Where best to play Seamus Callanan?

DECLAN RYAN would have preferred a fit Brendan Maher at the start of this season but his return to action has given him plenty of stick to use against Seamus Callanan.

The Drom-Inch man didn’t have the greatest of days out against Dublin in the semi-final and Maher’s re-emergence gave the Tipperary management options. Callanan could have been sacrificed with Gearóid Ryan moving away from midfield to take up a spot in the half-forward line, leaving Maher to renew his 2010 central partnership with Shane McGrath.

Otherwise, and it was less likely, last year’s young hurler of the year could have been introduced in the place of the less experienced John O’Keeffe who Kilkenny could target. Maher, of course, played at wing-back in 2009.