Joe Canning, Unquestionably the GOAT

glasagusban · July 28, 2021, 9:10pm

I didn’t see that. Slightly comparable to canning in his ability to do things no one else could, especially scoring goals, but obviously not on the same tier, before half the board jumps down my throat about it. Although I’d have Dowling right alongside canning if I had my pick of anyone to take a penalty for me.

flattythehurdler · July 28, 2021, 9:10pm

glasagusban:

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 also 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 free and so on to boot.

Hurling is still a magic game, even

This is a great post. You also left out that he’s not a Kilkenny bollox.

EstebanSexface · July 28, 2021, 9:11pm

Horgan has carried cork on more than one occasion

the_man_himself · July 28, 2021, 9:13pm

Same with Tony Kelly, Callanan vs Galway 2015. It doesn’t happen that often though. It’s a sport with 15 players, you generally need at least 10 of those playing fairly well to win or compete

EstebanSexface · July 28, 2021, 9:14pm

Especially forwards, they need backs to give them a platform.

The margins are tight and the greats win you games.

Joe is a great

maroonandwhite · July 28, 2021, 9:15pm

Sure we’ll leave it there. If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

PasqualePaoli · July 28, 2021, 9:18pm

If that’s the benchmark then you have to be looking in Eoin Kelly’s (Tipp) direction, he was imperious in the mid 00’s on bad teams

Big_Dan_Campbell · July 28, 2021, 9:20pm

A level below some of those mentioned but John Mullane was consistently excellent on fairly middling to poor Waterford teams from 2008 to 2012 often raging against the dying light.

PasqualePaoli · July 28, 2021, 9:21pm

He had or has the highest average points from play per game, a fantastic player in his pomp

flattythehurdler · July 28, 2021, 9:21pm

There’s no such thing as the goat, it’s all subjective. I’d put JC in the very very top rank though. I’d also out Tony Kelly there without doubt.

ChairmanDan · July 28, 2021, 9:22pm

A lot of the Tipperary contributors and arch hipster @the_man_himself in particular really have it in for Joe.

PasqualePaoli · July 28, 2021, 9:22pm

If we all agreed no one would talk about sport, it’s nice to hash it out

EstebanSexface · July 28, 2021, 9:24pm

Who else could do what Joe could? He had it all, a dash a burst, the magic and a nice little dose of filth

carryharry · July 28, 2021, 9:27pm

How many wides had he?

gaillimhmick · July 28, 2021, 9:32pm

Hard to blame them. He loved breaking their hearts.

myboyblue · July 28, 2021, 9:35pm

If you needed a man to singlehandedly pull you out of a bad spot, you’d send for Joe. If you needed a man to organise a group of quality hurlers to get you out of a bad place you’d send for Henry.

FlakeAway · July 28, 2021, 9:39pm

That is unbelievable. I can’t even picture how you’d get on that amount of ball in so many scoring opportunities.

croppy_boy · July 28, 2021, 9:40pm

What differ?

gaillimhmick · July 28, 2021, 9:44pm

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Big_Dan_Campbell · July 28, 2021, 9:46pm

He hit around 1-10 from play from midfield in a county semi final v the Mills back around 2018. It was an outstanding display for its simplicity so to speak. Nothing forced or overly greedy, just was in a different level reading things and athletically was on a different level, balls just broke for him and he capitalised. Mills tried a good few different lads but nobody could keep into him. It was a tight enough game too as opposed to a hammering.