Family element makes Carrigaline's county win sweeter for Niall Coakley
In Coakley O'hare Niall Eddie Family Action Carrigaline For Matters: Picture:
After capturing the Cork SAFC title together, Niall Coakley says playing alongside his brother Brian made 2024 one of his most enjoyable years of football.
Both siblings spent time in Dublin with St Jude’s but found game time interrupted by injuries. Back home with Carrigaline, they have combined for 2-33 across the championship.
“Myself and Brian, we’ve been like ships in the night,” laughs Niall.
“I played with him for one year in Carrigaline, we were beaten in the semi-final and then I left.
“He obviously won the county in 2015 and I missed that. He came up to Dublin then but we didn’t play much together – he was injured a lot and then he moved home again.
“This year has been very enjoyable, me and him playing together at 11 and 14 and switching and swapping. We have that understanding.
“It’s great. The family element this year has been amazing – my daughter going to the games with my wife, my dad is obsessed with football and loves going to all the games, my mom can barely watch!
“It’s a real family element that we didn’t have as much of when I was playing in Dublin.
“To be honest, football wasn’t the number one priority for me moving home.
“I moved home with my wife and we had one child at the time and we had a second child and it was moving home to raise our family versus playing football.
“Once I got involved, I love football and the set-up was there. This year, I put in a huge effort, all the lads did, and I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a year this much, probably going back 2017/18, when I was above in Dublin.”
The 35-year-old full-forward made good use of five months paternity leave to hit the ground running for their Kelleher Shield success.
“That’s where I wanted to play. I had never played Division 1 football for Carrigaline. The years I played, we were in Division 4 or Division 3 so coming back and playing the Nemos, the Ballincolligs, all these big teams, was brilliant.
“Even going down to Castlehaven this year was a highlight for me. The young lads might say I’m sad but I was driving down to Castlehaven for a Sunday morning league game and I was as nervous as playing a championship match because I had never had that experience before. It was brilliant for me.”
Coakley sees plenty of room for this panel of players to go further.
“Big-time, the potential of the group is there. The only problem is, I’ve found out over the last few weeks that we’ve a rake of boys going away travelling.
“David Griffin’s girlfriend is in Oz the last few months, he has the hurling final to play before he goes.
“I’ve heard of a few more since. Niall Quirke, our full-back who was outstanding all championship and has serious potential, he’s planning on going travelling.
“If they’re only going travelling for a few months and they’re back next year for the league and the championship, that’s all good!
“The hurlers obviously have a big task in two weeks – we’ll enjoy that, we’ll watch them and wish them the best. Hopefully, they’ve a run in Munster and David Griffin can’t go away!”