Neil Lordan on opting out of Cork football squad for 2026: 'Toughest decision I ever had to make'

Neil Lordan has said the decision to depart the Cork senior football squad was the toughest call he has ever had to make.

The Ballinora player, who made his debut for the Rebels back in January, is going travelling next year and will be a loss for John Cleary’s charges in their hopes of continuing to make steady progress in the right direction.

There was surprise a number of months back when it was revealed in these pages that the defender was opting out of the Cork panel for 2026.

Lordan has now spoken for the first time on why it is the right time to depart for a short period.

“I just finished college this year and something I’ve always wanted to do is a bit of travelling,” the 23-year-old says to The Echo.

“I always wanted to go away for a year or two and I know it was my first proper year with Cork last season, but I kind of knew if I didn’t go away next year that I’d be putting it off and it would get harder and harder to go and career-wise it kind of makes sense for me to go this time as well.

“It was the toughest decision I ever had to make really and it was very tough to say to the management that I didn’t want to be involved with Cork in 2026, but they fully respected my decision and I really appreciate that.

“It was a hard call to make but they made it very easy and they were very nice about it and they’ve all wished me the best of luck.” 

Lordan has stated that his travelling commitments are expected not to last over 12 months and plans to put back on the Cork jersey in the future.

“I will be back, that's the aim. John Cleary said it himself that the door will always be open and I plan on only going away for a year and I will definitely, please God, be back playing for Cork in 2027.

“I’ll definitely miss the football here, but I’ll be playing a good bit over in New York anyway.

“It could be a good thing for me football-wise as well but I suppose it’s something I feel like I’d regret a lot if I never went travelling. 

"I’m kind of looking at one or two fellas even from Ballinora who didn’t go travelling and not saying that it was their fault that I’m going away or anything, but they kind of said they wished they went away when they were younger and I don’t really want to be one of those people.

“I hope to get the travelling out of the way now and I’ll be able to enjoy playing for the rest of my career then.” 

Lordan certainly took to inter-county football at senior level like a duck to water. He excelled in the Division 2 league opener against Meath and didn’t look back.

His last game was the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final defeat to Dublin at Croke Park.

“A few injuries really kind of just opened up the door for me. I wouldn’t have thought that I would have been in with a shout to start. I was hoping that I might make the league panel, but just the way things fell, I was thrown into the deep end and thankfully things worked out my way. 

"I got to play against a lot of really good players and a lot of really good teams and I loved it to be honest.

“I loved the competitiveness of it. I loved some of the quality of players I was marking, the likes of Cormac Costello, Paddy Small and Jordan Morris and people like these.

“It was a great honour but it’s a pity we weren’t able to bring back silverware.” 

Lordan, after being in the thick of the action in 2025, will be a supporter next year, how does he think the Rebels will fare?

“You saw how close we were to Kerry this year who ended up bringing Sam Maguire back to Kerry.

“Our management made the right decision to stay on and I think the quality is there within the panel. I think promotion from Division 2 and reaching the Munster final are realistic objectives.

“They just need one big result to go their way and I think the tower will fall. Hopefully the silverware will come then.” Lordan ended. 

Staying with the Cork footballers, Shayne Murphy, a sports scientist and performance coach, has joined the backroom team.

He has been the lead sports scientist for the Scottish men’s national soccer team for the past number of years. The Rathcormac native also had spells with Premier League giants Manchester City and Liverpool.