Joe Canning still only has four points from play in this year’s Championship.
In total he has recorded 1-32 in four matches against Westmeath, Offaly, Kilkenny and Clare. A fine haul for the Portumna forward, but the proportion that comes from dead balls has been used as a stick with which to beat Canning and his manager Micheal Donoghue.
On Sunday he went a long way to silencing those critics. Sure he scored a goal, a sensational goal, but that is just the shiny tip of a very honest iceberg.
Now 27, the young man who was once a teenage scoring sensation is developing into something else. He is now inclined to drop deep to collect the ball, he is tackling like a dervish, he is contesting for everything, on the ground and in the air, he is clearing 21-yard frees off his own line, for Christ’s sake.
Canning and Galway responded to the criticism that he, at wing-forward, is too far from the opposition goal, by doubling down and playing as some sort of a hurling libero.
He was never further from the opposition goal than he was in Thurles but it is hard to remember the last time he had such a meaningful influence over 70 minutes either.
There were some super performances all over the field for Galway as they beat Clare 2-17 to 0-17. Daithí Burke at full-back was immense. Competing in foot races with Shane O’Donnell and combating Aaron Shanagher in the air – it was stirring stuff.
David Burke at midfield pitched in with two fine points and was integral to Galway’s dominance of the middle third, while Conor Cooney pitched in with a vital goal.
Most of all however it was a great team performance and no man played more for that team than Canning.
Canning has done enough for Galway in the past decade to rest on his laurels. He could reliably knock over his frees (he was 100% against Clare), loiter around the right part of the pitch to lob over a couple of points and keep himself close enough to goal to add to his astonishing 25 majors in Championship hurling.
Recently preaching the mantra that hurling is just a game, Canning is certainly not playing as if representing Galway is a hobby. When he dons that famous red helmet and takes the field he looks for all intents and purposes like a man battling to succeed at something that is critical to him.
Ger Loughnane said this Galway team had “no guts whatsoever” after they lost the Leinster final to Kilkenny. On Sunday after the game Canning admitted that such criticism “does hurt” and he would “like to stick it to them”.
“There are always people trying to put you down. It is part and parcel of it. You put yourself out there in the sporting field and you are there to be shot down.”
Canning’s remarkable ability set him apart from a very young age. He was bound for glory, Galway with Canning involved were bound for glory. There has been glory in the form of a Leinster title but a great deal of pain also, mostly doled out by Kilkenny.
After the heartbreak of the 2012 All-Ireland final, last year looked like their best chance to end their wait for Liam McCarthy. Tipperary were dispatched in an epic and they led Kilkenny by three points at half-time, only for Brian Cody’s men to break their hearts again.
Over the winter the players moved to have Anthony Cunningham removed as manager and now they are heading back to face Tipperary once more.
Teams with “no guts whatsover” do not keep coming back from disappointment like that. Men like Canning are full of guts, full of heart and full of a desire to succeed.
You could see it when he was back in his own half-back line collecting the ball from Daithí Burke, you could see it when he was on hand to clear Tony Kelly’s powerful free in the 70th minute.
He does not feel he gets enough credit for his tackling and defensive work – after this All-Ireland quarter-final that shouldn’t be a problem. Canning’s defensive qualities and desire to defend were plain to see.
Thankfully his is not a Wayne Rooney conversion, where an inability to fulfil a former role leads to a different job further out the field. This is still Joe Canning and Joe Canning can still make a sliothar talk.
He laid on the pass for Conor Cooney’s goal, but it was another assist that really caught the eye. He seemed to have the ball on a string as he took it around Conor Cleary – shaping to burst past the Clare midfielder before pulling the sliothar back on his hurl, selling Cleary a dummy and then passing him on the other side.
He then laid off a handpass to Cyril Donnellan, who split the posts.
There are a handful of players at most who can do that. Arguably none who do it with the potent mix of power and panache of Canning.
Joe Canning's move to libero seems to have freed Aidan Harte to attack. A point and two wides in last few mins
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 24, 2016
The power was there when he burst past David Reidy, for all the world making the diminutive Clare man look like an Under-12 who had somehow wound up playing with the seniors.
Then there was his goal. Does anyone in hurling score prettier, more dramatic goals than Joe Canning?
David Burke was allowed to run through the centre of the Clare defence from the throw-in at the start of the second half. The ball was laid off to Canning, who took one touch to control the bobbling pass and another to leather the ball past Andrew Fahy.
A thing of beauty but to focus on the goal would be to ignore the real greatness of this Canning performance. This was a different type of Canning performance. If he has traded in some glitz for some grit then it seems like a fair exchange.
Galway have guts, Galway have Joe Canning.
