Mark Keane has revealed why he is committing to the Cork hurlers rather than the county's footballers after playing for Ballygiblin against Mooncoin in Sunday's AIB All-Ireland JHC final at Croke Park.
Keane quit his AFL contract after deciding not to return to Collingwood after Christmas. He had one year left on his contract in Australia.
The goalscoring hero of Cork's Munster SFC victory over Kerry in November 2020 will join up Kieran Kingston's hurling panel and not Keith Ricken's footballers.
He has already been working away within Kingston's set-up in recent weeks, coming on board for the Canon O'Brien Cup.
He was at centre-back for Ballygiblin for their big All-Ireland JHC semi-final victory over Fullen Gaels the weekend before last.
"I was talking to Keith around December sometime, other than that I wasn't speaking to him since," Keane said.
"He kind of knew I was in with the hurlers and after that I'm not too sure how it works, with approaching players and stuff from other codes, I'm not too sure but I wasn't asked to make a decision between hurling and football.
"At the moment my focus is on Cork hurling anyway. I do love football, I love playing football for Cork, for Mitchelstown. My love at the moment is hurling.
"If I could do both, I'd do both."
Keane, 22, has been doing some coaching in schools since returning, insists he has no regrets about his decision to leave Collingwood - and can't see himself going back to the AFL and that professional environment.
"It's nothing I've been thinking about since I came home anyway," he confessed.
"All I've been thinking about since I came home is Ballygiblin and Cork hurling. At the moment it is (hurling) anyway but we'll see down the line what happens.
"Money isn't happiness at the end of the day. At the moment I'm enjoying myself inside in the schools in Cork and stuff like that so I'm happy out doing that inside with the kids, schools coaching, so I'm happy out doing that."
Keane added that the impact of Covid made life more difficult in Australia.
"Definitely," he said. "Without seeing family...because before you could go home and over and back whenever you wanted to. People could come over to you whenever they wanted to as well.
"That was all finished over the last two years. Nobody was able to come over. If you were to come home it would cost a bomb and it would be a bit of hassle trying to get back in again.
"You'd get in but you'd have to do quarantine and stuff like that. Yeah, I suppose when Covid came everyone just realised how much you need to lean on your family and stuff."
Waterford's Dessie Hutchinson is an example of a sportsman who left behind a professional sporting environment at Brighton and Hove Albion to thrive when he returned to hurling.
"Yeah, definitely," said Keane. "I've always kept a hurley in my hand as well.
"I've just been listening to my coaches in Cork as well and they'll be guiding me through what I have to do to peak for April.
"I feel like I'm going well with Ballygiblin at the moment. I played against Tipperary with Cork last week and stuff like that.
"I still have a load of work to do to get myself up to senior inter-county level but I'm doing a lot of work with the senior hurling as well.
"I'm not just playing with Ballygiblin, I'm in with the senior hurlers as well and training with them and doing a lot of work to get my game up to where it should be.
"Hopefully come April it will be top notch."
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