Injury nightmare over as Canty back to rouse Rebels

IT HAPPENED ten minutes from the end.

Graham Canty had been inspirational in Cork’s defence all through the Munster SFC final replay, winning ball after ball. Then he went to gather a bread-and-butter delivery — and felt his season dissolve in pain.

“I gave it a twinge before that,” says Canty, “And it was fine. I landed and twisted it going after the ball — I’d dropped it — but the whole knee gave way. I knew it was something seriously wrong.”

Canty’s cruciate ligament had torn. His season was over.

The rehabilitation was long and slow. After an operation to repair the joint, Canty picked up an infection which slowed his recovery, but with the help of Cork physio Colin Lane, he began to improve.

“Every three or four weeks you’d see progress. You wouldn’t see it every day, and you’d get frustrated, you’d be thinking ‘I’ve gone backwards’, but every few weeks you’d see improvement. That’d keep you going.

“The day I got my heel to touch the back of my ass, that was a major achievement.”

His comeback game took place a long way from the spotlight, lining out with Bantry against St Finbarr’s. Canty started at wing-forward — “kind of out of the way” — and it wasn’t long before his resolve was tested.

“I went for one ball and misjudged it, a guy came under me and I fell, but it was great to get a knock and just get up and get on with it.”

Cork missed Canty in their All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry last year, but the big full-back focuses on the disruption the team as a whole suffered.

“When I picked up the injury the most significant thing for Cork was taking Derek (Kavanagh) out of the middle of the field, where he was playing very well. That upset the balance of the middle eight, where we were doing well. But those things happen, you have to adapt on the day. Kerry were better in the semi-final.”

Kerry loom large in Canty’s present and his past. He remembers summer days at home, with his father drawing the curtains against the sun in order to watch the game on television. As soon as Graham and his brother were old enough, they went to the games in person. No wonder he puts a high value on winning the Munster championship.

“You still want to win Munster. You’re still in the championship after Sunday, but coming up to the game that’s all you’re thinking of.

“The last couple of years we’ve been in the same league, we’ve met in championship — it adds to the rivalry.”

For Kerry, nullifying Cork will involve nullifying Michael Cussen, the new full-forward. Canty sees a lot of Cussen in training and agrees he’s an asset.

“In training we’re nearly sick of marking each other at this stage! He’s a tough customer, a good ballplayer. People might think all he can do is catch the ball but he’s a good player, he can play off the ball in front of him or the ball over the top. He’s a good all-round player and you’d play him as you would every full-forward.”

Training, and preparation generally, are a big part of the senior inter-county player’s life, of course.

“There’s ten-twelve football teams doing the same as us, if not more,” says Canty.

“We went to Portugal the week before the Limerick game last year. We didn’t maybe push it this year as hard, because we were further into the championship, but it’s great having the thirty players together, lads aren’t going off to work and so on.”

Talking of togetherness, Canty gives a good example when asked about the frequently-criticised Cork attack.

“People have gone overboard in discussing that in the past. When you lose a championship game you’ve conceded more than the other team, and in the semi-final against Kerry last year we conceded heavily. Maybe we should look at the team as a whole.”

Cork are fancied by many people to do well in the championship and Canty agrees the race for Sam is wide open.

“Donegal and Mayo came out strong out of the league, Meath only just failed to beat Dublin, you’ve your pick of teams in Ulster . . . Kerry built as they went through the back door last year, it suited them.

“That varies from team to team — but I’m sure most managers would prefer to go through the front door.”