Cathal O’Sullivan first kicked a ball at 7 months old. 

He couldn’t remember who ushered him towards to his first football but recalls growing up and seeing it played on TV and imitated what he’d seen on the screen.

That was in the year 2007, for Irish fans, that would be the same year that our Ireland senior team moved to Croke Park as Lansdowne Road was being developed. Feel old?

Cathal, who only turned 18 in March, is part of a new generation of Irish footballer. In yester year those who dreamed of playing the beautiful game took inspiration from Match of the Day, Football Italia or Soccer Republic now it’s YouTube compilations, Instagram reels and TikToks.

“I would watch Ronaldinho videos and go out onto the green of the estate where I lived. I’d watch his tricks, flicks, dribbling style and just try them out. Then after him it was Messi, it had to be Messi.”

Those games out on the field in Glanmire would be the making of the Cork youngster. At age three he took his first steps in the game when he joined Leeside AFC on Little Island, Co.Cork.

It was a club his grandfather Jimmy O’Sullivan co-founded and it wouldn’t be long before Cathal made his own impact on the club. “I was around three or four years of age and I got asked to play for our Under-7s team. That’s where it all began. I was playing three years up and I was there until I was around 13. They were great times.”

His talents were quickly spotted and it was a matter of time before the tricky wide man was spotted.

“I went from Leeside and joined Cork City. I got a call to come down. It’s Cork City, the biggest club in Cork so there was no hesitation about going there.”

As rapid as his rise to the Leeside Under-7s, Cathal hadn’t even got used to his Cork City Academy jersey when he was being measured for a national shirt.

“My first call-up for Ireland, came so fast,” recalled Cathal. “I was playing an Under-14s game for Cork City against Shamrock Rovers. And at underage they’re two very strong teams, probably over the years the best underage teams, so I remember Jason Donohue (Ireland Boys Under-15s Head Coach) was there and he came over and said it was the best Under-14s game he’d seen from Cork City. He was talking to myself and Matthew Moore, who is now at Hoffenheim, and we were invited to a training camp and eventually got the call for the final squad.”

His debut for his country would come in September 2021. Cathal was named captain and it couldn’t have gone much better for the Corkonian. The 14-year old, whose captain’s armband took up most of his sleeve, was inspirational. He scored the opening goal with a fine clip over the advancing goalkeeper before providing an assist for Darragh Marshall in a 2-0 win for the Irish.

“Debuts don’t come much better than that.”

Cathal would be an ever present for Ireland that season playing 12 times but disaster struck for the teenager ahead of the Under-16s international season.

“I got injured in a friendly against Bohemians at Abbotstown. In the first five minutes I went forward jerked my knee trying to reach for a ball and felt a pop. I tried to warm up and come back on but  I didn’t feel it until a day later when my knee was the size of a balloon and got it checked.”

Cathal was out of the game for more than a year. It was his first long-term injury and required an arduous road to recovery.

But little did he know his hard work would pay off: “I was out for a year and a month before I came back. I played for City’s Under-17s and a week later I was part of the first team at Cork City – it was amazing. 

"I was 16, in the first team, before the injury I was playing Under-15s so it was crazy I had skipped so many age groups.”

Cathal cites his former manager Tim Clancy for giving him a chance at club level that would open up the door to the Cork City first team “He was brilliant with the younger players and had all the time in the world for them– all he wanted was the best for us. I couldn’t be more thankful for him,” he said.

Back from injury and now a first-team player. Cathal would have to wait weeks for his first City goal. But he would soon earn a reputation as a man for the spectacular. He explained: “My first goal was Bray at home. I needed a goal, I was playing six or seven games and hadn’t scored and I just needed to have that feeling of scoring. I was up against my pal Freddie Turley, I remember taking it on the inside and just hitting it and thankful it went in. I’ll never forget the adrenaline rush – it was brilliant.

“I won goal of the season for the one against Wexford, I didn’t know it went in. I heard it hit the post and thought I may as well go ahead and celebrate but yeah that will be a goal that stands out.”

A player who gets fans on the edge of his seats he was part of Tom Mohan’s Under-19s squad which reached the Elite Round of qualifiers for the 2025 Under-19s EUROs. Shaking off disappointment and with a new manager in place at club level, he put focus on achieving more.

“I had a conversation with my now manager Ger Nash, he said what would be your aim and I said I want to get a call-up to the Under-21s squad. I found out a squad was due to be picked and I got the call, I didn’t know how to react, it was hard to put it into words because all I want to do now is keep going because I know I’m one more step away from the senior team and it’s such a proud moment for me and my family.

“When you see all the boys who were in the Under-21s squad last year being involved with the senior team it gives you a boost. Even when you see the reaction of the current Under-21s lads seeing Killian Phillips make his debut, you want that to be you. It shows there is a pathway into the first team and that Heimir Hallgrimsson is looking at us, and knows that you could get a call-up any time so long as you’re performing. For me in my head I want the best out of what I could do.”

And already watching the Under-21s from the stands has given him inspiration to earn more caps. Cathal attended the games in Cork and admitted he pictured himself playing for his country at The Cross. He said: “I got to a few Under-21s games in Cork. The Italy game, the atmosphere was incredible, but that’s Cork for you!  I was watching the games and you’re thinking I want to be part of this, Jim Crawford’s teams they play proper football, you see that in training, everything is fast, sharp, the standard is very high, that’s what I love about it.”