Players are not machines, says Premier boss Michael Ryan

Delivering an injury bulletin on his wounded stars, Tipperary hurling manager Michael Ryan expressed concern his players are being overloaded by the early season calendar and warned they are “not machines”.

And Ryan stressed that burden must be considered carefully before plans to roll out expanded Munster and Leinster Championships are finalised.

Speaking at the launch of the Munster Championships at Muckross House in Killarney, Ryan had positive news on All Star attacker Seamus Callanan, who missed the Allianz League final defeat by Galway with a broken thumb.

“His injury is three weeks old. It should be a long long way towards healing. So we’re very hopeful and we expect to see Seamie back on the pitch this week. We need that to happen.”

Tipp face Cork in their Munster opener on May 21 and Ryan’s plans suffered a blow on Sunday when Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher came off injured in a club game.

“It’s probably too soon to diagnose Bonner but he did go off with a hamstring strain.

“The extent of that is not known right now. He was being seen today by our physio. But it does take 24 to 48 hours to manifest properly and get a proper assessment on it. But there’s certainly a question mark about Bonner right now.

“Niall O’Meara is out at the moment with a back strain and quite a few fellows have picked up niggly soft tissue injuries.

“Donagh Maher and John Meagher have both suffered with their hamstrings. And they are at reasonably similar levels of recovery but Cork will come too soon.”

Maher was injured playing for Lorrha-Dorrha against Templederry in the North Tipperary championship.

While Maher, recently back from army duty in Syria, hasn’t played as often as some of his team-mates, Ryan was alarmed that round of matches was played, following a set of County Championship games the week before.

“The facts are we had a four-week window between the finish of the league and the start of the Munster Championship, within which some of our players from the North division will have had two championship games.

“By the end of the league our boys had played eight games in 10 weeks.

“We are pushing these guys very hard. Very hard. They’re only human, they’re not machines. I think we have to keep an eye on that kind of thing in terms of the calendar.”

Asked if some of his stars were in an injury ‘red zone’ through overplaying, Ryan accepted injuries can also happen training with the county.

“We have to get a proper read. They could have been injured in with us as well. I can’t talk out of both sides of my mouth. They wouldn’t have been idle. My first concern would be my players. How are they supposed to recover and be fresh enough to be at their best within that timeframe?

“Those North championships were knockout. That’s full on. There was no holding back. These boys were playing to win. It’s your club. This is huge.”

Plans for a round-robin Munster Championship would give each county at least four matches before the All-Ireland series.

While Ryan sees value in the proposal, he warns player welfare must be considered first.

“I’d be very open minded about it. People and players as well want as many top quality games as they can possibly get within the realms of reality and what the body can take. And having some balance.

“We talk about young players and player fatigue. They are not professional. It is not the Premier League. These guys have very real lives, be it college or work or relationships they have to manage.

“Already these boys are doing a fantastic job and they give of themselves. We just need to be careful about overloading them. We’ve got a whole club structure behind it that needs to be nourished and protected as well.”

Ryan said Tipp had yet to decide whether to launch a further appeal against Jason Forde’s one-match ban for his altercation with Davy Fitzgerald in the league semi-final, the suspension having already been halved on appeal to the Central Hearings Committee.

“We’ve made no call on that just yet. I was at the appeal. The process worked. And we’ve got to trust the process. That process was made in good faith and we’ve got to trust that we will get the right outcome.

“I thought it was a thing and nothing on the day. Nobody was more surprised than I that he was cited in the first place.

“But there’s a live process. For me to comment doesn’t serve anybody.”