Tough choice for Tipperary's Steven O’Brien in picking hurling

Steven O’Brien has insisted he agonised for a considerable time over his decision to drop Gaelic football and focus on hurling solely with Tipperary in 2016.

The All-Ireland U21 football finalist and senior regular dropped the bombshell news recently that he intends to give his full commitment to new hurling manager Michael Ryan.

It’s a huge blow to Tipp’s progressive football set-up as O’Brien and Colin O’Riordan were the midfield duo in last May’s U21 final and looked set to constitute the senior engine room for the next decade.

But O’Riordan has since taken up an AFL contract and O’Brien said that in his situation, he didn’t want to knock back the hurlers and be left wondering ‘what if’ in years to come.

“It wasn’t something that I was able to decide when he (Ryan) was on the end of the phone,” said O’Brien. “I needed a week or 10 days to think and I looked to people that I trusted who were outside of football and hurling, people I trusted who were non-biased.

“They were all saying the same thing, that football has been brilliant to me and, personally, I’ve enjoyed every minute and it’s a huge honour for me but this opportunity may not come up again this time next year. Sometimes you get these chances and if you don’t take them, you might regret it.”

O’Brien believes the specific timing of Tipp moving from one manager to another, and the likelihood that new faces will get a chance to impress under Ryan, particularly in light of a number of recent retirements, was significant.

“Definitely,” he nodded. “You’d see next year as an opportunity or a chance for most lads coming in there to make a mark. There are some legends after leaving the team and it’s up to the likes of ourselves now to try and replace them. I’d definitely be looking at trying to get in there in that team.”

O’Brien, a DCU student who has just exited the U21 grade, conceded that he hasn’t played much hurling in the last couple of years. For this reason, he said that seeking to become a high profile dual player in 2016 wasn’t an option as he needs to devote all his time to sharpening his hurling skills.

“If you want to take it seriously, you have to have the hurley in your hand every day or you have to have the football in your hand every day and it’s very difficult to do both,” said O’Brien.

“I suppose, for lads that are more established in the hurling, it might be easier for them to balance the football as well.

“For someone like myself, I need every day of the week with the hurley to get the eye back in. At the moment, it’s just not feasible to try the two.”

O’Brien was speaking at the launch of the Liberty Insurance GAA National Games Development Conference which takes place in Croke Park on January 22/23.