It's hard to picture Joe Canning wearing any county jersey other than a Galway one.
Among the greatest hurlers of the 21st century, Canning was talismanic in the first Galway team to win an All-Ireland senior hurling title in 29 years in 2017.
If Canning was one of the best hurlers of the 21st century nationwide, it's undisputed that he is his county's finest of that era. A Portumna man, he was an immensely loyal servant to his county for 14 seasons from his debut in 2008.
All of that makes the revelation from Canning on Wednesday's Second Captains episode all the more intriguing.
Canning was a special guest on the latest instalment of Second Captains' brilliant 'I'll Tell You Who Wrote It' Book Club series, and was tasked with dissecting John Feinstein's classic 1995 book 'A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour.'
After a brilliant near-hour-long discussion of golfing figures from Faldo to McIlroy, Canning was asked by host Ciarán Murphy about the nature of modern hurling compared to professional sports - and went on a remarkable tangent in which he revealed the county he might have considered a switch to if it had been allowed.
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Joe Canning reveals the one rival county he could have stomached playing for
3 September 2017; Joe Canning of Galway celebrates following the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Galway and Waterford at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Much of the review of 'A Good Walk Spoiled' was spent discussing the immense wealth of professional golf, and the power struggle currently ongoing between LIV and the PGA Tour.
With that in mind, host (and fellow Galway man) Ciarán Murphy asked Canning if he was relieved that such dynamics did not exist in hurling - and the legendary forward's answer was fascinating.
Canning pointed out that there was, in fact, plenty of money in the GAA, but that the amateur playing status prevented it from getting to players. He said that he agreed with such an arrangement, and with the absence of transfers - but he wasn't immune to a touch of speculation about where he might have gone if such transfers were possible when pressed by Eoin McDevitt.
I'll answer that...it's funny. Before they got successful, I probably would have said Limerick.
I was in college down here, I have good friends here. I'm obviously living here.
But we weren't bordering them either. Tipperary, I couldn't have played for Tipperary. Jesus Christ!
There'd be lots of Tipperary people in Portumna...not so much Portumna people out in Tipperary. We would have crossed paths a lot, any time there was matches when I was growing up...
As [with] any neighbours, you don't like [them]. It's the GAA, it's a rivalry. Clare were only 20 minutes up the road..I wouldn't have played for Clare either.
I grew up around '94, '96 when they lost All-Irelands and you were probably feeling a bit sorry for [Limerick].
We'll be honest, we can't quite picture Joe Canning togging out in a Limerick jersey, and we're sure that the Galway faithful are glad that such a move never came to pass.
The full podcast is a really stellar listen and well worth listening to in its entirety. The entire episode can be accessed through a subscription on Second Captains' Patreon page through this link.
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