AT JUST 21, Sam Callinan’s county career has already endured much flux.
Drafted into the panel as an 18-year-old by James Horan, he winces as he recalls landing into his first training session 20 minutes late due to a car malfunction.
Studying Economics and Finance at UCD, he was living in Dublin and making the journey west for training along with Rob Hennelly and Cillian O’Connor, two men who work in finance, and the conversations frequently turned to their shared interest.
Now on a placement year with the Davy Group, specialising in wealth management and advice, it’s tempting to believe he applies similar logic to his continued devotion to the Mayo cause, after both Hennelly and O’Connor have stepped off the intercounty trail.
It’s a career path that has him studying global trends. One of the most fascinating is how the recent American election and restoration of Donald Trump to the leader of the free world affects the world’s wealth.
“I am on the investments team. The big thing we have been monitoring have been geo-political events that can affect the stock markets big time,” he says.
Trump getting in as well, obviously he is a lot more aggressive with the economy and he would be looking to expand it a lot more than Kamala Harris would have been. That has an effect on stock markets. Since he was elected, the price of equities flew up because he is very pro-trade and pro-American exceptionalism. So a lot of Fortune 500 companies would have saw a big, big jump there.”
Trump makes the claim that he won on the strength of lowering the cost of the weekly grocery shop for the American citizen.
So we might as well ask an expert, how does he stand to make the average American wealthier?
“That is the debate. Like I said, he is big on American exceptionalism, bringing American companies back to America,” Callinan says.
“Now, he has obviously the propensity and favour of the wealthy in America as well. You can see that with his tax policies and he is not big on taxing the rich.
“I do think that if he succeeds in bringing a lot of that American revenue back there, it wouldn’t be good for Ireland as he would be looking to bring the likes of Google, Microsoft, Coca Cola and Apple back to America.
“That would obviously boost their GDP. But if you look to bring in tariffs, that could lead to trade wars as well and have ramifications on the price of goods in America.”
He continues, “The average American might be wealthier, but if he brings in these tariffs, the cost of living is higher. It remains to be seen how much of his policy he actually implements.”
Without O’Connor and Hennelly, that kind of chat wouldn’t be as prevalent now in the Mayo dressing room, though he would insist that some players are always on the lookout for a tip-off around the stock markets.
There’s usually a carload of players heading off from the north of the city, and nowadays it’s just Callinan and Diarmuid Duffy of Ballinrobe in the one car and he is thankful for someone to break the monotony of the road.
Last year it was almost a full car with the also-departed Rory Brickenden taking a seat, but he doesn’t hold anything against the players who have decided upon a year out.
“The lads stepping away have good reasons for it. They are all just gone for a bit, but only a phonecall away,” says Callinan.
“It’s completely understandable why they needed to take a break. It’s a hectic, hectic schedule. When you are working and have a family, to go up and down the road like that the whole time . . .
“They will obviously be missed but there will be three young lads stepping into the panel to claim their place. Young lads who could be the next big thing so it’s a nice injection of freshness and dynamism in the squad is never a bad thing to freshen things up.”
Mayo’s 2025 has yet to get off the ground properly with defeats to Dublin in Croke Park and at home to Galway. This weekend they have their sights set on Tyrone in Castlebar as one they need to win.
When he reflects back on 2024, he sees much to be optimistic about. A one-point loss in the Connacht final to Galway, Mayo went into Pot 2 of the group stages. They beat Cavan by nine points before turning Roscommon over for the second time in six weeks.
It was all set up for the neutral venue round game in Dr Hyde Park against Dublin and they were a single point up until the final play of the game when Cormac Costello rescued a draw for Dublin, thereby granting them safe passage to a quarter-final.
Mayo’s reward was a preliminary quarter-final at home to Derry. They drew the game, 1-12 to 0-15, but lost on penalties. Seven games, and one loss in normal time by a single point to a Galway side on their way to a second successive All-Ireland final.
It doesn’t sound bad in that light for all the criticism that inevitably comes the way of manager, Kevin McStay.
“That’s something we have really reflected on and drawn into this season, is that we were right there. A kick of the ball and we would have been top of the group and skipped the preliminary, which, ultimately, we got knocked out in, after another tight game,”Callinan says.
“That day against Dublin, we were kicking wides and you can scrutinise them all day. Then you go a few games back and we lost by a kick of the ball to Galway in the Connacht final. A few tweaks there and a bit more clinical down the stretch and we would have avoided Dublin altogether. Who knows what happens then?
“It was a season of inches last year. It all goes back to that thing about a grain of rice tips the scales. So you get a few decisions going down the stretch last year, it’s something we need to work on and it’s our own decision-making.
“A few minutes of football and the season could have looked very different so we are looking forward to this season. If we get those tweaks right, we win those tight games and who knows what happens.”
The season went on. With his club Ballina, he was joint-captain with David Clarke and they captured the Mayo championship with victory over Knockmore in the final. Callinan himself was voted Player of the Year in Mayo, but in Connacht he once again fell foul of penalties, losing the semi-final to Coolera/Strandhill.
“It’s a hugely frustrating way to lose a game of football in fairness. But I always say that if you are in a position to lose on penalties, you haven’t done enough in the game. You can’t expect to win a game when you haven’t won the game in all that time,” Callinan says.
“It seems like a bit of a lottery, but sure look, we should have put them away and gave them a position to come back in and we lost.
“Same with Ballina against Coolera, gave them a chance when we should have had them put away and they came back and we lost.
“You only do have yourselves to blame. As cruel as they can be, you have to win games to avoid them. Can there be a better way to win a game than penalties? I think there can, and it might be a bit more football-centric. But that’s for the powers that be. You can’t wallow in your sorrows.”
That lack of self-pity has been something that runs through Mayo football ever since James Horan took charge in time for the 2011 season. They get within contention, they come up short. They get up and go again.
When Callinan was growing up, he was used to watching Mayo teams putting in huge performances in All-Ireland finals, ultimately not quite matching the greatest team of all-time in Dublin. That all filters down to the next generation, he feels.
“I grew up watching Mayo compete at the highest level. I grew up watching the Colm Boyle, Lee Keegan, Cillian O’Connor, All-Stars, Players of the Year, the highest calibre of footballer. So while maybe I joined when a lot of these lads were stepping away, it was still trained on my mind that Mayo teams should be among the top teams in the country,” he says.
“Which I still think is the case. There’s a bit of a change in the guard, my mentality is that while the culture is there of a team that has always competed and the history of us coming close . . .
“I think we can really cultivate a team with a good, young core that can go on and carry on the legacy of these young, fantastic players.
“That would be my approach to it. A lot of the lads stepped away but someone else needs to step up and fill their boots and that’s our job.”
Keeping going. The story of Mayo football.
A good young player with a mature head!! Mayo could do with more of that. Believing is half the battle in reaching the goal so hopefully they can get back to the glory days