Fermoy's Ben Twomey feels experience of playing for Cork U20s has shaped him as a player

Ben Twomey has had a busy year balancing football and rugby.

The Fermoy native, who was on the Cork U20 football panel in 2022, is one of the tastiest footballers around. He has been a key figure for Fermoy’s footballers for the last number of years.

On top of that, he has a grá for the oval ball, he makes the commute up the M8 to play for the Cashel rugby team.

There was surprise though halfway through this year when he decided to head Down Under.

“I was in Australia for a number of months, it was a nice break to be fair,” he says.

“I had an opportunity to play rugby over there. I was playing with the Melbourne Unicorns. It was just a little sabbatical. It has been a busy few years with everything going on.

“To be honest, one of the lads from my rugby team in Cashel was going over and the opportunity came up. I grabbed it with two hands and went over. It was an experience.

“It was a big change, change of culture, change of scenery, it was good. For the first three weeks, it was kind of tough because I’d never been that far away from home before and obviously missing all the lads and stuff. I was based in Melbourne. The GAA would nearly be bigger than rugby union over there. A large, large, Irish population.

“It was definitely a well needed break. I've been on the go since straight out of minor. It was nice to clear my head and come back to a clean slate.” 

Twomey has been a regular scorer for Fermoy in recent campaigns. The sharpshooter has definitely developed massively as a footballer in a quick space of time.

It might have been a short experience with the Cork U20 footballers three years ago, but it has shaped him.

“I didn’t play Cork minor and I got the call up then to the Cork U20s, it was an honour,” he said.

“Bobbie O’Dwyer, the manager at the time, was very good to me. Ray O'Mahony and Ollie Rue O’Sullivan were also very helpful. Some of the players like Darragh Cashman and Conor Corbett, they were excellent to me and brought me along.

“It was a great experience. Even just to get a first taste in an inter-county set-up, it was very good.

“Regardless of results, even just being in there training with the lads, some brilliant footballers. You just learn a lot from them, learn a lot from your surroundings.

“It has definitely helped me become the footballer I probably am today, just with all that experience with the lads and just playing at the high level.” 

Twomey couldn’t steer Fermoy away from the drop this year as they suffered relegation from the McCarthy Insurance Group SAFC.

“I think it could help us in the long run,” he replies when asked if demotion could be a benefit.

“We've a lot of young lads coming through that are mad to play football.

“At present, we still have a very young team and we still have lads that got Fermoy to senior.

“Pre-season will be very important. If that goes well, build that into the league and then the championship.”