{"id":663403,"date":"2026-10-23T20:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663403\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T20:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:20:12","slug":"i-deserved-more-action-but-thats-the-nature-of-the-sport-seamus-harnedy-on-final-season-with-cork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663403\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I deserved more action but that’s the nature of the sport’: Seamus Harnedy on final season with Cork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seamus Harnedy has admitted he was frustrated with his lack of starts for Cork<\/a> this past season.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old was the first substitute in the Munster SHC opening win over Tipperary and made further cameo appearances against Waterford and in the provincial final loss to Limerick.<\/p>\n

He was also brought on in the All-Ireland quarter-final over Offaly but was not utilised in the semi-final defeat to Galway.<\/p>\n

As the recently retired three-time All-Star says \u201cgoodbye\u201d to SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh in Ireland colours<\/a> in Saturday\u2019s Hurling-Shinty International, he is adamant he wasn\u2019t greedy in thinking he should have seen more action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be selfish about minutes on the pitch, but last year was a tough time personally and I probably didn\u2019t play as much as I thought I could.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part and parcel of sport. New management teams come in and have tough decisions to make. I know I\u2019m older now, and that probably feeds into their thinking to some extent.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019d never be selfish if I thought I was contributing in training, working hard enough, adding value and helping younger lads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d be very selfless in that regard. Last year, I travelled up in the car with Diarmuid Healy and Barry Walsh for most of the year. They were two lads in a similar position to me, and I\u2019d do anything for them to try to make them 1% better.<\/p>\n

\n It wasn\u2019t about me. I would have been the happiest man in the room if we\u2019d got over the line last year, but it wasn\u2019t to be.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

“I leave with no regrets, although not getting over the line is probably one regret. You can\u2019t control every outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeamusSeamus Harnedy during the Munster final against Limerick. Picture: Piaras \u00d3 M\u00eddheach\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Weighing up the chances he received during his 15-year career, the 36-year-old is now more philosophical about how 2026 panned out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid I sometimes think I deserved a little bit more (action)? Yes, I did. But that\u2019s the nature of sport. I\u2019d received the benefit of the doubt so many times throughout my career, and perhaps my run was coming to an end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harnedy reveals he was considering stepping away from Cork in 2022 only for Pat Ryan to be appointed and convince him to stay around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked up the injury, and after that defeat I was questioning whether I would go back. It depended to a large extent on who the county board appointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I heard it was Pat, that was a major plus. I\u2019ll never forget taking a phone call from him in my kitchen. We spoke for less than 10 minutes, and I\u2019d nearly made up my mind straight away.<\/p>\n

\n His positivity, his knowledge of Cork hurling, his understanding of how to set us up and the camaraderie he creates within his groups all made a huge impression on me. I knew it was the right decision to return.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Harnedy will miss the routine and discipline of inter-county hurling but something fellow retiree Shane O\u2019Donnell said recently clicked with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used the phrase \u2018opportunity cost\u2019, referring to the amount of time he was putting into it and what he was getting out of it. That resonated with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you get older, you have to put more time into getting your body right. You\u2019re talking about travelling up and down the road four nights a week, gym sessions and probably three pitch sessions in a week when you\u2019re not playing a game. Even when there is a match at the weekend, you\u2019re getting together four times a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investment has been massive, probably more so than ever before. When I started in 2012 or 2013, I don\u2019t think the time commitment was anything like it is now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reflecting on Nickie Quaid\u2019s defining save from him in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final, Harnedy said he learned with the help of performance coach Gary Keegan to use it as a positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brought up quite often especially in the context when you\u2019re five or six points up, throw away the lead and Limerick go onto win the All-Ireland. It was tough at the time but it was something I used as a springboard. It was one moment in the game I couldn\u2019t let it define me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seamus Harnedy has admitted he was frustrated with his lack of starts for Cork this past season. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-663403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}