O’Mara injury setback as former Dub joins football panel
By Shane Brophy
There are mixed fortunes on the injury situation for Tipperary just one game into the 2021 season.
Bryan O’Mara, who was impressive in his second senior start against Limerick last Saturday, sustained a broken right arm and will be out of action for four to six weeks, and is likely to miss the rest of the national league.
It is a huge blow for the 22-year-old Holycross/Ballycahill clubman who was putting his hand up to be in the mix for the championship and while he should be back in time for Tipp’s first championship game in early July, missing out on the remaining four league games and training for the next month or so will make it difficult to make a further impression on the management, however, he should have credit in the bank for his performance against the All-Ireland champions.
Indeed, the incident in which he sustained the injury showed his ability as he made a tremendous read to cut out a Limerick attack and as he was breaking out with the ball, he was challenged Limerick’s Kyle Hayes. The tackle looked innocuous enough but a number of pundits, including former inter-county referee Brian Gavin noted it was one the Limerick defender should have been sanctioned for.
Apart from the unlucky O’Mara, all the other nineteen players who saw action against Limerick came through unscathed as Tipperary quickly turn their attention to the visit of Cork to Semple Stadium this Saturday evening.
One player that definitely won’t be lining out this weekend is reappointed Tipperary captain Seamus Callanan as he continues to work on a long standing back injury, which he confirmed won’t need surgery.
“I am on a plan and it is getting better,” he said on Tipp FM’s Extra Time show on Monday night.
“I have been out with it for a while now and it has been a challenge, but we are making a bit of progress.
“Hopefully, the next few weeks we’ll kick on a bit further. The next three or four weeks I should be back in action again.”
Football & Camogie Leagues to start
The resumption of competitive Gaelic Games steps up a gear this weekend as the Tipperary senior football and camogie teams return to competitive action for the first time in 2021.
The senior camogie team begin at 2.00pm on Saturday when they travel to Cork for their division 1 opener, while at the same time at Drom GAA pitch at the Ragg, the same counties intermediate teams will meet in the division 2 league opener.
Later in the afternoon at 5.00pm, the Tipperary senior footballers return to the scene of where their 2020 Munster title hopes nearly came a cropper as they take on Limerick in their division 3 opener at the LIT Gaelic Grounds.
Tipperary will be gunning for promotion and build on the momentum earned from last years historic provincial success.
One interesting new face on the panel is Philip Ryan from the St Bridget’s club in Dublin who joins the panel under the grandparent rule. Ryan is a son of Tommy Ryan, a native of Kilcommon, whose brother is Dinny Ryan who won an All-Ireland senior hurling medal in 1971. Philip Ryan won an All-Ireland Under 21 Football medal with Dublin in 2012, scoring 2-3 in the semi-final against Cork, while also appeared in a number of O’Byrne Cup and National League games at senior level, and has a senior All-Ireland medal from 2015.