Skills of the Game: The Sideline Cut with Joe Canning

The sideline cut is one of the most spectacular skills in the game of hurling, requiring a combination of technique, timing and, of course, hours of practice on the training pitch.

The sideline cut has been perfected by inter-county stars such as Cork's Cathal Casey and Ben O'Connor, but Galway's Joe Canning has assumed the moniker 'The Sideline King' in recent years for his mastery of the skill while playing for Portumna and the Tribesmen.

Small ball enthusiasts still fondly recall Canning's majestic pointed sideline cut with practically the last play of the game in the 2008 Fitzgibbon Cup final between LIT and WIT, sending the game to extra-time.

Here, we ask Canning for his top tips and talk to him about mastering the art of the sideline cut.

Get down low and concentrate

"I think the most important thing is to get down low and get in under the ball and concentrate on hitting between the ball and the grass. Don't worry about where the ball is actually going to go. A lot of guys concentrate on where the ball is going to go and they don't concentrate on making the proper connection with the sliotar. That's where a lot of guys fall down.

"It's like anything, it's about practice. You are not going to get it today or tomorrow. You might have to hit 100 to 200 balls before you hit one good one. It's time consuming but the end result is what makes it worthwhile."

Practice makes Perfect

"No skill in hurling is something you are born with. You have to work on different things. Practice makes perfect. All the way through I was trying to practice every skill and maybe I practiced the sideline cut that little bit more. It's like anything, if you want to perfect something you have to do it repeatedly over time.

"I'm still not perfect, not every one of them goes to plan. But that's the joy if it. It makes you work harder when it doesn't go to plan.

"It's the same as taking frees or goalies taking puck-outs, it's a single-minded thing that you have to do on your own. You have to put in that extra effort, the extra few minutes before training or after training in the evening practicing sidelines."

Learning from the best

"My brother Davy, when he was playing with the Club and I was younger, he took a sideline one day from his 21-yard line that landed on the far '21' and it was a thing that I was jealous of more than anything that he was able to do it and I wasn't. He was always very good at them and he still is with the Club at home. He is a guy I looked up to when I was younger."

A sideline cut to remember

"A couple of years ago (2008) I played for LIT in a Fitzgibbon Cup final against WIT down in CIT and it was one to draw the match in injury time. I know we didn't go on and win in the final but it put us in a position to go into extra-time. I remember the pressure and everything that went with it still."

For more information on the sideline cut click here . For more information on the key points of the sideline cut click here . When analysing the sideline cuts in the video clips above, it is possible to identify each of the areas of the OTú Coaching Model. Click here for further details.