Mark Coleman on his camogie debut, Shane Barrett's deaf ear and Blarney's Senior A drive

“Nothing, sure he doesn’t listen to me at all.” Mark Coleman is smiling as he says it, the subject being Shane Barrett, his Blarney clubmate and Cork teammate.

Advice, apparently, is wasted currency. Coleman is supposed to be the steadying hand, the experienced head in a young forward’s ear. Barrett, by all accounts, just does his own thing.

It is a line that tells you plenty about the relationship between the two – and about the character of a Blarney side that lean on energy, personality and a fair share of flair as much as on structure or experience.

“When Shane was younger, it was probably easier having someone in your club, on the panel to go in and make it that bit more comfortable.

“Whether I did or not, I don't know, you have to ask him that!” 

If Barrett needed a hand finding his feet in senior company, there is nobody better placed than Coleman. His class has long been stamped at club and county level, be it against men at senior, or boys at underage level.

But there was a time, however brief, where he did it against girls. Back in the days when Coleman was about six or seven, he was pressed into service by his mother’s camogie team because they were short a body. “No, I don't remember that,” he says, sarcastically. “I'd say, yeah, it could have happened,” Coleman concedes.

“There's a photo of it, but I don't remember it that well. But I'd say at that age, I was just happy to play whatever really, get in and play a game and I was happy with it.

And the verdict on his debut?

“Stormer, ran the show!” 

From chaotic first steps, to togging in a plethora of roles for Cork, and dragging Blarney into a third consecutive Senior A semi-final, the road has been long.

The question now is whether the club who have twice fallen at the final hurdle can finally push through – and Coleman reckons the edge lies not in what has changed, but in what has stayed the same.

“This year, we’ve that bit more experience again, based off last year,” he says. “The Glen were in it last year, which was always going to be a massive hurdle for anyone to get over, and that proved to be.

“Even though it was a weird final here last year with the wind and all that, they were always going to be a difficult team to get over last year. The fact that it seems a bit more balanced this year is different.

“I suppose, you're a bit more confident that you can. Every team has a chance this year.” 

And with himself, Barrett and the injured Padraig Power to sprinkle inter-county pedigree across the squad, the margins feel different this time.

“I suppose it has to help,” Coleman says. That you can bring that a bit more experience in big games and stuff like that, it's always a positive.

“Obviously it comes with the challenges as well when you're missing for a lot of the year and, I suppose the team is a bit unsettled throughout the year and not fellas are thinking, maybe Shane or Mark are going to come back in and take my place in the team.

“There's challenges to that as well, but I suppose when it comes to this stage, it has to be beneficial to have experience in the bigger games.

“We’ve some very good young fellas after coming through the last number of years, Cian Barrett and Cathal McCarthy up front make a huge difference.

“Eoin Kirby and Denis McSweeney, we’ve them in our half forward line, and we've a bit more experience maybe in our backline then with the two Crowleys, Sean and Patrick, and Adam McEvoy, Conor Power.

FLAIR

“That bit of youth and flair up top is something that’s been a massive asset for us in the last couple of years and it freshens it up.”

And for him, the return to club life has meant a positional shift too. No longer tied to half-back, Coleman has been roaming further out the field, and enjoying it.

“It's the thing with the club, you come back and you're not sure where you're going to be playing. The management are still trying to find the best position for you.

“Last year, I was kind of playing half back but, at times the game can pass you a bit back there if you’re on one side in particular, it's hard to get into the game if it's being played on the other side of the pitch,” he explains. “I suppose this year now I’m playing out around the middle.

“It gives you that bit more freedom, that you can kind of get back in the half back line and get up and maybe get on the scoreboard as well.

“I think I'm enjoying it that bit more now at the moment being out around the middle and being able to impact both sides of the pitch.”