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Joe Canning says he’s baffled by the GAA’s decision to introduce yellow sliotars on short notice before the all-Ireland pitching championship.
They were tested in the US during the ‘Super 11s’ format and with the arrival of a winter championship, the GAA announced their introduction for 2020 last week.
Former Waterford manager Derek McGrath told RTÉ Saturday sport that, in his opinion, the decision to bring in the yellow sliotar was “hasty” and is a point Canning agrees with.
“I just hope they are not the same as Boston sliotars. I think it was Eoin Murphy who tweeted the other day that we would need around 500 pitches because we would break them, they are very tough,” Galway’s All-Ireland winning Talisman said at the Launch of Bord Gáis Energy 2020 Hurling To The Core campaign as their first Leinster Championship match against Wexford draws near to the end of the month.
“I don’t understand why we’re playing yellow sliotars, to be honest. I don’t know if they asked any player or something about what the story was about. Maybe they did.
“We’ve played with white sliotars under lights before in league time especially and I didn’t hear anyone say, ‘Oh, we can’t wear a white sliotar.’ So I don’t get it, but it’s what Two weeks before the championship to change the color of the sliotars without telling anyone, it’s Croke Park’s decision and you just have to accept it.
“It will take a bit of adjustment to get used to. It’s something we haven’t done. I’m playing pitches 28 years since I was four, so switch to something you’re not used to and I’m giving you two weeks to get used to it. It’s a strange, strange decision. “
Canning, who turned 32 on Sunday, returned to action for Portumna starting in July, as the club championships took priority and a split season is a future change that he would welcome.
“I enjoyed being back with the club and I think it’s the way to go. In fact, I think the club should be the first in the year and then among the counties, because if you think about it, for the inter-county managers if you’re looking at the previous year for the club’s players instead of looking at the exact same period, it will be much more difficult to choose the fit players, “he added.
“So why not have the club up front and pick fit players for that year and take them to other counties if they are good enough?”
The club’s campaign gave him the pleasure of playing in front of drastically reduced crowds amidst restrictions in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Far from zoning crowds during games, you will feel the absence intensely no matter which side of the tribal divide the supporters are affiliated with.
“I think you definitely play with the crowd. I don’t know a lot of players who wouldn’t play with the crowd to some degree.
“For example, if you get a good score or a goal, the roar of the crowd gives you a bit more and if you concede a goal, the roar of the crowd is harder for you.
“The crowd plays a huge role in games. Even if you missed a scoreboard, the crowd says ‘aww’, you would hear a sound all over the stadium.
“Without that, the success is not so successful and the missing part is not so bad. Therefore, the good is not so good and the bad is not so bad.
“That’s the way I would feel in the end while playing for the club. The crowd wasn’t there, we lost a couple of games and you’re not there for the few extra people that gives you after the game right away with the crowd and stuff. things, or if you win, the pats on the back that come off the field are not there, so it plays a very important role. ”
His role on the field accentuates those senses, adding: “Maybe being a free taker is a bit more for me because I know that when I’m taking a free, you’d hear a guy on the stand trying to put you off. So if you fail, you’d hear 40,000 of the other fans who tell you it was a good pass. “
With no margin for error in the 2020 battle for provincial glory, Canning has no illusions about the challenge posed by Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford in the Leinster semi-final.
“They’ve come a long way. Obviously they’re Leinster champions and they’re very unlucky to lose the semifinals to Tipperary also last year,” he said of Model County.
“We’ve had a good rivalry with Wexford over the last few years at Leinster. He’s been very close every day we go out. We’ve gotten to know each other very well.
“It’s a good game between Galway and Wexford and with Davy, I’ve known him from college at LIT and he’s a brilliant coach and I know from the LIT days that we would have done anything for him.
“The Wexford boys probably feel the same about him, the Clare boys too.
“He’s getting results with all the teams he works with. If you look at Sixmilebridge there, the club has won back-to-back for the first time in a long time. He’s a brilliant coach and also a good guy.”
Joe Canning spoke at the launch of Bord Gáis Energy’s sponsorship of the 2020 GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
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