He did help himself to two points but he had lost his starting place after the first round qualifier win over Wexford two months earlier.

Even though he had brought in Callanan in 2008 and the player wasn’t best suited to a half-forward role as he was positioned in 2010, the sense was Sheedy had lost trust in the then 21-year-old.

Yet nine years, three All-Stars and another All-Ireland title later, the Drom-Inch man is his captain. The proverbial late bloomer, it was Eamon O’Shea and Michael Ryan who enjoyed the best of Callanan so it’s convenient to believe Sheedy feels he might have missed out.

Getting the band back together was as attractive for him as it was those older players, all now 30 like Callanan, Paudie and Brendan Maher, pushing 30 (Patrick Maher) or 30 next year (McGrath). However, Callanan argues there was more to Sheedy’s method than settling unfinished business.

“You have a good core there that have been there for years, I suppose, that might be coming towards the latter end of their careers. But then you have the young bunch coming through after winning an All-Ireland U21 final, so it was an attractive job for anybody really when you mix it like that. You had a hungry group coming through with a serious work ethic and some great hurlers.

Look, we’re just delighted to have a good set-up in place, we had a good set-up with Mick Ryan as well. Mick has given an awful lot to Tipperary hurling as well, we had great memories with Mick too. But look, it’s new again, and the challenge is there, a new management and everyone trying to impress.

Surgery on a bulging disc infringed upon Callanan’s championship preparations last season and, as solid as he was in general play, he was unable to turn on the charm to stop the rot that had set into Tipperary’s game.

The rest since followed by a first full pre-season in years means he doesn’t look back in anger. “A lot of people get injuries and you have to deal with it and you have to try and make the most of the time you have. It was a challenge alright, it’s just unfortunate the year didn’t go on a bit longer and maybe I’d get more time in and improve all the year. But that’s sport.

“I haven’t had a break like that. And then when training is on and you’re missing it you are hungry to be back in. It’s not like just the winter months when you’re off — there were actually games going on every week and you weren’t able to be involved. So that was hard obviously, but that’s the challenges inter-county players, or even club players that are injured, have to face. You just have to try and get back as quick as you can and be in decent shape when you get back.”

How best to accommodate Callanan and Jason Forde in the attack remains an unanswered question as is who will be the primary freetaker?

Callanan, as a starter, was handed the duties for the games against Clare and Limerick, although Forde would be regarded as having the better technique and conversion figures and was given the duty when both started in the last three Munster SHC matches last summer.

The captain is not making a big deal of who gets the gig.

“I’m used to just taking them and that’s it. It’s not a part of the game that I need to perform or that Jason needs to perform, do you know that kind of way? It’s just a responsibility that is given to you by management and management asks you to do something you go ahead and do it to the best of your abilities.”

Having seen what Limerick did last year, the likes of Tipperary’s opponents tomorrow Wexford dare to dream. Both will avoid four games in as many weeks this summer, which in a ruthless championship will mean a lot.

“There are definitely far more teams involved at a really competitive level than there was when we started,” admits Callanan. “You see that last year, you could have picked six or seven teams that were in the mix to do something. Some teams were in hard luck to get a run of four games in four weeks and be gone out of the championship, and I’m sure there were a lot of teams that were sitting at home that would have fancied their chances at giving it a good rattle if they got there.”