Joe Canning: ‘I don’t dream of training, I dream of playing matches'

There’s something they don’t tell you about winning your first All-Ireland, and over the past eight months Joe Canning has come to realise it.

At the time, the walk up the Hogan steps can feel like a full stop, a neat conclusion to a lifetime of work, but in truth it’s just a comma that catapults you on to the next phase. The euphoria fades, the pats on the back subside and, once enough people have laid their hands on Liam MacCarthy, the question is asked about his return visit.

When a team so publicly and deservedly celebrates a once-in-a-generation achievement, as Galway did, but muddles through the following league campaign, it’s inevitable some will nod their heads, furrow their brows and wonder about the half-life of their hangover.