Best ever defender in the half back line but a solitary point during a career spent mainly at wing back is a black mark against him.
I hope canning benefits from the favourable hindsight shefflin and especially DJ enjoy. Don’t get me wrong Shefflin was a genius but he never carried the pub teams Joe had to.
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He carried them.to one all Ireland in a 6 team.sport
You think that galways team in 2017 was a pub team he carried? Stick to the woke Olympics, leave Irish sport to real Irish men.
Desperate to land a punch after I bate you up and down the place earlier and you still can’t lay a glove. I’d say you are furiously texting him.
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So he carried them to 0 all Ireland’s
Cheers
Like you said in an earlier post there is no wrong answer here, it’s a matter of opinion. I’d maybe say Shefflin is the greatest, but Canning is the best.
I’d argue canning could equally play any forward position, in fact he did, but kk had more and better forwards and had the luxury of moving Shefflin around. Shefflin always had a better team for my money at all stages of their respective careers, certainly always a team with a far far stronger mentality. Night and day to Galway teams. Kk never lacked on the sideline either.
Shefflin was awesome, but canning was magic. Canning could do the impossible. And he often chose to put the boot down and do the impossible at big moments in matches. Shefflin may have been more consistent than canning, but he was in better teams. At the end of the day canning did things that Shefflin for all his brilliance couldn’t do. And he was also consistent in nailing match defining frees and so on to boot.
Hurling is still a magic game, even now what captures the imagination most in sport and in hurling especially are the flashes of genius or inspiration or moments of doing the impossible. That’s all canning. Even things like no look backwards handpasses. What did he do, play it again, no one does that in a game like this, etc etc.
That’s why canning is better than Shefflin for me. As regards tj and Callanan, they’re a half tier below, incredible players but came later to their dominance. Shefflin nearly always did it. Canning burst onto the scene as a teenager fully formed and did it from day one. His game changed as his body slowed but he was always the man. Thinking about it, pretty much one else did that.
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Shefflin also had the benefit of being moved onto the best matchup for him when KK had the luxury to do so. His consistency was remarkable and I agree that he simply put more down on paper than Joe over a longer period, not much in it though.
TJ is also overrated I believe
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It will be a while til we see a set of wrists like Joe’s again.
While I get the merit of them I think the changes to underage at minor and 21s to 20s means that you won’t have the same buzz about underage prospects. Most minors this days are transition year age and not quite dominating colleges hurling yet like some of the stars of previous generations. Lads of real quality of 19 or 20 will end up being fast tracked and not playing 20s or will he out playing against lads who probably aren’t even starting at club level yet. It will really dumbed things down in that regard.
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There was plenty of days that while shefflin contributed, he wasn’t the main driving force. Might have been Brennan, DJ, or cha, or Eoin Larkin or others.
I can’t think of many days when canning didn’t lead Galway almost single handedly. The Leinster final in 17 maybe when Conor Cooney ran riot.
Now he wasn’t perfect he missed gettable frees in the 15 final, against Clare in 13 and Dublin this year but that pales to the clutch scores he got.
And that’s just intercounty. Name a more influential club player ever? And colleges? And underage?
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Shefflin did, he was the main man for Kilkenny for an awfully long time. He epitomised the Cody mantra of effectiveness, little wasted movement and simply delivered over and over again. Smacking the penalty v Tipp in '09 and the late scores and frees in the first half v Galway in '12 to rescue a game that was getting away from them etc
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One of the greatest of all time
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Ah here
Great stuff, can’t beat a good debate. List them there.
Also name more influential club and colleges players. This should be good.
Well single handedly is a nonsense anyway right off the bat. Conor Whelan for example has had plenty of games where he has been better than Joe Canning for Galway while both on the field.
I never mentioned anything about that but Tony Kelly anyway while playing with much more limited players at club level
I didn’t say Shefflin didn’t. Totally agree with the rest of that post. But did he emerge as a teenager fully formed as the go to player on the field? Not quite.
Ah lovely. Fuck Tipp
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Yes that’s what I meant
No comparison, Kelly is obviously an amazing points scorer but canning turned portumna from underachievers to four all Irelands. Sure he had help but they weren’t winning any without him.
Whelan’s had some great patches, the first half v tipp is the only time he outshone everyone in a big game. But canning controlled the second half.
What examples do you have