Séamus Callanan

Club

Callanan plays his club hurling with Drom-Inch and has enjoyed some success.

In 2011 Callanan was captain of the club senior team as Drom-Inch reached the championship decider. Clonoulty-Rossmore provided th opposition on that occasion, however, Drom-Inch claimed their first county club championship following a 1–19 to 2–14 victory.

Minor and under-21

Callanan first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Tipperary minor hurling team. He enjoyed much success in this grade as Tipperary reached the All-Ireland decider via the "back-door" in 2006. Three-in-a-row hopefuls Galway provided the opposition, however, Tipp powered to 2–18 to 2–7 victory. It was Callanan's sole All-Ireland medal in that grade.

Callanan subsequently joined the Tipperary under-21 team. He won a Munster medal in this grade in 2008 following a controversial one-point defeat of Clare. Tipp later reached the All-Ireland, however, Callanan's side were defeated by Kilkenny.

Senior

Callanan made his senior competitive debut for Tipperary in a National League game against Offaly in 2008. It was a successful campaign as Tipp remained undefeated in the National League before meeting Galway in the final. In an exciting game Tipp emerged victorious by 3–18 to 3–16 and Callanan collected his first National League winners' medal. Tipperary later reached the Munster final where they defeated a resurgent Clare team by 2–21 to 0–19. It was Callanan's first Munster winners' medal. Tipperary were subsequently defeated in a tense All-Ireland semi-final by Waterford on a scoreline of 1–20 to 1–18.

Callanan won his second Munster medal in 2009 as Tipp defeated Waterford by 4–14 to 2–16. After a six-week lay-off and a facile semi-final win over Limerick, Tipp qualified for an All-Ireland final meeting with Kilkenny. For much of the match it looked as if Tipp would pull off a shock and deny 'the Cats' a record-equaling four-in-a-row. Two quick goals in the space of a minute, one from a penalty by Henry Shefflin, sealed a 2–22 to 0–23 victory and defeat for Tipperary.

After surrendering their Munster title to Cork at the first hurdle in 2010, Tipperary regrouped in the qualifiers and reached a second successive All-Ireland decider. Kilkenny, a team chasing a fifth successive championship, provided the opposition and a great game was expected. Tipperary got off to a great start which was bolstered by an early Lar Corbett goal. He subsequently completed a hat-trick of goals and Tipperary had a fourth by Noel McGrath to deny Kilkenny's drive-for-five and secure a remarkable and convincing 4–17 to 1–18 victory. It was Callanan's first All-Ireland medal.

Tipperary returned as provincial kingpins once again in 2011. A 7–19 to 0–19 trouncing of Waterford in the southern decider gave Callanan a third Munster medal. For the third successive year, Tipperary faced off against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final, however, on this occasion Kilkenny were slight underdogs going up against the new champions. Kilkenny started quickly and never surrendered the lead in the 2–17 to 1–16 victory.

In spite of an indifferent National League campaign, Tipperary were regarded as potential All-Ireland champions once again. A 2–17 to 0–16 defeat of Waterford in the provincial decider gave Callanan a fourth Munster medal in five seasons. Tipperary later faced a humiliating 4–24 to 1–15 defeat by eventual champions Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final.

On 23 February 2014, Callanan scored 3–6 against Kilkenny in round 2 of the hurling league and was man of the match in the semi-final win against Clare where he scored 12 points.

Callanan scored 2–5 in the replay of the 2014 All-Ireland Hurling Final against Kilkenny, which Tipperary lost by 2–17 to 2–14. In total he scored 9–50 during the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, with 9–16 coming from play to finish as the top scorer in the championship. In October 2014, Callanan won his first All Stars Award after a successful 2014 campaign, being picked at full-forward. He was nominated for Hurler of the Year, but lost out to Richie Hogan of Kilkenny.

On 16 August 2015, Callanan scored 3–9 (3–4 from play) and was awarded the man of the match by the Sunday Game in the one point defeat to Galway in the 2015 All-Ireland Championship Semi-final. Callannan finished the 2015 Championship with a total of 5–20. In October 2015, Callanan was nominated for the Hurler of the Year award, but lost out for a second year running, this time to Kilkenny's TJ Reid. In November 2015, Callinan picked up his second All Star award, being picked at full-forward.

Callinan started Tipperary's opening Championship game of 2016 against Cork on 22 May, scoring eight points in a nine-point victory. He followed that up by scoring 1-6 against Limerick in the Munster semi-final on 19 June. He scored 1-11 against Waterford in the Munster Final victory on 10 July 2016, to win his sixth Munster Senior Hurling medal. On 4 September, Callinan scored 0-9 from play and 0-13 in total as Tipperary won the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final, beating Kilkenny on a 2-29 to 2-20 scoreline. Callinan was also named as the man of the match for the final and ended the championship year with a scoring total of 2-47 with 2-16 coming from play. He received his third All Star that November at full-forward, but was sensationally denied the Hurler of the Year for the third year in a row. Despite being the clear favourite to claim the award, Callanan was denied by Waterford's Austin Gleeson. In November 2016, Callanan was named as the new vice-captain of the Tipperary team for 2017. Callanan has scored totals of 9-50, 5-20 and 2-47 from 2014 to 2016 in 15 championship games with an average of 11 points per game. In December 2016, Callanan was nominated for the 2016 RTÉ Sports Person of the Year award.

Inter-provincial

Callanan has also lined out with Munster in the Inter-provincial Championship. On 11 December 2016, Callanan scored 1-7 against Ulster in the 2016 GAA Interprovincial Championships semi-final.

Career statistics

Team