GAELIC GAMES:Joe Canning is honing in on his best campaign and hopes to fulfil a big dream with his county, writes GAVIN CUMMISKEY
AMBLING ALONG yesterday, conducting a fairly unrevealing Joe Canning group interview, one perfectly sane journalist opts to leap off the cliff.
“Joe, did you ever think over the last 10 years looking at Kilkenny, ‘Jeez, I’d love to play with them? Just to see what makes them tick?’”
Canning is understandably surprised by this sudden turn of events. “Play with them?” he asks incredulously.
“Yeah, just for one game?” adds the hack.
“I don’t think I’d get on the team in the first place,” replies the canny Canning.
He is 23 now. Sunday, September 9th, could be the day that confirms what many of us have believed since seeing him slicing over sideline cuts as a 15-year-old Galway minor. The chosen one; the boy king finally acceding to the throne.
Only problem is Kilkenny. The greatest team hurling has ever witnessed refuse to make way as Canning enters his prime.
He calmly deals with the question of playing for Kilkenny – just for one game – alongside Henry Shefflin and Tommy Walsh. As opposed to being hunted by Jackie Tyrrell or JJ Delaney.
“Not really, to be honest. I’m a Galway man through and through and wouldn’t like to play with any other county. Wouldn’t even dream of it.”
He has another dream. All Galway hurling folk do. And it could become a reality on the aforementioned date.
But first there is a succulent appetiser. On Saturday in Semple Stadium, Galway and Kilkenny draw blades in the Bord Gáis under-21 All-Ireland semi-final.
Anthony Cunningham has already promoted 17 of this panel to the senior ranks, while Kilkenny’s Cillian Buckley is the only one with a chance of being picked for the senior final.
This balancing act places the Tribesmen under serious pressure to progress past the Cats and into an All-Ireland final against either Clare or Antrim.
“It is a big test,” Canning continues. “Galway are coming in having not played many matches collectively. They’ve been involved with the seniors so it is very hard for the guys to get used to each other very quickly.
“Obviously Kilkenny had a good Leinster campaign and they’ll want to put one over on us early on. I don’t know about , it’s up to the lads. I’m not really thinking about that. I’ve other things on my mind.”
Despite a glittering underage career, club success with Portumna and having already banked two All Star awards, Canning had never played in a senior All-Ireland semi-final until the defeat of Cork on August 12th.
Having recovered from a badly damaged AC joint playing Fitzgibbon Cup for Limerick Institute of Technology in February, he is honing in on his best ever campaign.
His exceptional form this summer is part due to Cunningham overhauling John McIntyre’s panel with the under-21 team that captured last year’s All-Ireland title.
The transition has been made easier by the amount of hurlers promoted at the same time.
“If the guy from under-21s is willing, strong enough to compete and fast enough, the older guys will help him along. Then it is an easier step-up. Coming into a successful set-up like Kilkenny it is easier for them to come in than Galway for the last few years as we haven’t been so successful at senior. There was a lot of doom and gloom and frustration more so than anything. That’s not a good thing to come into either.”
That environment changed after the Leinster final.
The injection of fresh talent, the presence of Canning and the residue from the Galway team that lost the 2005 All-Ireland final to Cork (Damien Hayes, David Collins and Tony Óg Regan) all mixed together has seen them hurl a path to September.
“For all the underage success, it is a huge thing for the rest of the guys. These days don’t come around very often.”
Canning was asked to differentiate between the success for Portumna, where he has won three All-Ireland medals, and the desire to achieve the ultimate with Galway.
“There is no doubt about it if you ask any player in Ireland, football or hurling, your club is your club. Like, no matter what you do the club is always going to be number one. It is where you start and where you finish. From the age of four or five up to 34 or 35, whenever you finish, it is a huge part of your life.
“That sense of gratitude and sense of community you have in your club is very special. And it is hard to get that real sense at county level. When you have success it is a lot easier. Success brings a bit more unity. We are getting there. I am really enjoying it this year. It is a totally different thing. The young guys have given a fresh impetus to us. We are just enjoying it at the moment.”
