Callanan hopes hours on road is route to success

STEPHEN GLENNON

If Clarinbridge captain Paul Callanan spends any more time with his own thoughts, he could well become one of the world’s finest philosophers.

For over a year or more now, Callanan has been making the long trips from Dublin for training, with just his thoughts and the car stereo to keep him company. At times, especially on those long, harsh Winter nights, it has been a lonely station.

“Yeah, I am still in Dublin . . . for my sins,” adds the affable property surveyor. “That said, the commute gets easier and easier with the more games you win. It definitely gets easier. I suppose, I have made my own track going up and down from Dublin to Galway, with all that coming and going.”

Indeed, Callanan, at this stage, could have singlehandedly paid for the toll bridges at Enfield and Cappataggle. “That is for sure,” he laughs. “Certainly, I have left enough rubber on the roads. Things could be worse, however. I could be stuck up in Dublin with nothing else to do.”

Thankfully, it’s quite the contrary as the 23-years-old captain looks to Croke Park today. While some may say that never in their wildest dreams did they think they would get an opportunity like this – a crack at an All-Ireland club hurling title – Callanan, for his part, has harboured the ambition ever since Clarinbridge’s last appearance in a national decider almost a decade ago.

“I was only a nipper back then, but I remember being in Thurles on that very day when they came up short against a very strong and seasoned Birr team,” says the Clarinbridge captain. “I think, maybe, the experience stood to the Birr lads, but hopefully those same experiences will stand to our lads now, because we still have a couple of those guys involved.

“Obviously, it was very disappointing that day and we are still chasing that first elusive All-Ireland title. It was an experience for the club to be there (in 2002); it was such a big occasion. It definitely had a knock-on effect on me, and, hopefully, it will be the same for the younger members of the club when they see their friends, family and neighbours playing at the highest level on St Patrick’s Day.”

In many respects, that’s the beauty of it. There is not, for want of a better idiom, that ‘natural distance’ that exists between county players and their followers in the club scene. Quite the opposite. Those from the ’Bridge who turn out to support their own today will be tied by blood or friendship. That’s the way of the parish.

“It is brilliant for the entire parish,” beams Callanan. “There is no better feeling than playing for your club at any level really. It is a huge honour. We are just glad to be in this position and very fortunate to be here. At the end of the day, though, we have to treat this as just another game; we don’t want to be getting too carried away with any kind of hype.”However, for Callanan and those who have soldiered with up along the grades – such as Eanna Murphy, Eoin Forde, Barry Daly and Conor Forde – a victory in today’s All-Ireland decider would represents a triumph of biblical proportions.

“We never won anything really (coming up through the underage ranks),” he notes. “At U-16, we did win an A2 county final alright (2002), but that was pretty much the height of it. We were very unlucky to come up a little bit short at minor level, losing out at county semi-final stage in the ‘A’ competition two years in a row. Then, at U-21, we lost out in a replay in the county final – it was deferred a year on from when it was supposed to be played – against Sarsfields (2008).

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.