Colm O'Callaghan on promotion to Division 1: 'You have to be playing the best to be the best'

Cork midfielder Colm O’Callaghan feels promotion could be the launchpad for the Rebels to kick on.

The Leesiders secured a spot in the 2027 Allianz Division 1 Football League on Sunday afternoon after getting the better of Tyrone on a scoreline of 0-22 to 0-19 at O’Neills Healy Park.

John Cleary’s side finish their Division 2 campaign with 12 points after seven challenging games. They return to the top-tier for the first time since 2016.

“We’ve been aiming for this over the last number of years, so it’s a massive relief to get over the line,” the Éire Óg star said post-match.

“It’s never easy coming up here, especially against a team like Tyrone, so we’re absolutely delighted now that we dug out a win there in the end.

“The Cork support have been excellent this year in fairness. I suppose that comes down to performances as well. We’re under no illusions, the last few years, some of the performances maybe weren’t good enough and there wasn’t much of a buzz at the games, but now we’re definitely getting a bit of that back now, so it’s great.

“Even in the warm-up today, you could really hear the Cork supporters. There must have been around 500 from Cork here at the game. Cork football has gone through a tough time, but hopefully with promotion that we have taken a step in the right direction.

“We all know how tough Division 2 is. I don’t think there’s too many teams that were on ten or more points coming into this game week in the various divisions. We were in a good place coming in, it was in our own hands.” 

The last time Cork made the long journey to the north, they lost to Derry by 20 points. That was the start of this month.

Since then, they beat Kildare at home and now Tyrone away.

“We learnt so much from the Derry game,” O’Callaghan says.

“The performance just wasn’t good enough at the end of the day. There were a lot of learnings from it. We got a few days away during the break. We nailed a few things that we needed to improve.

“Look, we’re absolutely delighted. I think it was three points in the end. If you had told us that we'd have 12 points from the league campaign, we’d have taken your arm off for it.

“Promotion for me personally definitely is 100% up there anyway with what I have won. It’s massive. I know we have silverware to fight for next weekend, but to get back up to Division 1 is sweet.

“You have to be playing against the best teams and that’s up in Division 1 if you want to get to that next level. Hopefully next year we can push on again by playing against the best teams.

“You have to be playing the best to be the best.” 

The Cork bus will once again be travelling up the M8 next weekend. It will be without the stress of trying to pick up points, but there will be major silverware on the line.

The Rebels will take on Meath in the league final in Croke Park on Sunday at 1.45pm.