Hurling & Camogie

Antrim fanatic Cairbre Ó Cairealláin hopes to return home one day

Cairbre Ó Cairealláin is looking forward to a second season with the Limerick hurlers as their S&C coach Picture: Seamus Loughran
Cairbre Ó Cairealláin is looking forward to a second season with the Limerick hurlers as their S&C coach Picture: Seamus Loughran Cairbre Ó Cairealláin is looking forward to a second season with the Limerick hurlers as their S&C coach Picture: Seamus Loughran

HIGHLY-RATED strength and conditioning coach Cairbre Ó Cairealláin may be one of Antrim’s most successful exports – but the west Belfast man hopes he can lend a hand to his native county sometime in the future.

The 35-year-old was a key element of Tipperary’s backroom team that claimed All-Ireland in 2019, under the guidance of Liam Sheedy and last season the affable coach experienced the same with the Limerick hurlers.

Entering his second year under John Kiely’s leadership, Ó Cairealláin says he harbours an interest in returning to Antrim one day to hopefully "contribute" in some capacity - but it won't be for a while yet as he's loving his involvement with Limerick.

A former Antrim minor hurler, Ó Cairealláin said: “Growing up, we were just Antrim mad. We always had pictures of the ’89 team up on the wall.

“My brother played for Antrim for a few years and I remember myself and my Da would go around the country watching the National League games.

"I would have been 13 or 14 and Antrim would lose heavily in a lot of games, but somehow we’d be going down to these games every single week and I’d truly believe Antrim were going to win against Tipp or Kilkenny. You always thought it was possible.

“We had a couple of good games against Tipp [2002] and Wexford [2003] in the All-Ireland and I also remember Cork absolutely hammered us [in 2005].

“I still love watching Antrim, especially over the last few years since Darren Gleeson took over. There’s nothing that gives me more enjoyment than seeing Antrim hurling doing well. I would have chatted to Darren over the last few years."

Asked if he'd like to ply his trade in his native county one day, Ó Cairealláin said: "At the minute they couldn’t have a better S&C coach in Brendan Murphy. He is top class... I’d love to be able to help – I don’t know if that’s the right word even – but contribute in some way. But all that physical development taking place at the minute will stand to Antrim and the structures they have in place. Maybe down the line I would like to contribute something."