Glen Rovers' Graham Callanan: ‘Finals are for winning, our days of being happy to get there are gone’

In a couple of sentences, Glen Rovers captain Graham Callanan illustrates how, on one hand, 2016 is a completely new experience and, on the other, the mission remains exactly the same.

Twelve months ago, the Glen dethroned Sarsfields in the county SHC final, ending a wait going all the way back to 1989. Now, the Blackpool outfit are back in a final – their third a in a row, having lost the 2014 decider to Sars – aiming to retain the Seán Óg Murphy Cup against Erin’s Own on Sunday in Páirc Uí Rinn.

“We’re the hunted now rather than the hunter, we’re definitely not used to it!” Callanan laughs.

“Being champions, you’re up there to be knocked but we can only go out and take the game at its merits, there’s a final there to be won.”

Now 34, Callanan – an All-Ireland medallist with Cork in 2004 – is playing in his fourth county final in seven years, though he admits he feared if he would ever experience glory with the Glen.

“I was always hopeful that we could get to finals but, deep down, I don’t know if we ever had a good enough team,’ he says.

“Thankfully, in the last few years we’ve put a good team together and managed to get there. When we did win it, for the first couple of weeks it was probably more relief than enjoyment.

“Obviously, over the winter, when you’ve time to reflect on it, you might be in work and it’d pop into your mind and you get that sense of enjoyment: ‘Thankfully, we finally got there’.

“In fairness, we came back at the start of us and got the ball rolling again. We’ve made it back to another final but, at the same time, finals are for winning, our days of being happy to get there are gone.

“We just want to get over the line now.”

Callanan was also skipper last year, putting in a performance for the ages from wing-back in the final. As well as lifting the trophy, he also had the honour of carrying it as he was chaired across the Christy Ring Bridge to the northside.

“It was a huge honour, something that you can’t even describe, really,” he says.

“I had been so long on the road, it just felt like a huge relief, whether I was captain or not captain didn’t make a difference.

“Over the years, when we won underage titles, we’d always be beeping going over the bridge, it was the thing to do.

“I got a lot of slagging in work about it, being carried over, but where it came from originally was that the bridge opened first the Glen had won the county and Christy Jr was lifted across.

“It was a good celebration, it’s good to have a bridge named after one of your former players!” The feelgood factor has continued into 2016, with the Glen representing Cork in the national Féile final. Callanan knows how important success is in terms of the long-term future.

“In fairness, a lot of the kids outside are from local areas and their parents would be involved, they’re very good to bring the kids back to play with the Glen,’ he says.

“You have to work at keeping that community spirit, in the winter nights the lights are on, there’s a buzz, it might draw in people who don’t know about it and they’d bring their kids then.”

In terms of the quest to retain the title, Callanan believes that the draw helped to focus the Glen.

“To be fair, I think it was a good thing that we got Sars in the second round because we knew that we’d have to be at the top of our game to have a hope there,” he says.

“We didn’t go back until later so the hunger was there, we had Carbery in the first round and got over them fairly handily, then we knew we had Sars and had to get the ball rolling there to have any chance.

“As well, we had beaten them in last year’s final and wanted to show that it wasn’t a once-off. It took long enough to get over them, they gave us a few trouncings over the years, so the motivation was there.”

That had to be shown again against Bishopstown in the quarter-finals, when the first seven points of the game all went to the western suburb.

“Obviously, Bishopstown came out of the blocks, seven points to nil, we had a man sent off, I thought that that was the end of it,’ Callanan says.

“They were playing all the hurling, they were winning every 50-50 battle and we didn’t play as we wanted to in the first-half. Thankfully, we came out in the second-half and got things going, started getting a few scores and matched their workrate and got over the line.”