Cathal Séan Heffernan Andrews (born 27 April 2005) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Early and personal life

Heffernan was born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

. His father Rob and mother Marian are both Olympians, in race walking and 400m relay respectively.

Club career

Heffernan began his career with Ringmahon Rangers, signing for

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

in 2019. He made his senior debut for Cork City in the 2021 season. In March 2021 he trained with Italian clubs

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

, and turned professional with Cork in June 2021. He moved on loan to AC Milan in January 2022. He made his debut for Milan's under-18 team a few days later. In May 2022 he made his debut for the under-19 team. His transfer to Milan was made permanent in June 2022. He joined English club

in August 2023.

International career

Heffernan has played for the Republic of Ireland at youth level.

References

2005 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Cork City F.C. players AC Milan players Newcastle United F.C. players League of Ireland players Men's association football defenders Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Irish expatriates in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Association footballers from Cork (city) 21st-century Irish sportsmen {{Ireland-footy-bio-stub