On the evidence of the action in the GAA this weekend, Joe Canning makes a world of difference to Galway and the future is bright for hurling in Cork and football in Dublin.
Galway are an entirely different proposition with Joe Canning
It’s not as if Joe Canning’s importance to Galway wasn’t already known, but it was spelt out in black and white in Portlaoise on Saturday. A week previous, Canning was sprung by surprise by Anthony Cunningham to help preserve the Tribesmen’s Division One status and on Saturday, he made absolutely sure of it.
Only 1-1 of Canning’s 2-7 total against Dublin came from play, but that would be to ignore the quality of his overall contribution, which was excellent. Because he’s the closest thing hurling has to box office, Canning invariably grabs the headlines even if he doesn’t entirely deserve them, but that wasn’t the case this weekend.
Skilful, hugely physical, devastatingly quick over ten yards and dare we say it, a little trimmer than in previous seasons, Canning’s impact in the Championship could be huge and it will need to be if Galway are to avoid flattering to deceive like they have in seasons past.
Rebels on the rise
My, that was impressive from Cork yesterday wasn’t it? It had been suggested that it would take time for Jimmy Barry Murphy’s fusion of young and old to come good, but if a more comprehensive than it sounds seven-point defeat of Tipperary on their own turf wasn’t evidence that JBM’s project has already come to fruition, then I don’t know what is.
Luke O’Farrell is one of a batch of seriously impressive Cork youngsters
The white heat environment of Championship might yet tell a different story, but Cork’s outstanding bunch of youngsters look like they’ll be well able to cope. Luke O’Farrell struck a fabulous goal from the narrowest of angles, Conor Lehane looks a mighty prospect around centrefield and the frightening thing about Darren Sweetnam is that he still has to complete his Leaving Cert.
There hadn’t been an awful lot before now to suggest that this year’s All-Ireland Final would be anything but a repeat of the Tipp-Kilkenny rivalry, but on the evidence of the league and on this display in particular, Cork look best placed to upset the traditional order of things.
Next generation offers huge hope for Dublin football
The shockingly arrogant Blue Wave document released by the Dublin County Board in the wake of their All-Ireland success rightly attracted ridicule for some of the nonsense spouted within – that unnecessary attack on Leinster rugby was particularly laughable – but maybe they weren’t so off the mark with some of the objectives they outlined.
One of those objectives was winning an All-Ireland football title every three years and judging by the talent on show in the All-Ireland under-21 semi-final in Portlaoise on Saturday, there seems to be enough emerging talent to ensure that they won’t have to wait 16 years for another All-Ireland as they did last year.
All the talk prior to the victory over Cork was of Ciaran Kilkenny, but the star forward only scored a solitary point in the six-point success as the likes of Philip Ryan (who scored 2-3), Jack McCaffrey and Emmet O Conghaile stepped up to the plate.
A second All-Ireland title in three years now beckons for Jim Gavin’s men, but Roscommon, who only conceded four scores in their victory over Cavan in the other semi-final on Saturday, might have something to say about that.
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