GRAHAM Canty holds a record that he would much prefer to pass on to another player – he was the last Cork captain to lift the Sam Maguire Cup in Croke Park.

2010 was the highlight of a career for the Bantry Blues’ man that saw him recognised as one of the best Gaelic footballers of his generation when he wore the blue of Bantry, the purple and gold of Carbery, the rebel red of Cork, the blue of Munster and the green and gold of Ireland with huge distinction.

After such an illustrious playing career, one would expect Canty to have a bucket load of important medals stored away but such is not the case and it adds to the mystique that Canty achieved greatness when playing with a Cork team that was under Kerry’s thumb.

Canty’s inter-county career took in the entire first decade of the 20th century and while Cork won one All-Ireland title, four Munster titles and three Division 1 league titles – unknown riches for Cork football, in truth – he would have won many more Celtic Crosses were it not for the usual arch-enemy, Kerry.

He won Munster medals in 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2009, but in those four years Cork lost three All-Ireland semi-finals and one final to Kerry, because of the new championship system which provided a backdoor out of Munster for Kerry. During the nine years that Cork and Canty didn’t win Munster, they lost to Kerry eight times and Limerick once.

Little wonder there was such great rejoicing when Canty finally lifted the Sam Maguire as Cork captain in 2010.

Graham Canty lifting the Sam Maguire in 2010.

Canty’s marvellous contribution to Gaelic football was never measured in medals, rather in the outstanding performances he produced in a variety of positions for club and county. He played two years with Cork minors and three with the U21 team, and managed only one Munster medal in those five years. However, in those years he developed into the great player we all came to admire and cheer for.

Three All-Star awards came his way when it could and should have been nearer to ten. The problem he faced all his career was that he was just too good in too many positions. When a star opponent needed to be marked, Canty got the job. When the Cork defence leaked scores Canty was used to plug the leak. When midfield struggled he became the high-fielding, ball-winning centre player. He was often depended on to lift the Cork attack with his searing solo-runs.

Often, during the course of a single game, he would be shifted from position to position, fire-fighting, which meant he never really got a chance to make one position his own, although recognised mainly as a great, ball-playing centre back.

A skilful, classy footballer, Canty was also tough as nails, a characteristic we often saw when his Bantry team-mates were being bullied on the pitch. When Ireland needed tough men to lead the team against the professional Australians, they looked no further than Canty. He never took a backward step in any of those games, earning the utmost respect from his Australian opponents and three series’ medals. When all those around him against Kerry were crumbling, Canty was the one man who invariably stood his ground, refused to budge and the Cork supporters loved him for it. Like Cúchulainn of old, he manned the Bearna Baol like a hero.

Graham Canty is a Bantry Blues legend.

In Cork hurling we had many great players, the best of whom were recognised and cheered under a single name. Ringy. Hoggie. Deano. No other name required. It was never as common in football but when it came to Graham Canty all we ever used was Canty. He was that good.

His misfortune with Cork also stretched to his career in the blue of his beloved Bantry. We watched him develop from U12 upwards but he arrived at the end of a golden era for underage in Bantry and medals were scarce. However, his talent was still evident to Cork underage selectors.

When Bantry won their first county senior title in 1995, he was too young to be involved but when their second arrived in 1998 under manager Denis Cotter and captain Damian O’Neill, he won his senior medal as a tender minor. That was it with the Blues, plus a couple of league titles, but he never lost his enthusiasm and desire for the fray as he soldiered on with a team that was on a decline from the great days of the 1990s. Being a great player on a great team was never Canty’s destiny, achieving greatness despite that is his forever legacy.

So, as Canty enters the West Cork Sports Star Hall of Fame this Saturday night, and the Carbery division begins its second century, how would we rate the great Bantry man against other great players produced by the division?

The list is long in football-mad West Cork. Canty joins an elite list with three other West Cork players – Mick Mehigan of Ardfield in 1911, Tadhgo Crowley of Clonakilty in 1945 and Larry Tompkins of Castlehaven in 1990 – all captaining Cork All-Ireland winning football teams, all fantastic footballers.

Add on to the greats’ list the names of Eamon Young, Dohenys; Denis Bernard, Dohenys; Kevin Kehily, Newcestown; Dave McCarthy, Clonakilty; Niall Cahalane, Castlehaven; Mick McCarthy, O’Donovan Rossa; Declan Barron, Bantry; Damien O’Neill, Bantry. But right up at the very top, rubbing shoulders with the greatest of the greats must include the name of Graham Canty. Footballer supreme. A legend in his lifetime.