It was written in the stars, wasn’t it?
Heroes stand up when the stakes are at their highest.
Heroes stand up when they are needed the most.
Galway had a tribe of heroes in Croke Park on Sunday, from the guts of Conor Whelan to the bravery and defiance of Gearóid McInerney.
Joe Canning has been a hero for Galway ever since he burst onto the scene in 2008, and he was a hero again on Sunday.
Expectations have always been high for Canning, sometimes too high, but by God did he exceed these expectations against Tipperary.
Canning has often been a victim of his own profile, he’s had dark days, but he wasn’t to be denied on Sunday.
The 28-year-old’s phenomenal last gasp winner against Tipperary, to send his side through to the All-Ireland hurling final, took bottle, it took balls of steel and you can imagine just how delighted he was with it.
Galway 0-22 Tipperary 1-18 at full-time. Joe Canning with the last minute winner! pic.twitter.com/S5rUBzem15
— eir Sport (@eirSport) August 6, 2017
It makes it all the more remarkable, then, that Canning delivered one of the most honourable post-match interviews we have seen in quite a while when speaking to RTÉ.
He wasn’t thinking about himself, he wasn’t boastful, he wasn’t even displaying the emotion that he undoubtedly felt.
Canning remembers those dark days, he wasn’t afraid to broach them, and despite the fact that he was the clear hero of the day, he referenced “luck,” and his gratitude to Tipperary was so, so honourable.
“I suppose over the last three years it’s been nip and tuck with a point in it so it’s good to come out on top this year.
“It’s just lucky it went over. I remember a couple of years ago against Waterford I had the same thing to draw the match and I missed it so it’s nice when it comes off on a day like today.
'I was lucky it went over' – Match winner Joe Canning on his last-gasp score pic.twitter.com/oXIexoD2kW
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 6, 2017
“To be honest it could have went anywhere. It wasn’t a great day with the frees or anything like that so I’m just lucky it went over in the end.”
“It’s pressure every day you go out. You try and embrace it and try to get a performance and you know the hop of the ball went our way today and it went their way last year.”
That man is a class act.
He’s not getting carried away, he’s taking it all in his stride. Waterford and Cork are in trouble on the first Sunday of September.
