Hurling
Joe Canning: Silencing his critics at last
2017 has proven to be the year of Joe Canning, from being a key player in Galway's All Ireland final victory ending 29 years without a cup, to being crowned hurler of the year
5.04pm on September 3rd marked the end of a long wait. Not just for Galway’s hurlers who had secured just their first All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship since 1988, but also for the Canning family. They have lived and breathed the sport for decades, but had not been able to help the county to victory at the highest level.
Marking Joe is tough work
© INPHO
The youngest of seven kids, Joe was finally able to do what had evaded his older siblings for so long: “My brother Ollie played for Galway almost 15 years and never won it, he was unlucky not to win it. It was a sense for him that we have it in the family now.” Even Joe’s dad, one never afraid to offer the four-time All Star some constructive criticism, couldn’t find fault: “I could've got taken off ten times in that game and he wouldn't have minded. He was more overjoyed than anything.”
On their return to Galway the team were greeted by the 30,000 tribesmen who had been packed inside Pearse Stadium for hours to serenade their heroes as the West finally awoke from its 29 year slumber. For Joe it was an awe inspiring sight and one that he hopes establishes a legacy in the county:
It's great for the next generation, for the kids. For 29 years they’ve never witnessed the All Ireland hurling championship in Galway. If we can inspire the next generation of Galway hurlers, then that's the main thing.
It’s only the fifth time the Liam McCarthy cup has come back to Galway, something that made this year's victory all the sweeter for Canning. “It's brilliant because Galway isn't a traditional county for winning All Irelands, it's only our fifth ever All Ireland compared to the likes of Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary. For us to win just our fifth All Ireland is pretty special, we have to embrace and celebrate it as well, and they don't come round very often.”
Joe Canning
© Unknown
September’s final was Canning’s third and he had already experienced defeat twice to Kilkenny. He readily admits that these defeats played on the minds of him and his team-mates in the run up to the season finale: “You're always going to feel pressure when you're going into an All Ireland but the big thing for this group of players was that a lot of the guys were on the team in 2012 and 2015. We didn't want to lose three on the bounce. We didn't want to be on another losing team. It had been 29 years since Galway last won it - in our own minds enough was enough.”
It was Joe’s last minute winner that had edged Galway past Tipperary in August’s semi-finals. If that may have seemed like a good omen to the forward, but Canning knew nothing was guaranteed: “I often hear guys saying like 'I knew on the Tuesday night in training that we were going to win on Sunday. That never happened to me.” Having fallen at the final hurdle twice before he was taking nothing for granted, saying;
There's always doubts coming to your mind, even during the match - 'Is this going to be another final lost?' You have those doubts.
The centre forward has been feted as Galway’s hurling hero almost since his long awaited debut for his county in 2008. His failure to carry Galway across the finish line since then has often been used as an easy stick to beat the 29-year old with. Now he finally had the only medal missing from his collection and no longer had to hear the same criticism that had followed him round for nearly a decade:
It's something that people can't hit me with anymore, that's the big thing. It was a kind of a cheap dig for a long time, that you're nothing without an All Ireland medal, so at least I don't have to hear that anymore. It's relief, that's probably the biggest thing. It's just a weight off the shoulders.
This relief also extends to the veterans of the ‘88 campaign. Joe has heard from several of them in the last few weeks, keen to to congratulate him and the 2017 team, glad to be relieved of the honour of the being the last Galway side to bring the cup home.
With the business of award ceremonies out of the way Joe’s next challenge is rather more daunting than mastering the bow tie. As one of UNICEF’s Irish ambassadors he’s heading to Aleppo (Syria) later this month to see the work that the charity’s aid workers are doing on the ground. Though the fighting has calmed in recent months the situation in the country remains dire. “It's the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War Two. You can only imagine the impact it's had on all these people's lives and it’s all we can do to help these people get a better life.”
For Canning, it keeps things in perspective and allows him to escape the sometimes suffocating bubble of hurling, and suddenly a 30-year wait for the All Ireland doesn’t seem so much. But the hard reality is that UNICEF’s efforts require funding and awareness, something that Canning hopes he can help bring with his work with them: “We’re going to document and tell the story of the people of Syria back here in Ireland. Hopefully we’ll raise the awareness and raise some vital funds. We work with UNICEF in 190 countries and have people on the ground throughout. It's something that's very close to my heart.”
