Although he may not relish the media interest, Joe Canning is aware he 'can't change it' either. When Galway claimed their first All-Ireland Hurling win in 29 years last Sunday, few were surprised with who the cameras turned their attention to first.
In so far as this was Galway's long-awaited All-Ireland, it was Canning's also. No longer destined to become another Ciarán Carey, Ken McGrath, or, indeed his older brother Ollie; all outstanding hurlers Liam MacCarthy actively avoided.
Speaking on 2FM earlier today, Canning, who was playing in his third final (2012 x2, 2015) last Sunday, discussed his pre-match thoughts and some help he received from an unlikely source:
I didn't really feel too much pressure. For some reason this year it felt that it was nearly meant to be or something like that.
We didn't put a huge emphasis on building it up to be anything else really, and I remember actually Paul Galvin Instagrammed me a message and he just said 'treat it as any other game', and that really struck me because guys like that have been through it ... and it kind of relaxed me a little bit more.
Galvin, four times an All-Ireland winner with Kerry's footballers, is one who could realistically empathise with the media scrutiny Canning faces regularly - although perhaps more welcoming of it.
When Galway finally got over the line against Waterford, Canning recalls feeling,
just relief. When the final whistle went it was just pure emotion and relief that we had actually did it.
Somewhat surprisingly, the 28 year old Portumna man was coy regarding how much longer he wishes to continue hurling with Galway. Next year will signal the ten year anniversary of his blistering introduction to inter-county hurling, but, it seems difficult to comprehend just yet the end of this phenomenal talent.
