Lehane’s toughest exam: finding the soccer/ study balance

Stephen Walsh[dropcap style=boxed]O[/dropcap]ut with an ankle injury for a few weeks as Cork City continue their title challenge, Rob Lehane hopes to be back for September’s match-up against fellow high-fliers Shamrock Rovers. Lehane will be eager to add to his 16 appearances this season while, being a striker, he’ll want to see his goal tally of four to increase with the business end of the season just beginning.Lehane has shown the benefits of hard work and perseverance as he was signed for Cork City from the UCC Munster Senior League team back in March, after impressing in the Collingwood Cup just before the League of Ireland season started. This involved crossing over from the Farm to Bishopstown for training, something that former UCC player Josh O’Shea also did back in July when signing for City.While in the skull and crossbones he played in the Collingwood Cup last February in UCD, where UCC went into the competition as second favourites. However UCC lost in the semi-final to surprise winners NUIM 2-0.Lehane sees the step up between Collingwood Cup and League of Ireland as huge; “the whole environment is different with better players, bigger crowds and more expectations. Plus everybody wants to progress to League of Ireland football.” However the move has been aided by the fact that he followed in the footsteps of UCC’s Collingwood manager, John Caulfield.Balancing studies and sport is something that the second year Commerce student has had to learn over the past year, and he is thankful to some of the support services that have enabled that balance.“I struggled with the maths part of the course but I had a chat with the grind service here in UCC and they set me up with grinds. They were a great help.”The big difference between this year and last with Cork City is that training has moved to the mornings and is no longer in the evenings as it was under Tommy Dunne. This has made it more difficult for Lehane, as he acknowledged in saying; “Last season we trained in the evenings, which was fine with college during the day, but now we train in the morning which makes it harder to balance with college.”An added bonus of attending UCC is that the facilities in the Mardyke Arena, which are second to none, are close at hand and Cork City currently uses them for their recovery sessions.Lehane is very complementary of the facilities and staff, whom he regularly encounters as he is currently using the anti gravity treadmill for his ankle in the hope of making the Shamrock Rovers tie. “I’m currently out with the ankle but hopefully I’ll be back for the Rovers game if all goes well.”He spoke about his aims for the near future with Cork City; “I was doing okay up until the injury and hope to just try and get back into the team and challenge for trophies with the team.”That challenge for trophies has owed much to the large crowds in the Cross, and Lehane hopes that the Rebel Army will be out in force on his return; “This season there has been quality football and the crowds have responded and enjoyed themselves.”Main image: eyetothegrounds.blogspot.ie