Joe Canning should be crowned 'Hurler of the Year', according to Cyril Farrell.

The three-time All-Ireland winning Galway manager outlines the reasons why he believes the Portumna ace deserves the top individual gong in his Irish Independent column today...

"It's selected by players from all the counties and I would expect he will get enough support to land an award that nobody thought he would have to wait so long for when he first came on to the senior team nine years ago," The Sunday Game analyst writes.

"The problem for Canning is that expectations are so high that he's judged by different standards to other players. So let's dispense with that and look at this season as if it were his first.

"He has shown great leadership all year, including last Sunday when he made an early statement by popping over the first point inside 20 seconds. It wasn't an easy finish but he nailed it, setting the tone for Galway.

"He did a lot of neat things later on in open play too while his accuracy from frees ensured that every Waterford foul within 100 metres of their goal was punished.

"And then there was his point from a line ball, which came just after Galway had conceded a soft goal that brought Waterford level.

"Pointing line balls is still a very difficult thing to do but we've come to expect that Canning will score most of them. That was a pressure score and he delivered in style.

"He won the semi-final with that wonderful late point, having scored all of Galway's five closing points.

"Throughout the year, his leadership was obvious so when the whole package is put together, I'm convinced he should win the top individual award."

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