Seamus Callanan injury could hasten gumshield rule

A debate about mandatory gumshields in hurling had been on the cards prior to Seamus Callanan’s teeth injury in Sunday’s Munster semi-final.

Ger Ryan, the chairman of the GAA’s medical, scientific and welfare committee, revealed the group will give consideration to the idea of extending the mouthguard rule they introduced in Gaelic football to the smaller ball game.

Ryan pointed out his own nine-year-old daughter, a fan of Callanan, had mentioned the need for gumshields in hurling having seen the injury the Tipperary forward, sustained in a challenge with Limerick goalkeeper Barry Hennessy.

Callanan, a hurler of the year candidate last year, received treatment in a Cahir dental clinic on Sunday evening after breaking a couple of teeth in the second-half incident. The 26-year-old was bleeding profusely and was forced to leave the field for eight minutes.

“I haven’t seen it on replay yet,” said Ryan, “but I’m told it was a genuine accident.

“It looked accidental so when somebody can be injured in such a way while wearing a faceguard you have to be take stock.

“I would say it (mandatory gumshields) is worthy of consideration. I wouldn’t want to be overreacting but it was something I had intended raising with the committee and obviously one of the things I will do is look at the insurance claim figures for any facial or dental injuries in the period since helmets were introduced (in 2010).”

Such claims have dropped considerably with the compulsory wearing of helmets. In 2009, there were 134 dental and 34 facial cases at adult level. The following year, the numbers dropped to 62 and 11 respectively. Last year, there were 59 dental and 12 facial claims in adult hurling.

Gumshields were made mandatory at all levels of Gaelic football at the start of last year.

Not surprisingly, teeth operation claims dropped from 198 in 2013 to 119 last year. In 2010, they stood at 236 claims.

Although masked helmets have been a verified success, there are still instances of serious head/facial injuries such as Westmeath’s Shane Power, who was hospitalised after being hit by a ball in the warm-up to the county’s Leinster quarter-final against Wexford earlier this month.