His league and championship career at senior level with the Cork county team spanned fourteen seasons from 1983 to 1997.
After winning a number of divisional and county championship medals in all grades from under-12 to under-21, Cahalane joined the senior team in 1979.
Cahalane made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he was selected for the Cork minor team.
Over the course of the next fourteen seasons, Cahalane won two All-Ireland medals as part of back-to-back triumphs in 1989 and 1990.
The national team, with Cahalane playing in defence, claimed victory in the first series.