Injured Callanan backing teammates to do the business

By Shane Brophy

When you get to the latter stage of a sporting career, the last thing a player wants is injury preventing them from being part of the days you have left.

That is the frustration that has befallen Seamus Callanan this year as he looks set to miss out on the group stage of the Munster Championship.

The Drom & Inch clubman has been largely fortunate in terms of injury since he was first drafted onto the panel in 2008 and has started every Tipperary senior championship game since 2014. A back problem has followed Callanan around since 2018 but he has tended to be ready come championship.

However, a thumb injury sustained early last month which was set to rule him out of the games with Waterford and Clare but has since become infected which has delayed his recovery and will be under pressure to feature at all come the games with Limerick and Cork.

Speaking recently at the launch of O’Neill’s sponsorship of the All-Ireland Under 20 Hurling Championship, Callanan admitted his frustration at not being able to prepare for the championship, particularly with a new management team to impress.

“ah look sure that's just the way it is,” he said philosophically.

“I suppose ideally you want a full run of fitness, and you want to get your hard work in through the pre-season and all that.

“To be fair my back has been holding up well. Colm (Bonnar) gave me an extra bit of time over the winter to concentrate on really having that so that came back really well. I Just needed a bit of gametime throughout the league, which unfortunately I haven't been able to get now. But look all I can do is concentrate on what I can control really at the moment. It's sport, it's contact sport, injuries happen. I suppose in the broader scheme of things, it could have been a lot worse.”

He added: “There are people that have ACL injuries, mine isn't going to rule me out for the full year. I'm pretty positive. Everyone else is training pretty hard; somebody is going to get a shot and there was no guarantee that I was going to start. I will work as hard as I can behind the scenes and I'm more than confidence with the lads who will represent Tipperary on the 17th will do the business. They are great lads are busting to get those jerseys.”

If this Munster Championship were played on paper, Tipperary’s championship campaign will be coming to an end on May 22nd as they are seen by many as one of the two teams that won’t emerge into the All-Ireland Series.

There has been largely little or no chat about Tipperary in the run up to the start of the championship, with no real momentum coming from a National League campaign where they did win three of their five games.

“That's not a bad position to be in” added Callanan of Tipperary coming in under the radar.

“I think we found a lot of; we didn't find them, we probably knew they were there anyway, but there's been a lot of really good performances from lads that have got a lot of gametime throughout the league.

“You'd have to be happy with the form of some of the players there. The likes of Mark Kehoe’s of the world and that.

“I think there's a lot of positives. Obviously for our first round down in Walsh Park, that's going to be difficult, the quality team they are, I suppose when they played us in the league a few weeks ago. We have a lot of work to put in over the next few weeks to be right but there's really good lads there and everyone's putting their shoulder to the wheel, so it won't be from a lack of effort anyway. We'll be as ready as we can be.”

With Colm Bonnar in his first year in charge and a Tipperary team that will line-up against Waterford next Sunday shorn Callanan, as well as Brendan & Padraic Maher, John O’Dwyer, Niall O’Meara and John O’Dwyer from last year’s campaign, it is a lot of experience to be without all in one go.

However, Callanan feels that while Tipperary in a period of transition, it can be a quick one as there is enough talent there if the new faces get up to speed quickly.

“Look, I think there was probably credence for some new blood to be included in the Tipperary setup,” he added.

“It's there now so...you know, there's nobody happy unless we're winning and that's the same with every county. I think the lads have shown up really well. In fairness to most of the young lads that have started most of the games, they actually have decent enough experience over the last number of years. They've got a taste for Championship and a taste for the levels that they need to be at to perform well in the Championship. I think that...look, I think there's been a lot of very positive performances. I'd mention Mark Kehoe, Jake Morris, these kind of guys throughout the league, they're going to be the future of Tipperary hurling going forward. Now is the time for them to be driving the standard, which they are. They're great lads. They have a great attitude and a great willingness to train hard.

“I don't know would you call it transition or whatever it is, but Colm will be picking his best 15 that he thinks is going to give him the best chance of winning the first round of the Championship and whoever he decides is going to be on the pitch that day is who he believes is going to represent Tipp the best that day. With the games coming thick and fast, you probably are going to have to have a big panel built up as well. So, everyone is going to be hugely important to the year.”

With the round-robin format returning for the first time since 2019 following two Covid impacted years which saw the knockout/qualifier format used for the last two championships, you would think the pressure shouldn’t all in on the first game, but Callanan feels the first game is vitally important in terms of setting the tone for the rest of the campaign.

“Nothing beats winning games and momentum and if you can get that on the 17th of April, you'll put yourself in with a good chance of driving on from there,” he said.

“In 2018, we got off to a losing start. It's tough, it is hard if you do that. Look, you can only really concentrate on one game at a time. I know they come so quick, but you can only concentrate on that first game and hopefully if you got a win there it could give you a bounce for the rest of the Championship."