JOE CANNING

IT’S worth remembering he’s 10 years playing with Galway already. He won his first county senior title back in 2005 and has four All-Ireland club titles. He’s been operating in a cauldron, high pressure situations, since he came along.

I saw his influence first-hand in Galway club hurling when I was involved and I’ll always remember his debut season against Cork in 2008 when he went to town and scored 2-12. When you perform like that, you won’t be measured like a mere mortal. Any dip at all and the pressure comes on. He’s 28 now and there seems to be a difference in attitude. Especially after his career could have been ended by a bad hamstring injury last year. There was something significant about the way he finished the semi-final against Tipperary.

When someone was needed in those last 11 minutes to beat Tipp, it was Joe who did it, scoring the last five points of the game.