Fanning champing at the bit for Premier chance

THESE are tough times for Killenaule’s Declan Fanning. An All-Star at full-back for Tipp two years ago, injury struck at the start of 2008 and Declan was forced to sit back and watch as Paul Curran, from the rival parish of Mullinahone, slotted in to make the position his own.

This week, as Tipperary ready themselves for their opening round Munster championship match against old rivals Cork, Paul Curran is still in the driving seat and Declan is doing his damnedest to make an impression, hoping he can still catch the eye of manager Liam Sheedy.

Even at work, Declan can’t catch a break. He’s in Coolmore, home to some of the top stud horses on the planet, standard-bearer in the equine breeding world, a place that you would imagine echoes with whispers, the name of yet another ‘sure thing’ in an upcoming race, a chance to supplement the wage cheque in hard times.

No such luck for Declan, however. He laughed: “You have to be in Ballydoyle (where Coolmore’s best are trained by the legendary Aidan O’Brien) for that! I’m in the maintenance end in Coolmore. I’ve nothing to do with horses, looking after tractors and jeeps and that.”

In truth, Declan doesn’t look at all like the kind of guy who believes in easy bounty and he carries that same philosophy to his hurling career. When finally he was fit again last year he could have gone sour when he didn’t automatically get his place back, could have sulked and wished ill on the man who had usurped his position. He didn’t, and far from it.

“It was very frustrating but I couldn’t bring that in, I had to remember I was part of a panel and I couldn’t be selfish about it. I was disappointed I wasn’t on the team, but there were another 15 guys disappointed also, that they weren’t starting. The team had a fierce good year last year, they played very consistently in all the games, the backs especially. I just had to try wait for a place to come up but it just didn’t happen.”

Wait, and pray, perhaps, pray that someone else might pick up a knock, or have a stinker?

“No, you don’t wish that any other players get injured. Although you would like to be playing you’re in there for Tipperary and that’s the number one goal. If I wasn’t disappointed, I shouldn’t be in there. But I had no problem with any of the boys and you would be wishing them well out there, you wouldn’t like to see anyone playing badly.”

As he points out above, he’s not alone in his disappointment.

Along with Michael Ryan and Eamonn O’Shea, his co-selectors, Liam Sheedy has built a very strong panel in Tipperary, such that no-one can feel complacent.

“I’m not guaranteed a place in the team for Sunday – none of us is,” said Fanning. “There’s serious competition for places, and Liam is in a great position that way; no matter who goes out of the team someone is ready to get in there and is ready to hold onto that jersey. There are 10 U21 players on the Tipp panel and they added a real jizz to the training and real jizz to the whole outfit. They’re hurling without fear, they don’t seem to have any worries going into a game. They’re the first lads out on the field at training, they’re training hard and they’ll hit you as well, they’re not afraid of anything. That attitude of the younger players, of playing without fear, rubs off on everyone.

“As you get older you’re thinking it would be great to win a Munster, or an All-Ireland final, but when you’re younger you have the carefree attitude to just go out and hurl away and you hurl best when you have that attitude.”