THERE WAS A neat symmetry to the ending.
Last Saturday transpired to be Joe Canning’s final run out in Galway colours; today, he announced the end of a county relationship which stretches back to 2004, the season where he first burst forward as a precocious minor.
So for his last playing act, the setting and opposition seemed fitting in a way. The setting, as it was Semple Stadium where he captured the wider sporting imagination with that return of 2-12 against Cork in 2008, an eye-catching tally that just did not receive enough support from the rest of the team to deliver a win.
“On the day Galway exploded on us. Well, Joe Canning exploded on Sully and myself anyway,” wrote Donal Óg Cusack in his autobiography as he recounted Canning’s extraordinary individual showing at the age of 19.
And the opposition was also telling last Saturday. Waterford may have been victorious on that occasion — they generally are against Galway in the summer — but the one championship meeting that the Tribesmen won was the day when Canning at last claimed the greatest prize in hurling with the 2017 All-Ireland final.
He is opting to move on then, three months shy of his 33rd birthday with 14 senior campaigns lodged in the bank, substantial service from anyone’s vantage point.
Perhaps it feels likes a career of greater length because it was touted for so long before it began at senior level. His first noteworthy senior outing for Galway was in April 2008 in a league semi-final against Cork. That summer, he bounced onto a championship platform that looked a natural fit for him.
Consider his hurling CV at that point. Two All-Ireland minor medals claimed before being denied a three-in-a-row at the final hurdle by Tipperary in 2006. A star in two club successes on St Patrick’s Day with Portumna, a tally which would be doubled by 2014. The marquee name in the winter months in the Fitzgibbon Cup, a champion there with Limerick IT in 2007 and a stunning total of 1-16, adorned by four sideline cuts, in their 2008 final defeat.
When his senior days commenced, it appeared he was the figurehead Galway hurling had been searching for in their pursuit of the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Canning was present for a share of that torment as Galway’s wait was prolonged. Disappointments piled up on the the pitch as a part of Galway teams that lost four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and three finals in the All-Ireland title race.
Galway were remarkably consistent, perennial challengers at the business end of a season, yet those close shaves seemed at times to increase the suffocating expectation on their standout figure. The regular residency on the treatment table hardly helped either.
‘Even this year in the league; thumb injury, my hamstring went, my finger, my heel; that’s just to name a few,’ was Canning’s summary today of his travails in 2021 alone.
There were more serious setbacks. The withering collision with Padraic Maher in 2016 left his hamstring severely damaged. Another hard hit in Nowlan Park in 2019 against Waterford disrupted his season and Galway were a casualty in the Leinster round-robin series.
With that punishment and necessary perseverance in mind, the breakthrough in 2017 will be cherished. Medals are a crude metric on which to gauge the value of a player but they do bring an incomparable sense of joy and satisfaction. Canning at least landed his All-Ireland win that year, avoiding the frustrating outcome for some of the Waterford crew that were too strong in the early days of his Galway career, or the continued battle that faces a contemporary like Patrick Horgan. Even closer to home, he would have seen his older brother Ollie’s expert defensive showings not yield that honour before his retirement in 2010.
A hurler and a gentleman. #JoeCanning
— Micheál Donoghue (@micd74) July 28, 2021
But to completely zone in on the medals with Canning misses the point. His impact as a hurler was more rounded than that, possessing a catalogue stuffed with moments of outrageous skill and class.
The weaving run through the Kilkenny defence to lash in a goal in the drawn 2012 All-Ireland final, the temperament to nail the levelling free later that day. The catch, swivel and strike for a goal in front of Hill 16 in the 2015 Leinster final. That wonder point from the Cusack Stand under pressure against Tipperary in 2017, the soaring shot that best exemplifies Galway reaching the hurling summit, even if it was not in the final itself.
His genius was most vividly illustrated by his prowess from sideline cuts. It was evident form a young age. His last ever underage game for Galway was the 2009 All-Ireland U21 semi-final, he shot 4-7, including two cuts from the wing, in an epic rollercoaster of a game that Clare won.
My favourite Joe Canning stat is the 27 pointed sideline balls in championship. The closest to him is Clare's Mick Moroney with eight. Austin Gleeson has the most of those still playing with six.
— Malachy Clerkin (@MalachyClerkin) July 28, 2021
In the senior grade, Canning finishes up with 0-27 from sideline cuts to his name. Last November, amidst the gloom of the Covid championship and the ghostly backdrop of an empty Croke Park, Canning split the posts four times from wide out. Three of those sidelines were majestically struck from the same path near the Cusack Stand in the first half. It was staggering to watch him routinely convert with such precision in those scenarios.
Congrats @JoeyCan88 on a super career. The Sideline King 👏
— Jackie Tyrrell (@MrJackieTee) July 28, 2021
It wasn’t all about the flag-waving moments either. There were examples of creativity and vision, like the reverse handpass to set up David Burke for a point in a qualifier against Cork in 2011, or a reminder at the finish with the delivery floated into the path of Jason Flynn last Saturday.
Galway look a team in transition now after a sluggish showing in 2021. Canning’s departure reinforces that theme of change. In a wider sense he is the first of the hurling’s fantastic four – Reid, Callanan and Horgan the other members – to retire. That quartet were all born in an 11-month period, November ’87 to October ’88, and made their senior championship bows in the same month in June 2008, Canning fired 2-6 as Galway cruised past Antrim. They have come to dominate the hurling landscape with their excellence; Canning overtaking Henry Shefflin last Saturday in the scoring charts was just the latest demonstration of that.
Sad day for @Galway_GAA and #GAA . What a loss that we no longer get to witness this phenomenal hurler. This Goal possesses everything Joe Canning- skill, strength, balance, power - pure brilliance. Enjoy @JoeyCan88 👏👏👊 https://t.co/F8XGWyi55B
— Henry Shefflin (@ShefflinHenry) July 28, 2021
The second All-Ireland senior medal, which must have been a driving force in recent times, did not manage to arrive for him. 2018 was as close as Canning came after arguably his best season of form, even if it was the previous year where he landed the main individual accolade.
That year’s final boiled down to Galway’s late attempt to deny Limerick, Canning at the heart of their scoring drive and sizing up a last-gasp free a mile out from goal.
‘If you wanted one man in the history of hurling to hit it for you, you might want it to be Joe Canning,’ was Anthony Daly’s verdict as Canning prepared to hit.
It dropped short and Limerick survived. A longshot in the end but with Canning on the hurling pitch for Galway, nothing seemed quite impossible.
The medals and honour are one thing. The acclaim is more widespread and he leaves with that ringing in his ears.
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