Though he is now mostly associated with Connacht rugby, John Muldoon is also steeped in Galway hurling. The Connacht captain won an All-Ireland minor medal as part of the Galway panel which defeated Cork in the 2000 final.
Muldoon also hurled with Portumna - the same club as the Cannings.
On Newstalk's Off The Ball this week, Muldoon told of how from a very young age, those involved with Portumna could recognise the prodigious talent possessed by Joe Canning.
Incredibly - and Muldoon added that this was no exaggeration - Canning was pucking balls over the bar from 60 metres as young as five.
Obviously, I know Joe very well. From an early age, you could tell Joe has something special.
When you have a wide age cap - some of the Cannings might not like hearing me say that, Seamie in particular - and Joe is five, six, seven years of age and his brothers are playing senior hurling with Portumna, Joe was brought along to every training, every match. He'd be out the other end of the field pucking balls over the bar from 50, 60 metres at five, six, seven years of age.
That's no exaggeration. He was pucking the ball over the bar at five, six, seven years of age from 30, 40, 50, 60 metres out and able to take 65s. There isn't a word of a lie in that, I promise you. From an early age, everyone could see that Joe had it.
In a moment of self-deprecation, Muldoon joked that he couldn't fire over a sliotar from that far when he was a minor. Though, he did also say that young Canning was probably using a smaller ball.
A few years later, a slightly more mature Joe Canning - somewhere between the ages of eight and ten - was regularly used as a stand-in goalkeeper at Portumna senior training if they were short on numbers.
Even as a kid, he would stand in goal if they were missing one or two for the seniors at eight, nine, ten years of age, Joe would stand in goals and puck balls out to the halfway line, no problem. He was doing that from a very young age.
Once you're bred into that, things are going to come quite easy to you. You see the ease he has pucking the ball over the bar from 70, 80 yards out. Obviously, we saw that last day in Croke Park. One of the flicks he gave for one of those points, it looked effortless from all of 100 yards.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
