Joe Canning blown away by Cooney's 'clutch moment'

Joe Canning knows a thing or two about holding your nerve under extreme pressure - so he was not damning Conor Cooney with faint praise when he reflected on Sunday's nerve-shredding climax against Kilkenny.

Cooney won a brilliant encounter for the Tribesmen when he landed a tough free in the dying seconds.

And Canning - who retired from inter-county hurling a year ago and was very much in fan mode as he watched the game in Salthill - was impressed.

"Everybody needs to find their own thing to get them ready for pressure situations," he said at the launch of the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Legends Tour Series.

"It's not the frees that are in front of the goals two minutes into the games… it's like the one Conor got to beat Kilkenny. That is pressure. That's clutch-moment stuff where he needs to nail it 65, 70 yards out.

"That was a great free. You can’t quantify the pressure that was on his shoulders in that situation. That was fair balls from him to be honest about it."

Canning was arguably the greatest executioner of a sideline cut the game has seen, ending his career with 0-28 championship points from sidelines.

Fintan Burke has taken on the mantle with Galway this year, though Canning insists he was never one to pass on tips.

"No! Not at all," he replied when asked if they ever practised the art together in training.

"It's something he probably does in his own time, and I would have done on my own time. Fintan is a bit unique. He does it off his left and his right, which is phenomenal. That’s a lot more than I ever done.

"You don’t see that very often. If you ask any inter-county hurler to take a sideline off their left and their right, very few would be able to do it like he does it.

"What he’s doing now is just different level to be