Callanan’s focus is trained on avoiding the hype

THE idiosyncrasies of the position mean that goalkeepers on any squad are often close friends. They push each other and trade ideas, tend to share rooms, too, if teams are away for weekends. But even for goalkeepers, the relationship that Colm Callanan has with his deputy, James Skehill is fairly unusual – in that he has been Skehill’s personal trainer. Callanan, who claimed his first All-Star last year at 33, underwent a career change after being an engineer. His Elite Fitness academy gym in Gort hit the headlines last year when images of Skehill’s body transformation – following a 12-week programme devised by his goalkeeping colleague on the Galway panel –went viral

‘Yeah, James got a bit of coverage for us alright last year,’ he says.

As well as working in Gort, Callanan (left) lives in Kinvara, so he is fairly close to the Clare border. ‘A good, long puck would get a ball into Clare,’ he smiles. But if there is a buzz around places like Gort and Tubber in the past few days, the goalkeeper has done his best to ignore it.

‘It’s not something I get stuck into, to be honest. That is what supporters get caught up in and my work lends itself to avoiding all of that anyway.’

Callanan’s own Galway career has framed his pragmatic outlook at the wild form swings associated with the Tribesmen. Although he was drafted into the squad in 2007, he took some time to establish himself and was called in as an emergency third-choice goalkeeper by Anthony Cunningham, days before the 2012 All-Ireland final replay when Skehill was injured.

Although the pair are good friends, there is an intense competition between them for the Number one spot. Callanan finally got the nod before the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final against Clare, which Galway lost, and has held the place since then.

However, he’s hoping for a different outcome today as the Tribesmen bid to end a 28-year gap to their last Liam MacCarthy Cup