Two modern GAA icons reach major life milestone at the exact same time – sparking fan

JOE CANNING and Richie Hogan have announced that they’ll have autobiographies on shelves for October.

Canning retired from inter-county hurling in 2021 while Hogan followed suit last year.

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They were arguably the two most naturally gifted hurlers of their era.

With eight All-Irelands between them (admittedly it is a 7:1 split) as well as nine All-Stars, both men enjoyed compelling careers filled with highs and lows.

For Canning the struggle was shouldering the weight of expectation for Galway having been touted as a messianic figure since he was a teen.

He and his teammates did end a 28-year wait for Liam MacCarthy when they pulled off one of the most memorable All-Ireland titles in recent memory in 2017.

Meanwhile Hogan’s career was far more laden with medals – but also unfortunately even more injury travails despite Canning having no shortage in that department himself.

The two men have begun promoting the release of their respective autobiographies which will land on shelves in good time for the Christmas market.

The Portumna native provided an exact release date of October 10 while the Danesfort ace only specified that his would also be out that month.

Canning, 35, stated: “I tried to tell ‘My Story’ as honestly as I could & hopefully you’ll enjoy reading the many highs & lows of my life so far!

“Available to pre-order here for launch on the 10-10-24. Massive thanks also to Vincent Hogan!”

Similarly, Richie’s post read: “I’m delighted to announce that I have written my autobiography ‘Whatever it Takes’.

“It will be an honest account of the highs and lows of 17 years of playing with Kilkenny.

“Thank you to Fintan O’Toole and Gill Books for making it happen.

“The book will be on sale from October 2024. You can pre-order your copy through this link.”

Hogan was named Hurler of the Year in 2014 whilst Canning took that honour in 2017.

While they were polar opposites in height they were comparable in skill and inventiveness.

The best sports books always require a fair degree of adversity so in each case they’d appear to have the requisite ingredients to make a worthwhile read.

The pair are among the more straight talkers of current hurling analysts too.

So you’d imagine there won’t be much of a reluctance to leave a few noses out of joint in the interest of authenticity.