By John Harrington

Joe Canning would have loved to play for new Galway senior hurling manager, Henry Shefflin, but while his mind was willing his body wasn’t able.

Shefflin tried to coax the All-Ireland Hurling Championship’s all-time top-scorer out of what would have been a very short-lived retirement, but the physical toll of having suffered a second serious groin tendon injury meant Canning simply couldn’t say yes, even if he wanted to.

“When he gets in your head you'd love to work with him, but physically I couldn't,” said Canning today at the launch of the 2022 Bord Gáis Energy GAA Legends Tour at Croke Park.

“I'd say there are lads retired five or 10 years and they say, 'Jeez, I'd love to be still playing to work under Henry Shefflin'.

“Yeah, obviously I would have loved to work with him but realistically the body just wasn't able for it. So that's basically it. No matter who you are you'd want to work with the best hurler there ever was.

“We actually had conversations. I was talking to him a few weeks before he ever got announced as Galway manager or was ever in the running for it. He knew my situation from then. That's just the way it was.”

Many long-serving inter-county players struggle to fill the void left in their lives when they step away from the game, but that hasn’t been a problem for Canning.

He quickly re-committed to the cause of Galway hurling by joining county minor manager Fergal Healy’s coaching ticket, and so hasn’t found himself pining to pull back on a Galway jersey himself.

“No, not at all,” says Canning. “It wasn't planned in this way, but I think being involved in the minors took that away. Because I'm involved with them three, sometimes four days a week. That kind of took me away from sitting at home and thinking about training or matches coming up or stuff like that or even thinking about the Galway seniors.

“I'm just thinking about the minors now and what we can do to develop the lads. I'd say if I didn't have the minors it might be a little bit different. But, as I said, it wasn't a thing where I said this will be a good thing to get involved `with so I don't miss the seniors, that wasn't any way the intention. Maybe it has kind of a little bit worked out that way.”

Canning might no longer be hurling at the highest level, but he’s still committed to his club Portumna and recently played his first match of the year.

“I'm just back from injury,” he said. “Last year in the first round of the club championship I tore my groin tendon off the pubic bone again. The same injury I had in 2019 except the other side of the pubic bone on my right this time.

“Yeah, over the last few months I haven't been doing much. But I've been back in the last few weeks with the club again, I've played one League match actually there two weeks ago. I had to play it because I was playing against the nephew on the opposite side so I needed to get back for that one.

“I was blowing smoke for a while at the start but the minor training is the same nights as the club training so it's difficult at the moment to get to both. I'm missing a lot of the club because of the minors.

“We have championship in a few weeks time so that's kind of my priority at the moment rather than try to get to the club training because we're not out for another good few weeks. When you get to my age and get the injuries I had I kind of have to mind the body a little bit more and be fresher for the Championship in a few months.”

Joe Canning was speaking at the launch of the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Legends Tour series at Croke Park. Following two years of virtual tours, fans will once again join their heroes for in-person tours of Croke Park as they give fascinating insights into their careers. The full schedule and details of how to book your place on a tour can be viewed at crokepark.ie/legends