NEWS:THERE IS a poster in Blackrock Dart station of Joe Canning's mug that says something along the lines of "because it's been 20 long years" (the same image is at Pearse Street and presumably further up the tracks).

Then you see two teenagers coming off the train, hurleys in their hands, pucking a sliotar up the main street. You begin to wonder if the world has shifted on its axis.

To 99 per cent of those who commute from the south Dublin suburb each morning, the face of Canning is alien. At best he is becoming someone who non-hurling enthusiasts recognise without being able to put a name on him. "Oh yeah, the hurling wonderkid." That is something that should change this summer.

Canning has been a coming force in hurling for five years and remarkably he is still a teenager.

For the last two seasons he has resisted temptations to join the senior panel. Finally, along with returning older brother and team captain Ollie, the age of Joe Canning is imminent. Presuming an unseen wound heals in time, he will make his senior championship bow on Saturday afternoon in Casement Park against Antrim.

"Well yeah, looking at it now but I still won't know for another, hopefully, 10 years if I've done the right thing or not. I was looking at the end to my career, more so than starting it off. I'm fresh, I'm coming in, I'm looking to hurl, I'm not tired and sick of it.

"People ask do you ever get burnt out, do you get fed up about it? But it's the same as any soccer player. They're playing day in, day out. They never get fed up with it. They love the game. It's the same with me and hurling. I love it and wouldn't wish for anything else."

There is a difference. Soccer players get paid. Also, Canning has been pulled from pillar to post in recent years. His club side, Portumna, are seemingly on a constant post-season march, while Limerick IT pushed him through a hamstring injury to line out in the Fitzgibbon Cup. Then there was minor and under-21 activity.

Injury remains the only concern this week as a result of blood poisoning in his leg.

Canning, who will be 20 in November, said: "People say I got a break last year but realistically I didn't. Everybody says I relaxed last summer but altogether I got two weeks. I was still involved with under-21s and it only finished a week after the All-Ireland."

What about Ollie? "He is going well now. It took him maybe one or two games to get to the pace of the game again. Get the level up from club hurling. He's playing corner back. Hopefully he will be alright for championship."

And the decision to make him captain? "I suppose it is an extra burden but Ollie is the type of guy that takes it in his stride. It's a great honour for him, the family and Portumna club to have a guy captaining Galway.

"It's good for him and good for the younger players. There are a lot of young guys in the Galway panel this year that are hungry for success. I think with his kind of experience there and the likes of Alan Kerins and Fergal Healy that they'll keep us from getting ahead of ourselves and getting too hungry either. You need to have a certain level of composure in your hunger for success and hopefully they'll bring that to the mix."

As usual, Galway are last of the big guns out to bat. By the time they dispense with Antrim and Laois, their main rivals will have some sort of competitive challenge under their belts. The system remains ridiculously flawed.

"The last four or five weeks have been pretty hectic. There has been club championship as well. One week there we went Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with Galway and training with the club on Friday night, a game on the Saturday with the club and a game with the county on the Sunday, so it's been going well with both."

Due to doubts over Ger Farragher (back) and Joe Canning, Galway will wait until tonight to name their team.

Niall Rigney was last night appointed as interim manager of the Laois senior hurling team following the resignation of Damien Fox in the wake of poor turnouts recently at training sessions.