When Joe Canning scored his second sideline cut of the evening in Wexford Park on Saturday, Mike Finnerty, Sky Sports’ match commentator, perfectly encapsulated the play, and the beauty and brilliance attached to it.
"That’s absolutely outrageous from Canning," said Finnerty. "He bent it (the ball) from left to right. Once more, Joe Canning takes the breath away."
Trying to cut the ball from left to right, for a player striking on their right side, is more difficult than taking a sideline cut from right to left because it requires a degree of curl and power to draw the shot in.
But Canning’s point from a sideline in the first half had also been from left to right, and so was his score from a sideline in last year’s All-Ireland final against Waterford.
That level of genius is the reason why Canning is the greatest practitioner of the art in the game. He first showcased that ability as a 15-year old in the 2004 All-Ireland minor final replay against Kilkenny when he nailed two sidelines.
In 2008, Canning nailed three sideline cuts in the All-Ireland Under-21 semi-final against Kilkenny, and four in the epic LIT- Waterford IT Fitzgibbon Cup final.
That summer, Canning scored probably the greatest sideline cut ever seen at senior championship level when he cut a ball over the bar against Cork in Thurles that seemed to travel all the way in from around Holycross.
Lovely Joe Canning side line cut pic.twitter.com/oOLxfn4JZT
— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 2, 2018
At senior level, no other player in history has scored as many championship points from a sideline as Canning, who has now notched 17.
The next most prolific scorer is Clare’s Mick Moroney, who is on eight. When Moroney scored three points from line-balls against Tipperary in the 1977 Munster championship, it was considered so freakish that his scores were shown on TV that evening.
Moroney was regarded as the first great sideline cut specialist. Although John Fenton’s championship sideline-scoring tally of 1-03 is surprisingly low (some of his scores though, may have been recorded as frees), Fenton was regarded as having taken the art to another level in the 1980s.
Martin Storey scored three points from sidelines in the 1993 drawn Leinster final but he was never regarded as a specialist.
Adrian Fenlon, Brian Corocran, Ger Farragher, Eamonn Corcoran and Ben O’Connor were highly proficient in the art but Canning took it to a different stratosphere; in one 37 competitive game period with club, college and county between 2007-2009, Canning scored 23 points from sideline cuts.
Canning altered convention and changed the way players and managers looked at the game because conceding a sideline against him was almost like giving up a score.
And a practise that was once considered unique is now common in the modern game; in the Tipperary-Limerick league semi-final in April, Ronan Maher nailed a sideline from 80 metres. It was the best sideline cut seen since Canning’s one against Cork in 2008.
The expert GAA statistician Leo McGough once showed how, prior to the 2010 All-Ireland final, there had been just seven points scored from sideline cuts in the history of All-Ireland finals.
Yet there have been six points scored from sidelines in the last eight finals. After Canning nailed his first sideline on Saturday evening, Michael Fennelly said in his Sky Sports co-commentary that the practise was becoming more "common’ and there were almost "one or two every game". Fennelly is right - to a point - but the stats in this championship to date haven’t backed up that view.
In the 14 Munster and Leinster championship matches played, Canning’s two against Wexford are the only sidelines scored.
In Sunday’s Tipperary-Waterford game, Pauric Mahony hit the post with one effort while a Jason Forde attempt drifted just wide late on. Forde is a fine exponent of the craft but Tipperary were one point down one minute into injury time.
"Michael Ryan is scratching his head," said Anthony Daly in his RTE co-commentary.
"Lineballs are chances but are they great chances? Maybe if you have Joe Canning they are but that was one that Tipperary could maybe have tried to work inside."
Examining McGough’s statistics, Kilkenny have only scored 1-10 from sideline cuts in their championship history.
TJ Reid is well able to nail them but Kilkenny’s numbers are in line with their principle of ensuring the ball is kept in play and minimising wastage.
And that is how many coaches coach their young players in relation to sideline cuts.
The overall increase in the skill has come about through a combination of advanced weights training, better hurleys, lighter sliotars and smoother surfaces.
But players now are also far more confident in trying to execute the skill. Guys like Ronan Maher, Austin Gleeson, Forde, John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer, Mark Coleman and Peter Duggan have no problem going for it from 50 or more metres.
Canning though, remains the real standard. Studying his technique is a lesson in repetitive routine, and the principles he constantly abides by. Every one of his strikes is similar.
Because he is a right sided player, Canning’s sideline cuts tend to fade from the left to the right so he always aims for the left hand post.
And a left-sided player should always aim for the right post. In a Red Bull promotional video a few years back, Canning brilliantly detailed how he takes sideline cuts. And it remains the ultimate coaching lesson in the art from the Master.
"I make sure that I get a good long stretch into the ball, like an exaggerated genuflection," said Canning.
"At that moment, I’m concentrating on striking just between the ball and the grass. I try to connect at a ’45-degree angle on the hurl and let my wrists do the rest of the work. Then I follow through for distance.
"Accuracy for me is all about visualisation. When you go for a score, you have to see the ball hitting the target in your mind.
"Then it’s all about practicing over and over until you are consistently hitting your target. Create a routine that works for you. Practice makes progress."
Absolutely.
