in Australia and Ó hAilpín wants to be on that plane.

"It's coming up fast, so I wanted to knuckle down to that and try to make the 26. But I've also a football match next Sunday. The second round of the county championship against Skibbereen. We've a 50-50 chance there, and it does take some time to get into the football aspects again."

It's a little strange to be talking football with the All-Ireland hurling winning captain - but not when he spells his name Ó hAilpín. He was one of the stars of the International Rules win last year, but it's his application to training that has become his trademark.

"That was my last hurling game of the year, and the same for a lot of fellas that aren't involved in the club championship. So I told them let's finish off with a bang, with a flourish, so that we'd look back on 2005 and know we performed well in the All-Ireland final.

"It's been a good finish to a good year, but it's been a very testing year. Not just for myself, but the whole team. All the way through I've sensed the games have been harder to win. Look at those tight games against Clare and Waterford. And we know it will be even harder next year. There's talk of three in a row already, and that's dangerous stuff. "

When he's pressed on the significance of his captaincy, the first and surely the last Fijian-born hurler from Cork to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup, he sits back and starts to wonder.

"I knew come 3.30 on Sunday, regardless of the result, that this was it for my captaincy. It's been huge pressure, being honest. More pressure than people realised. Especially the things that distracted me from doing hurling. A lot of it is finding it hard to say no, especially with the genuine cases.

"But I've enjoyed it, it's been such a privilege. I still feel lucky. And being the first Na Piarsaigh man to win it as captain is the most satisfying. It's been brought up to Glen Rovers and places like that many times, but I'm looking forward to bringing it up to the Farranree lads.

"And when I came to Cork there was no guarantees at all that I'd even do well with Na Piarsaigh. Mum and dad gave me every opportunity to make it, and everything I've done is mirrored through them. I remember having bad games and mum saying, 'for what it's worth, I thought you'd a good game'. You need that kind of encouragement when the game is alien to you.

"But maybe it hasn't really sunk in yet, because when you're playing you're just focused on what you're doing, and preparing for the next game. Hopefully when I do retire I can look back with a sense of pride and achievement."

And then he points to a four-inch scar on his right knee, the souvenir of the car accident that four years ago threatened to end his career. That, he says, is what he also means when he takes about privilege.

"I just have to look at my right knee and it reminds what could have been, or more like what not could have been. I'm just grateful that after that accident that I was able to meet great people like Ger Hartmann and Jim McEvoy and Dr Con Murphy. They got me back, because all I had to do was follow instruction.

"In ways the accident was a blessing in disguise, because it gave me a different focus. Everything I've achieved since has been even more gratifying because of it. I think if you go without injury for a good while you're inclined to take things for granted. And that's what happened to me."

He's 28 now, and while he appears to have achieved it all, he's got his inner drive to keep him going: "I'd set myself a four-year mark, so that at 32 I'll have given every last ounce of my body to hurling. That's three more years. After that my hurling career will be finished, and by then I want to get everything possible out of the game. And carry on with a new life.

"You might look at me now and think there's a lot of years, but I want to try to win everything I can while I can. And to have no regrets. Setanta gave me a quote from an old Aussie Rules coach, Allan Jeans, who coached Hawthorn. He said if you look back on your career, and can't honestly say you put in 100 per cent, you will end up a frustrated person. I don't want to be that frustrated person."