Peter Canavan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sport | Gaelic football | |
| Place of birth | Tyrone, Northern Ireland | |
| Club information | ||
| Club | Errigal Ciarán | |
| Position | Forward | |
| Club(s)* | ||
| Club | Years | Apps (scores) |
| Errigal Ciarán | ? -Present | |
| Club Titles | ||
| Tyrone Titles | 6 | |
| Ulster Titles | 2 | |
| Inter County | ||
| County | Tyrone | |
| Position | Forward | |
| Inter County(ies)** | ||
| County | Years | Apps (scores) |
| Tyrone | 1989-2005 | 9-191 (218) |
| Inter County Titles | ||
| Ulster Titles | 4 | |
| All-Ireland | 2 | |
| All-Stars | 6 | |
|
* club appearances and scores |
||
Peter Canavan is an Irish Gaelic Football player who played inter-county football for his native Tyrone. Canavan plays his club football for Tyrone club, Errigal Ciarán. Interestingly enough, Canavan was also on the panel for the Underaged Hurling team in Killyclogher, although he never played for them.
He is widely considered a legend in Tyrone football.
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
Peter is known to be one of the best Gaelic Footballers of all time[1], being the highest scorer at both club level and inter-county level on numerous occasions. He was Tyrone's talisman but retired in 2005 after his county, Tyrone, captured the elusive All-Ireland title for the second time within three years. A total of six All-Stars puts his name down as one of the greats of the modern game. He was consistently at the top end of the scoring charts for Ulster throughout his career.[2]
[edit] 1994
Peter's name was already known around Tyrone because of his exploits for the Under 21 team, but he started to make an impact in the Ulster Championship in 1994. Tyrone lost the Ulster Final to Down, who eventually went on to become the All Ireland Champions.
[edit] 1995
In 1995, Canavan scored eleven points in the All Ireland Final, despite ending up on the losing side to Dublin. The game was remembered as contentious for Tyrone fans, for the fact that a player (Charlie Redmond) who had been sent off didn't leave the pitch for several minutes, and a point that would have equalised the match in the dying seconds was controversially disallowed.[3] He was the top scorer in Ireland that year as well, earning him the Player of the Year title.
| Tyrone Panel: All-Ireland Final 1995 | ||
|---|---|---|
|
1 Finbar McConnell | 2 Paul Devlin | 3 Chris Lawn | 4 Fay Devlin | 5 Ronan McGarrity | 6 Seamus McCallen | 7 Seán McLaughlin | 8 Fergal Logan | 9 Jody Gormley | 10 Cairan Corr (Cap.) | 11 Pascal Canavan | 12 Cairan Loughran | 13 Cairan McBride | 14 Peter Canavan | 15 Stephen Lawn | Subs: 16 ?, 17 ?, 18 Brian Gormley, 19 ?, 20 ?, 21 Paul Donnelly, 22 Matt McGleenan, 23 Adrian Cush, 24 ?, 25 Damien Gormley, Manager: Art McRory, Eugene McKenna |
||
[edit] 2003
In 2003, Peter 'The Great' finally shook off his tag as 'the greatest player never to win an All-Ireland', captaining Tyrone to All-Ireland glory against Armagh. Tyrone came out victorious in history's first All-Ireland Final with two teams from the same province. This is a fixture that first became possible since the recent introduction of the backdoor system in modern Gaelic football. Armagh had been knocked out of the Ulster Championship, but played through the qualifier series for a chance to get to the All Ireland Final.
His appearance in the Final was truly inspirational. Despite having suffered an ankle injury in the previous match, and was not expected (or advised) to play. He started the match, and was taken off before half time. During the break, and even some way into the second half, he was receiving treatment to his ankle, including having pain-killing injections. Then, with seven minutes remaining, he was re-introduced by manager Mickey Harte, a shrewd, albeit necessary, move, considering Canavan was the only member of the team who had ever played in an All-Ireland final before, in 1995.
This reintroduction, while not the first time it had happened (blood subsitutions had been used sporadically, for example), was seen as one of the greatest moments in the GAA in the last forty years [4], a tribute to both the player's legacy, and inspiration, and the manager's tactical superiority.
Canavan amassed a total of 1-48 (51 points) over the course of the Championship.[5]
Following an email campaign throughout Ireland, Canavan was early forerunner for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.[6] He lost however to Johnny Wilkinson, who almost single-handedly kicked England to Rugby World Cup glory in November of that year. He was, however, voted as Northern Ireland Sports Personality.[7]
| Tyrone Panel: 2003 All-Ireland Final | ||
|---|---|---|
|
1 John Devine | 2 Cairan Gourley | 3 Cormac McAnallen | 4 Ryan McMenamin | 5 Conor Gormley | 6 Gavin Devlin | 7 Phillip Jordan | 8 Kevin Hughes | 9 Sean Cavanagh | 10 Brian Dooher | 11 Brian McGuigan | 12 Gerard Cavlan | 13 Enda McGinley | 14 Peter Canavan (Cap.) | 15 Eoin Mulligan | Subs: 16 Pascal McConnell, 17 Dermot Carlin, 18 Mark Harte, 19 Colin Holmes, 20 Paul Horisk, 21 Chris Lawn, 22 Peter Loughran, 23 Declan McCrossan, 24 Michael McGee, 25 Cormac McGinley, 26 Frank McGuigan 27 Seamus Mulgrew 28 Stephen O'Neill 29 Brian Robinson 30 Michael Coleman |
||
[edit] 2005
He had been used mostly as an 'impact substitute' throughout the year in 2005, and had relinquished his captaincy to the late Cormac McAnallen after the 2003 Championship. Despite this, the Tyrone manager Mickey Harte chose Canavan on the starting line-up of the All Ireland Final. This proved to be a great tactical decision for Tyrone as he was instrumental in the defeat of Kerry in the All-Ireland final, winning on a scoreline of 1-16 to 2-10.
| Tyrone Panel: 2005 All-Ireland Final | ||
|---|---|---|
|
1 Pascal McConnell | 2 Ryan McMenamin | 3 Joe McMahon | 4 Michael McGee | 5 David Harte | 6 Conor Gormley | 7 Phillip Jordan | 8 Enda McGinley | 9 Sean Cavanagh | 10 Brian Dooher (Cap.) | 11 Brian McGuigan | 12 Ryan Mellon | 13 Peter Canavan | 14 Stephen O'Neill | 15 Eoin Mulligan | Subs: 16 John Devine, Colin Holmes, Chris Lawn, |
||
[edit] Under 21
Canavan captained Tyrone to 2 All-Ireland Under 21 titles in 1991 and 1992. The only other person in the history of Gaelic football to also achieve this feat was Cormac McAnallen, also with Tyrone in 2000 and 2001
[edit] Ulster
Peter has won the Ulster Championship on four occasions with Tyrone in 1995, 1996, 2001 and in Tyrone's All-Ireland winning year 2003.
[edit] All-Stars
Canavan won three GAA All-Stars Awards in a row between 1994 and 1996, including the Player of the Year award in 1995.
Peter also received three GAA All-stars in the 2000s. He received one in 2002, and another in his first All-Ireland winning year 2003. He then went on to win his final Gaelic Athletic Association All-star in 2005 before his inter-county retirement in Tyrone's second victory of the All-Ireland where he scored a memorable goal in the All-Ireland final.
[edit] National Football League
Canavan was part of both Tyrone sides that won the National Football league title two years in a row in 2002 and 2003.
| Preceded by: Kieran McGeeney (Armagh) |
Texaco Footballer of the Year 2003 |
Succeeded by: Colm Cooper (Kerry) |
| Preceded by: n/a |
Vodafone Footballer of the Year 1995 |
Succeeded by: ? |
