Matt O’Hanlon discusses how he arrived at inter-county retirement decision

Three long-serving Wexford hurlers retired ahead of the new inter-county campaign…

They included the St Annes duo of Liam OgMcGovern and Dee O’Keeffe, while former Wexford captain, Matthew O’Hanlon, also called time on his career.

This week, both Garry Doran and Ben Bernie of The Wexford Hurling Podcast caught up with Matthew O’Hanlon, who is currently residing in Australia. On the podcast, they discuss a range of topics including past results, his role as captain as a 22-year old under Liam Dunne, and some of the wonderful and darker days playing with Wexford.

One of the first topics that they discussed, however, was how Matthew O’Hanlon arrived at his inter-county retirement decision.

“It’s probably something I agonized over for a good long time. I probably didn’t fully make up my mind until after the club championship, but I had been thinking about since after the inter-county championship this year. There’s never a good time, I’d say. But, there’s a combination of things happened. I knew that I wanted to live and work abroad and to travel. I also knew I wanted to go on my own terms. I didn’t want to be the guy that hung on too long. Last year (2022), after Darragh Egan’s tenure finished up, I was in two minds then, given I didn’t know who was going to be the new manager – and my partner had just moved to Australia at the end of 2022. I came down for a couple of months to test out the lifestyle – and I was like ok, I like it here,” he said.

“But Keith had taken on the role at that stage – and in fairness to him, he had given me the freedom to go – to take my time and figure out what you want to do. And if think if he had approached me with the angle off you need to be back here – start pre season from day one and driving things on – I might have had a different decision. But I knew I was coming back, and it was very likely to be my last season. But then, season went relatively well on a personal level. I came back from quite bad injuries to be able to play the full championship. And then, things worked out; I got my visa for Australia and came down here – and I always knew that when I did step away, I’d find it difficult to still be in Wexford and physically capable of playing. And I knew that I wanted to take on a new challenge. Now that it’s out at the open, I’m at peace with it,” Matt O’Hanlon told the Wexford Hurling Podcast.

Interestingly, O’Hanlon also discussed how the door will remain open should he decide to come back, but he did reiterate that he doesn’t do things in half-measures.