CANNING: GALWAY MUST HIT THE GROUND RUNNING
OLLIE CANNING ponders the ultratight schedule and quickly concludes: the safest way to Liam MacCarthy this winter is also the shortest.
Canning isn’t about to give Davy Fitzgerald any fresh motivation by suggesting Galway will definitely be taking the front door route, starting against Wexford on October 31.
But he does anticipate a maroon bounce this winter after the unexpected trials and tribulations of 2019.
He also expects to see a fresh and invigorated younger brother, even as former Hurler of the Year Joe Canning prepares to turn 32 this Sunday.
Unlike their football counterparts, All-Ireland SHC contenders have the luxury of a second chance if they go belly-up in Leinster or Munster.
But Canning is adamant that winning your province is the optimum route. If you ignore the obligatory Government health warnings about trying to second-guess Covid, the entire hurling championship will be completed in a seven-week window.
“If I was a manager or involved with a team, I’d like to play the least number of games possible. So you have to hit the ground running this year,” said Canning, who will be watching it all unfold as a Sky Sports analyst.
Recovery
“I would not like to be the team going through the back door or qualifiers. Because then you have games practically every weekend, with very little recovery time.
“For Galway, will there be a bit of a bounce back after not qualifying out of Leinster last year? I think there has to be,” he said. “It has to be in players’ minds that they have to come fully prepared in that first round against Wexford. Wexford will gain good confidence from their Leinster win last year.
“Davy Fitz has been with Wexford for a number of years now. They’ve got their game plan pretty much down. I don’t see much changes from that point of view whereas Shane O’Neill in Galway, he really has to get to know these players this year. They were building up a bit of momentum in the league back in February, but that momentum is gone now.
“The county final is over in Wexford for a number of weeks now so I’d say Davy Fitz has got them together and had them training hard,” Canning added (although many Wexford hurlers did follow up with lengthy club football campaigns).
“Whereas we just finished the county final in Galway last weekend, so Shane O’Neill will only be getting the St Thomas’ and Turloughmore players back in now.”
Any new ‘outside’ manager would have preferred a normal calendar but O’Neill “unfortunately did not get that luxury” in Galway.
“Do existing managers have an advantage? Definitely, I think they do. Is it going to be a huge challenge for new managers when they haven’t seen the players collectively – in Galway’s case right up to this week really? Of course. But at the end of the day they have to deal with it.”
Perhaps partly for that reason, Canning doesn’t expect a big change in Galway’s panel compared to Micheál Donoghue’s time.
But the new boss should benefit on one score: a refreshed talisman in the guise of Joe Canning, admittedly after Portumna’s shortlived SHC campaign ended in relegation.
“The last couple of seasons have been tough enough on him,” his brother pointed out. “Portumna were finished up pretty early, so this year has not been as hard as other years where you’re trying to balance county training, club training.
“I feel Joe will come into this year’s campaign very fresh. By all accounts he is looking forward to getting back into it with Galway and getting the whole panel back together and build that culture again in the short space of time they have.
“From Joe’s point of view I think he is feeling fresh enough. Last year he missed most of it with injury so he’ll be hoping he can stay injury-free for this run.”