Callanan in defence of forward colleagues

SEAMUS CALLANAN has rejected the suggestion that Tipperary’s half-forward line is a weak link that threatens to scupper the county’s ambitions of claiming a first All-Ireland title since 2001.

The unit has come in for criticism time and again over the course of the last few years with the latest inquest being held by Ger Loughnane on last weekend’s Sunday Game during the programme’s annual hurling championship preview. Callanan, in Dublin yesterday to help promote an exam support guide created for minor GAA players, believes such talk in unfair.

“Yeah, I definitely do, considering the three of us were nominated for All Stars last year and we’re still ‘the bad Tipperary half-forward line’. I don’t think it makes sense really, when you go down to comparing our scores in games to any other teams. We’d be up there with them if not ahead of them.

“So I don’t see where people get this obsession from. Maybe people want the old-style hurling but the way hurling has gone these days, it’s gone so quick and fast that you can’t afford just to have a man standing underneath the ball. You have to be moving the whole time. That’s what we do, that’s our game so what can you do?”

A nominee for Young Hurler of the Year in 2008, Callanan was the fulcrum of the line last season at centre-forward but it remains to be seen who his wing men will be when they face Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday week.

Pat Kerwick and John O’Brien filled those roles last year but the former is struggling with fitness while the feeling in the county is that Seamus Hennessy or even Lar Corbett could be handed the number 12 jersey in place of O’Brien.

Whoever starts, they will be competing not just with their markers but with the perception that Tipp’s half-forward line is a poor imitation of Kilkenny’s and Loughnane pointed to TJ Reid’s likely role as a sub this season as evidence of the All-Ireland champions’ strength in depth in that sector. Good, bad or indifferent, the half-forward line is undoubtedly crucial.

“Yeah, I suppose it’s vital to be winning puck-outs. It breaks off the puck-outs and that’s a huge part in whether you’re going to win or not. If you’re not going to win your puck-outs it’s going to be difficult to win the game so it is very important.”

Meanwhile, Cork defender Eoin Cadogan made his comeback to hurling action in a challenge match on Monday night and looks likely to be fit in time for Sunday week’s Munster SHC quarter-final against Tipperary in Páirc Ui Chaoimh. Cadogan missed the close of Cork’s NHL league campaign and the league decider against Galway due to a foot injury, he featured in a challenge match between the Cork senior and intermediate hurling sides in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Monday night for 35 minutes and reported no ill-effects afterwards.

Cadogan was absent for his club Douglas in their Cork SFC victory over Ballincollig last weekend but is now on course for his comeback in the May 30 championship battle. The news will be a boost to manager Denis Walsh who continues to have injury worries over midfielder Tom Kenny and attacker Michael Cussen ahead of the game. Kenny has a hamstring problem and Cussen is recovering from a broken finger.