Joe right to take on late free in All-Ireland final – Canning
FORMER Galway star Ollie Canning reckons his brother Joe was right to try to point his late longrange free in the All-Ireland final.
Joe’s effort dropped short meaning Galway’s late charge, inspired by the younger Canning, came up short against Limerick.
However, Ollie insists he “had” to attempt a point.
“He had to take that free on; if he’d got a perfect connection he’d more than likely have scored,” Ollie said as Sky Sports entered their second year of a five-year partnership which sees them invest €3million directly into GAA grassroots.
“He did 99pc of it right because it was on target and only just came up short. Was he disappointed? Yes. But do you beat yourself up over it? No. You can’t, that’s just the way sport goes. You have to move on.
“He gave it a good shot. Joe took that free on and went for it. These results are never just down to one thing in a game either.”
And Canning believes that had he gone short to work the free there would have been criticism.
“What’s the old saying, ‘Hindsight is the foresight of a gobsh*te’. It’s very easy to say that afterwards, that he should have took it short.
“If he had gone short and if someone had intercepted it or if a shot eventually went wide, then all you’d be hearing is, ‘Why didn’t he go for it?’
“He’s hit them from that distance plenty of times before. It wasn’t outside his range, it was just probably outside his comfort zone but that’s a different thing entirely. I’ve seen him myself score them from that distance. Was he right to go for it? He was.
“If Galway had managed to get a draw, the momentum probably would have been with them for the replay.
“But then you still have no idea really what way the replay was going to go. These games tend to take on a life of their own. Who knows? It just wasn’t to be from Galway’s perspective.”
Ollie has just put down his 26th season with Portumna and hinted he could go again in 2019.
“Unfortunately, I pulled my hamstring in our second last game. I’m going to take the winter off and see how the body is. At this stage you’re taking it year by year. If I feel okay come January or February I’ll give it a rattle again.
“Whether that’s at senior level or junior level, we’ll see, but as regards retirement I’ll not announce anything this side of Christmas anyway. The way I feel is that I’m still really enjoying it. As long as the body can take the training, I don’t see any reason to stop.”