Twenty years old, and the coming man of hurling -- a bit of a Wayne Rooney figure except without all the mad aggression and stupidity.

Earlier this evening, he scored 2-12 (i.e. 18 points, for the benefit of non-GAA-minded readers) as Galway lost to Cork. The rest of the Galway team got a pitiful 0-3 between them. Without him, it would have been a complete massacre.

He is some player and I'll bet the rest of them can't meet his gaze tonight.

Cork thoroughly outplayed Galway in the second half and fully deserved the win, but some of their antics were stomach churning -- Gardiner doing his Swan Lake routine and getting an opponent booked (I really hate seeing that stuff creeping into Gaelic games); O hAilpin driving the handle of his hurley into the face of Richie Murray; O'Sullivan whacking Canning on the back of the neck after being destroyed at the first Galway attack; Cusack being caught cheating again switching his sliothars in blatant disregard of the new rule that was brought in, and then assaulting a Galway player for the first of his two yellows (he should have gone for that alone). They can be a very difficult team to like.

But the way in which they overwhelmed Galway while a man down and with the breeze in their faces was very impressive. Naughton, Ben O'Connor and especially the ageless Deane were great.

That will probably be the end of Loughnane now, and frankly good riddance to the peevish, self-regarding ould bollox. A pity there'll be no more Joe Canning for the rest of the championship, though.

Jesus, I've just been watching highlights of Limerick v Meath in the football. Limerick were winning 4-10 to 0-3 midway through the second half, a lead of 19 points. Then Meath scored four goals in the last ten minutes (!) but still lost by nine points.

A huge shock result. Coyle won't survive that.

Ah, one can always rejoice in a defeat of the Royals! That said, at the start of the summer I was hoping for a Dublin v Meath Leinster Final, as it would present the sort of challenge that Dublin have not been getting in Leinster, leaving them 'soft' come the All-Ireland quarters and semis.

Cork have a dirty streak in them, but no worse than that acquired by Kilkenny over the last year or so. Gaelic Games in general are becomming more cynical, with sly hits, injury-faking and time-wasting rampant in the game at the moment.

Joe Canning is a gem of a lad. I wouldn't be sure that we'll get to see the best of him in years to come. Everywhere he plays, he gets targeted, none more so than in the Galway club final for Portumna when he was the victim of a horrible assault. The hard men have to show the teenager what it's like in the man's world. I reckon there's every chance that he'll walk away before he turns 25.

Canning will be fine.

He's physically big and tough; he's pretty bright if tonight's post-match interview was anything to go by; and he has an elder brother who has been playing in the championship (as a very good left corner-back) for years and will have told him all about what, and who, to watch out for.

He'll survive, just as Shefflin did, and just as Eoin Kelly has.

I hope you're proven to be right.

Anyway, bad clash today. I'll be at Croker for Dublin v Wexford, meaning I'll miss the end of the Open. I'm hoping for a four-hole play-off, as I'll probably get to a pub after the game to see it.

Another big result which I missed last night -- London managed to beat Sligo. The latter were 25/1 on to win.

This time last year, Sligo were champions of Connacht after ambushing Galway. Now they have lost to the weakest team in the competition and are in total disarray -- their best player refused to turn up for last night's game.