Sam Callinan says a background in rugby has helped his development as a GAA player, with the 21-year-old a key man on the Mayo senior football team.
The Ballina Stephenites club-man was fast-tracked onto the Mayo team by James Horgan at the age of 18 having impressed at underage level, with his progress continuing over the course of the last three years.
While his first training session didn’t go as planned, arriving late into the dressing room after the car he was travelling in broke down, Callinan has barely put a foot wrong since.
The UCD student made his debut in the 2021 National Football League under Horgan and though his progress was halted by an injury on Mayo under-20 in the months that followed, he says he learned plenty during what was a ‘very surreal first year.’
“I was 18 going into the panel, and it was very much a huge learning curve for me,” Callinan says.
16 June 2024; Cormac Costello of Dublin in action against Sam Callinan of Mayo during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 3 match between Dublin and Mayo at Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
“I was with another lad from our club (first training session) and we walked in around 20 minutes late and just saw all these heads turning around towards us,” recalls Callinan.
“Lads you would have been watching for years on TV, their heads turned around, ‘who are these fellas rocking up late to training?’
“The first time I walked into a proper dressing-room and you’re looking around at Lee Keegan, Aidan O’Shea, Paddy Durcan, Cillian O’Connor, these lads you would have idolised growing up.”
“I roomed with Lee (Keegan) as well,” he recalls, :and that was fantastic, he was just so welcoming and friendly.
“I’ve great respect for him not only as a player but as a person, he was a fantastic team-mate as well during that time. It was cut short that time with the injury back with the under-20s but I picked up so much that year. It was such an honour to be involved.”
Callinan became a fixture on the Mayo team last year, generally lining out in the full back line under Kevin McStay and he says playing many sports at underage level helped his development.
“Athletics, rugby, a bit of soccer, but rugby in particular,” he says.
““I played up until I was around 18 years old. We had a very strong underage team in Ballina.
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“A lot of my rugby skill did translate over to my football.
“Just the way I play the break with line-breaking, stepping, high-speed running…a lot of that is very much translated from rugby and there is a lot of correlation with Gaelic football.
“When any young lad asks my advice I always say play as many sports as possible. Because basketball, rugby, soccer, and Gaelic football all do tie in together and the more proficient you are in a number of sports the more you can take with you if you decide then later on to focus on one sport,” he adds.
“Definitely my rugby background helped. I had a great time playing it and it did teach me a lot about different sports as well.”
Callinan will be one of the main men for UCD, who begin their Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup campaign on Friday afternoon against UCD.
“I’m buzzing for it, I have to say,” says Callinan.
“Last year was my first year and not a bad first year to have getting all the way to the final. I enjoyed every minute of it. There’s no football experience like Sigerson based on what I’ve played of it so far.
“There’s a light-heartedness that you don’t really get in club and county. I think we’ve a really strong team here and I can’t wait to play the first round game against UCC, it’s going to be a good one.”
As for Mayo, he says their core of young players are aiming to step up in 2025.
“We’re looking to build a really good, young core there and make that step up and compete over the next few years and I don’t think there’s any reason we can’t.
“There’s all the talent there and I think we really can take a step up and drive it on
“We know we have the players to really compete. Maybe in the last two years we’ve come up a bit short and, while it is frustrating, this year we’re taking a lot of hope and optimism from the fact that we were right there last year.”
Pictured are college teammates and intercounty rivals, Daire Cregg (UCD and Roscommon) and Sam Callinan (UCD and Mayo), as Electric Ireland teams up with six intercounty Camogie and GAA stars to look ahead to the upcoming matches and rivalries across the Electric Ireland Camogie Third Level Championships and the Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Championships. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-01-10 19:56:03
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