Eoin Cadogan started his electrician apprenticeship in 2004 and it was six years later, a month before the 2010 All-Ireland football final, when he was let go.
As a young fella at the time, and with an All-Ireland to distract him, Cadogan wasn’t too concerned back then but still, little did he know that he’d never work as an electrician again.
He travelled to Australia the following year and that was when, having been given the tour by Setanta Ó h’Ailpín, he got a taste of strength and conditioning at the top level of Aussie Rules football.
Cadogan takes up the story from there, a story that sees him now as a strength and conditioning coach who runs his own company Dark Focus.
“The economy was one of the big reasons (why I stopped being an electrician.)
“There was 130 something people working when I started my apprenticeship in 2004 and when I got let go in August 2010, there were only 15 or 16 left.
“Being a young fella back then, just 23, and getting ready for an All-Ireland final, I said ‘look, the break will do me good,’ but I never returned to it. I kind of worked in sales for a year or two after the All-Ireland, it really wasn’t for me. I travelled over to Australia then, after the All-Ireland for a period, and I did a bit of observing and training with GWS Giants.
“Setanta was over there at the time and it was a real eye-opener in terms of professional sport, how they saw their bodies as machines really in terms of maximising what you can do.”
The seed had been sewn in his mind and when he returned, he knew what he wanted to do.
“I came back and did the Bachelor of Science degree in Setanta and haven’t looked back. I’ve had work experience in Armagh GAA, I have my own business as well, Dark Focus, and I work in Apple European headquarters as well (as a PT).
“It was a big career shift, but it’s something I find massively rewarding. I love seeing people get better.”
Cadogan retired from inter-county GAA at the start of this year and, as an All-Ireland winning footballer, and a Munster championship winning hurler, he’ll go down as one of the last ever dual players at the top level of Gaelic games. The Douglas player says that, on the back of this more condensed season, his body is no longer able to stand up to the demands of playing dual even at club level but that’s more to do with pushing on he says, rather than excessive demands.
“I definitely preferred hurling as a young fella, because I was useless as a footballer. Then again, a lot of fellas will say I was still useless when I was playing senior football for Cork.
“Looking back, both football and hurling were really good to me, and it was a great achievement to represent my county in both. As challenging as it was, it was a great thing to do because I just can’t see anyone doing it again really.
“It was obviously difficult to be watching on to see team-mates going out of the championship so early but look, I’m a spectator, a supporter now.
“I’m happy I did all I could for the 15 years that I was there, and I did all I could.”
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