Glen Rovers Callanan joined the
Glen Rovers club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels, winning a
Cork Under-21 Hurling Championship medal as a 19-year-old in 2001. With Glen's sister club,
St. Nicholas', he won a
Cork Under-21 Football Championship in 2003. Callanan joined the Glen Rovers senior team during the
1999 Cork Championship but was an unused substitute throughout the season. He made his first appearance for the team on 14 May 2000 in an 0-11 to 0-18 defeat by
Erin's Own. On 10 October 2010, Callanan lined out at centre-back in Glen Rovers' first Cork Senior Championship final in 19 years, however,
Sarsfields won the game by 1-17 to 0-18. Callanan was appointed captain of the Glen Rovers senior team for the
2014 Cork Senior Championship. On 12 October, he captained the team from left wing-back when the Glen faced Sarsfields in the final. He scored a point during the game, however, Sarsfields won by 2-18 to 0-08. Callanan retained the club captaincy for the
2015 Cork Senior Championship. On 11 October, he lined out at right wing-back in the final against reigning champions Sarsfields. A 2-17 to 1-13 victory secured the title and a first championship medal for Callanan. For the third year in-a-row, Callanan was appointed captain of the Glen Rovers team. On 9 October 2016, he was at right wing-back when Glen Rovers defeated Erin's Own by 0-19 to 2-10 to win the Cork Senior Championship for the second year in succession. It was Callanan's second time lifting the cup as captain.
Cork Minor and under-21 Callanan first played for Cork as a member of the minor team on 6 August 2000 in a 2-17 to 1-11
All-Ireland semi-final defeat of
Dublin. On 10 September, he was at left wing-back when Cork suffered a 2-19 to 4-10 defeat by
Galway in the All-Ireland final. On 9 July 2002, Callanan made his first appearance for the Cork under-21 team in a 1-15 to 1-14
Munster Championship semi-final defeat by
Limerick. His under-21 tenure ended with a Munster final replay defeat by
Tipperary on 3 August 2003.
Senior Callanan made his first appearance for the Cork senior hurling team on 22 February 2004 in a 0-14 to 1-09
National Hurling League defeat of Limerick. He was a regular player during all of Cork's eight group stage league games but failed to secure a place on the starting fifteen for the
Munster Championship. On 12 September 2004, Callanan was an unused substitute when Cork defeated
Kilkenny by 0-17 to 0-09 in the
All-Ireland final On 22 May 2005, Callanan made his first championship appearance as a substitute in a 2-17 to 2-15 defeat of
Waterford in the Munster Championship semi-final. He was later an unused substitute when Cork defeated Tipperary by 1-21 to 1-16 to win the Munster Championship. On 11 September, Callanan won his second All-Ireland medal as a non-playing substitute when Cork defeated Galway by 1-21 to 1-16 in the
All-Ireland final. Callanan was dropped from the Cork senior team in 2006 but returned the following year. He made his last appearance for the team on 18 July 2009 when he came on as a substitute in Cork's 1-19 to 0-15 defeat by Galway. ==Career statistics==