There was a time when it looked like Joe Canning could join that elite but unenviable group of great hurlers to finish their careers without tasting All-Ireland glory – until a September day in 2017 when all of the work was finally worth it.

It’s a story told again, in a special way, in a new book called Joe the Great, written for young adults – and in dyslexia-friendly text to ensure it is accessible to all.

It’s a formula that author, RTÉ broadcaster Paul O’Flynn, has already deployed successfully over four previous books in his Sporting Legends series – focusing on the careers of Johnny Sexton, Henry Shefflin, Josh Van Der Flier and the Six Nations-winning Irish rugby team.

But, if he’d had his way, his fifth book would have been his first.

“The original idea came from a great series of books for kids called Ultimate Football Heroes, but they’re the soccer players – Messi, Ronaldo, Mo Salah – and my idea was to do the same for our own Irish sports stars,” he says.

“Joe would have been fairly much number one of the list although, as it turned out, it took a bit of time to get him on board.

“Sometimes people want to wait until the end of their career and so on – so we did Johnny Sexton first and then Henry Shefflin, Josh Van Der Flier and then one of the story of the Six Nations team…and now Joe.

“He’s a brilliant story but what makes him different to Henry is that he was born so talented and went straight through to win eleven All-Irelands and nine All-Stars whereas Joe had to work at it.

“Joe was born with all the talent too, but this is about persistence and determination and then finally getting the reward, the Holy Grail,” he adds.

Making the books dyslexia-friendly means that the print is in a bigger point size, with lots of use of bold text to break up the pages – and with short sentences that make it accessible to all.

“Sometimes it can be easier to write something long-winded, but that wouldn’t work here. Like the (legendary American broadcaster) Edward R Murrow line: I was going to write you a short letter, but I didn’t have the time,” laughs Paul.

The dyslexia link doesn’t end there because a share of the profits go to the Dyslexia Association – and this time there’s a slice for Joe Canning’s choice of charity, UNICEF, as well.

“There’ s a chapter in the book about his work with UNICEF as well when he visited the camp in Syria and I think that’s important to reflect on this social consciousness as well as the hurling success,” says Paul.

Paul has works as a sports broadcaster with RTÉ News for 20 years now, and his own sporting career was on the water; a champion swimmer who represented Leinster for years, he was also the winner of the famous Liffey Swim in 2018.

And although Dublin born and based, he has one foot firmly in the west – and in Moycullen in particular – because he is married to his former RTÉ colleague and now the first female political editor of the Irish Independent, Mary Regan. They have two children, Ellen (7) and Brendan (2).

“We get down any time we can although it’s a bit trickier now with school. I love it there; it’s great to have a place like Moycullen to go to,” he says.

“I’m a Dub, we live in Dublin, but it’s great to enjoy a more rural way of life – although Moycullen is changing very quickly on that front too!”

Regan’s bar is the constant in all that change in the village, with Paul’s father-in-law Jim behind the counter.

“I love going there for a pint – a good old-school bar with a great pint of Guinness,” says Paul.

Indeed, little Brendan spent a good slice of his first summer in Moycullen with the family last year while dad Paul was in Paris for his fourth Olympics – and they are his favourite experiences of his time with RTÉ.

He’ s been to four Olympics – London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris last year – but sees them as all very different in their own ways.

“The buzz you get working for RTÉ there, it’s fantastic. The work is off the scale but it’s such a privilege just to be there in a front row seat for some of the biggest sporting events in the world,” he says.

Which was his favourite?

“I would have always said London; it was my first one and it was so close to home and Ireland did so well.

“Rio had its own challenges because we were consumed with Pat Hickey and all that went around that news-wise – so that kind of passed by in terms of a sporting event.

“Tokyo was Covid which was interesting in its own way but it just didn’t have that full-on experience – and Paris was off-the-scale spectacular in terms of the way it was set up and, again, Ireland’s success…particularly with that new generation of Irish athletes.

“But London just shades it as my favourite; back then I was nearly the same age as them; now I sometimes feel like their dad!”

He thoroughly enjoyed telling Joe Canning’s story in a different way – not least because, even after retirement, he still sees the Portumna man as a hero of the modern game.

“He’s a superstar of Gaelic Games and I still consider him to be part of the current crop even though he’s gone a couple of years – although he is still so prominent through his media work and the Sunday Games,” says Paul.

“But it was really how he played the game that made him stand out…that swashbuckling style and that he was in a team that probably wouldn’t be as full of greats as Shefflin’s Kilkenny.”

The book chronicles those highs and lows – massive under-age success mixed with injuries that threatened to curtail his career, and then on to ultimate glory and the McCarthy Cup to earn his place in the pantheon of hurling greats…those with an All-Ireland medal rather than those without.

■ Joe The Great by Paul O’Flynn is published by Gill Books and it’s in all good bookshops from this weekend. A percentage of the profits will go to UNICEF Ireland to support their work with children around the world.

Pictured: Paul O’Flynn at the Paris Olympics.