Former Offaly hurler Daithi Regan joined Joe Molloy to give his thoughts on how Canning is flourishing in this new-look exciting Galway team.
"I think we always thought this was what he was as a player. The difficulty Joe had was he was coming into Galway sides that were always lacking something. As much as a supremely talented genius that the player was, it was never gonna be enough," he said.
"You do not win All-Irelands at the level that they’re being won at, without a superb panel. No disrespect to Galway, they had good players, strong players, but they didn’t have a superb panel. If you take Galway in 2012 and you take Galway a couple of years ago, there’s not a lot of resemblance to this team now."
He thinks that the pressure of this not being “Joe’s Galway” anymore has taken the pressure off him and let him concentrate on his game resulting in his superb season.
"Joe now is not the main man, he doesn’t need to be the main man. Galway can turn to Mannion, turn to Conor Cooney. he doesn’t need to be the mainstay on everyday. So what it’s allowed him do has freed him up. And that responsibility is taken off him and he can just exhibit the array of skills.
"The point he got under the stand yesterday, he didn’t move his feet, he didn’t pivot whatsoever, he took it and within a split second without moving, it was just a fantastic score. The ability within the group of players now, has released Joe to do what he can do, be refreshed and enjoy his hurling and not feel like the onus is on him”, Daithi pointed out.
"That was thrown at him long enough, if Joe doesn’t do it, Galway won’t do it. He doesn’t have to do that, he’s flourishing."
