Séamus Callanan still feels pain of missing penalty against Galway

Tipperary's leading scorer Séamus Callanan said at yesterday's announcement that he was the Opel GAA/GPA Hurler of the Month for August that he was still in pain after the controversial foul on him during last month's All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.

Callanan, having scored three goals, was taken down by opposing full back John Hanbury after catching the ball and turning in on goal. Badly dazed, he nonetheless opted to take the resulting penalty but the ball went high and over the bar.

He said yesterday that he was still feeling the after-effects of the incident.

“Yeah, sore. I’m still actually getting physio on the neck. I’m getting bad pains in my head. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken the penalty but I was in a bit of form there and things were working out well for me. Yeah, it was very sore. Still is.”

Asked had there been mild concussion, he said: “There probably was. I didn’t do anything for two weeks after it as regards club training. Just precautionary. I got an MRI scan on it and thankfully nothing came through out of that. Just resting it, minding it and being careful.

“Yeah I suppose it was dangerous but I suppose if someone else at the other end of the field was after scoring three goals, someone would have to put a stop to it too. Look, Galway won the game and maybe I shouldn’t have taken the penalty but I was taking them in training. I was always taking them really so that was our decision to make on the field so we live by that.”

Disappointment

Personal discomfort was eclipsed by the visceral disappointment of losing the semi-final to Galway, who in turn came up short in Sunday’s final against Kilkenny. A year ago

Tipperary

, with Callanan starring, played out a memorable drawn All-Ireland with Kilkenny and had been well fancied this year to return to the final in search of a first championship since 2010.

“It’s been heartbreaking,” he says. “I was at the All-Ireland final there last weekend and it was a hard day to put down when you’re not involved. Obviously, we would have had aspirations of being there in September.

“From the start of the year, that was our main goal. To come up short was very disappointing.”

Physical battle

Asked how he feels Kilkenny managed to deal with Galway in a manner that his team failed to do, Callanan accepts the consensus diagnosis.

“It was well publicised that we lost the – I suppose – physical battle,” he says. “Galway played with a fierce intensity against us and we just came up short. Kilkenny probably learned a lot from the Galway-Tipperary game. Kilkenny always play a high-intensity game built on work rate. Galway, I suppose, ran out of steam in the end and Kilkenny were coming stronger even for a finish. It was their unbelievable work rate that won it in the end along with their ability but their hooks and blocks count and tackle count would probably be a fair reflection of who won the game.”

He credits departing Tipp manager Eamon O’Shea with rebuilding his confidence by entrusting him with taking frees and pays tribute to Armagh football manager Kieran McGeeney who worked with the Tipperary hurlers last year.

“I worked with Kieran a good bit, outside of the training on a personal level. Kieran is very good and you’d have massive respect for someone who’s had the career he had. He knows best; he’s gone through what you’re going through. He was a massive benefit and gave me great confidence and a great sense that I could work on my own visualisation and mentality.”