O’Callaghan trying to smile through the pain

SPARE a thought for Jonathan O’Callaghan this week.

After a breakout season with the Cork intermediates last year, the Castletownroche clubman impressed for the seniors during the national league and started against Limerick in the championship.

Since then he’s delivered some impressive cameos as a substitute in the latter end of the championship, but that’s where the good news ends. The unluckiest man in Cork broke his cheekbone in training last week and is now facing an autumn, if not a winter, of discontent.

“I’m not too bad now,” said O’Callaghan last night, “I got out of hospital on Sunday. My face is still a bit swollen, there’s fair swelling high up on the cheekbone, and I’ve a fairly bloodshot eye, but I’m coming around.”

O’Callaghan was reasonably upbeat bearing in mind what he’s missing out on next Sunday - not to mention the seriousness of his injuries. “I had seven fractures in my cheek and it took eight screws and three plates to put it back together, so it’s sore enough. At least my teeth weren’t damaged, that’s something, but I still only started eating today.”

As so often happens, the injury was a complete accident, but it’s still vivid in the north Corkman’s memory.

“I can remember exactly what happened. John Gardiner was coming out with the ball and I was chasing after him. When he tried to clear the ball I hooked him and then we ran into a knot of four players. My hurley just flew back and it swung in through the faceguard on my helmet, right onto the bone. I knew straightaway it was a bad impact, but it was just sheer bad luck. I had a helmet on, and a faceguard on the helmet, but the hurley still came in through the faceguard. The pain knocked me out and I couldn’t open my mouth, so I knew immediately I was in trouble.

“The lads realised that there was a break, but it was only when they examined me in hospital that the doctors found the seven fractures. The rest of the panel have been very good, they called up to see me in hospital and Donal O’Grady called in twice.”

Out of hospital and recuperating at home, O’Callaghan is dealing with the reality of his injury, and its ramifications.

“Obviously it’s a sickener after a whole year’s training with the team to be missing out on the All-Ireland. At the moment I’m trying not to think about the fact that I’m missing out, I’m trying to keep it out of my mind. It’ll probably really get to me at the weekend, when I’ll want to be part of the team, but there’s nothing I can do about it, it’s just one of those things.

“I’ll try to put it out of my head, but I’m sure when I’m in the hotel next Sunday around 1 o’clock and the lads are getting ready to go to Croke Park, then it’ll really sink in that I’m not involved.”

Full of praise for the management’s efforts to keep him involved, O’Callaghan will travel up with the team: “I’ll probably tog out for the photographs with the team, but after that I’ll just have to smile and take it. Hopefully I’ll have an All-Ireland medal at the end of it.”

After the adrenalin rush of the All-Ireland final weekend comes the dragging wait to resume playing. O’Callaghan has been told by doctors to avoid contact sports for six weeks to two months: “All I’ll be allowed do is a bit of walking to keep myself ticking over. At least my club aren’t involved in any more competitions, so I’m not missing out on anything with them while I’m recovering.”

There was some silver lining in that O’Callaghan’s misfortune meant another north Cork native, Newtownshandrum’s James Bowles, benefitted and O’Callaghan has no problem finding encouragement for his replacement: “It’s nice for James to get called up to the panel, obviously, and I’ll be wishing him all the best. Being in hospital over the weekend, I didn’t know who was getting called up to the panel so it was news to me when I heard it. James is probably one of the up and coming hurlers, he’s big and strong and well able to hurl.”