'Honoured' Robert Downey happy to have strong support structure as Cork captain

Cork beating UCC in last Friday night’s Canon O’Brien Cup meant a unique achievement for new captain Robert Downey, the stuff of quiz-setters’ dreams.

At the end of December 2023, the Glen Rovers man was the UCC skipper as they beat the Rebels by a point; 53 weeks on for the next edition of the competition and he was once again the person receiving the trophy from Fr Michael O’Brien’s nephew Billy, albeit with a different badge on his chest.

While he obviously hopes it won’t be the only cup he lifts in a Cork jersey, 25-year-old Downey was delighted to have the first win under his belt after receiving what he described as a “huge honour” from manager Pat Ryan.

“It's a funny one, yeah,” he said of his back-to-back victories.

“It's a great match every year, midway through January, and both sides obviously look forward to the game. It's like any game really, you want to win.

“So yeah, it's a bit weird I was with UCC last year, Cork this year, but lucky to come out the right side of things so happy enough.

“When Pat asked, I was delighted. It's an honour to be a captain of any team and obviously the Cork team is a huge honour.

“Very much looking forward to getting going in the year. We're training away hard and just looking forward to getting things going.”

Downey succeeds Seán O’Donoghue as captain, while Mark Coleman, Patrick Horgan and Séamus Harnedy have also held the office. It ensures a good support structure.

“Exactly,” Downey says, “there's four former captains on the actual panel at the moment so I don't have too far to look for a bit of advice.

“But like that, there's leaders all over our dressing room, which is a great thing as well. So no doubt we'll be pushing hard again this year.

“It's just taking each night as it comes, getting the best out of each session, and the best out of each day. The league isn't too far away now so we'll be looking to that shortly but just for now, it's getting the most out of training that's really the main focus.”

Along with his accession to the captaincy, Downey had a good end to 2024 as the Glen won the Co-op SuperStores SAHC and then he got to enjoy the Cork team holiday in Florida.

“Yeah, it was great,” he says.

“Obviously, it was nice to get back up with the Glen and the holiday was great as well. We'd a good ten days away in America so it brought fellas together and it was easy then to come back training.

“It felt like we hadn't taken a break at all, which was nice. We just hit the ground running.”

Now, the focus is on building for the league and integrating new players to help the panel evolve.

“You’d be hoping to bring through a couple of fellas every year,” Downey says.

“The U20s and minors have had success over the last couple of years so it’s great to see the young fellas coming through there.

“You see Jack Cahalane and Diarmuid Healy and even for UCC, William Buckley and Ethan [Twomey], and they all played very well.

“They’re all pushing us every night we go out and you have to watch your back so it’s all good.”

Six goals against UCC showed that the focus on green flags has been sharpened and it’s something Downey hopes to see more of as the year progresses.

“That’s the motto of every team, really,” he says.

“The faster you get it into the full-forward line, the better. We’re no different.

“You try to get it to the right place on the field and bang it in as fast as you can because we know we have good forwards inside.

“If we give them the right ball, they’ll do damage.”