A man with the rare capacity to make the most of it.
The son of Peter, the son of God, expectation was going to surround Darragh Canavan from a young age.
The expectation would have drifted however, if it turned out at 13, 14 or 15, that he wasn’t actually that good. Loads of GAA legends have sons or daughters who believe it or not, aren’t as good as their parents were. And life goes on, it’s not the end of the world.
18 years of age now, the expectation surrounds Darragh Canavan still for one simple reason. Because he’s good enough, he’s absolutely good enough. Good enough for his club Errigal Ciarán, good enough for Tyrone.
A small, jinky livewire forward? Absolutely Perfect.
Back in the under-17 days, he had Croke Park dizzy with one stonker of a finish in his first outing at GAA HQ. Bang into the Hill 16 end goals, his father has done it many a time but it quickly emerged that this fella wasn’t going to be living off his name.
Mac a dhaide ! Cúl den scoth ag Dara Canavan ! @TyroneGAALive @RoscommonGAA @TG4TV @officialgaa pic.twitter.com/6rFKzilCoi
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) August 27, 2017
And the progress has kept up to that lively beat. The very next January, he made his senior debut for Tyrone as a 17-year-old in the McKenna Cup. With the minor age group gone, he was one of the unlucky ones but his rise to under-20 star was smooth.
It may have been against his will, but Mickey Harte gave Canavan another year with the 20s before the inevitable senior call-up and by God is it paying dividends for Tyrone.
On Sunday, they defeated Derry in the Ulster final and that man Canavan had a key role to play in their 4-13 to 1-10 triumph. He ended his day in the Athletic Grounds with two from play but it was an assist that turned heads in Armagh. With the game finely poised early on, Canavan ran onto a tricky ball beautifully, taking it the only way that would have worked, with a few rolls and tumbles.
But he was straight back to his feet. Bounced forward before taking a Derryman for a run. Somehow, he spotted Tiarnan Quinn jogging behind him and as if to tell the corner forward where he should be, Canavan hooked an inviting looper onto his chest.
Eyes on the back of his head.
Darragh Canavan: Little genius with eyes on the back of his head 👀
Clifford-esque pass 🔥pic.twitter.com/MSD2m13sxA
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 16, 2019
He’ll be some weapon for Tyrone in the years to come.
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