Imagine putting your body in the way of that?
Joe Canning reminded us all of why he is one of the greatest hurlers of the modern generation at Croke Park yesterday, with a goal of immense grace and quality that beggared belief.
While the goal was a demonstration of his poise, he also illustrated his power in defeat to the Cats and the stats showing just how powerful he can hit a sliotar are quite something.
Canning struck the sliotar at a speed of 157 km/h yesterday, a tiny bit faster than man of the match TJ Reid, who hit one strike at a speed of 155 km/h, according to stats by Liberty Insurance.
Check out the fastest ballspeed & other key stats from Kilkenny v Galway #libertyanalysis pic.twitter.com/wyJteFSXWn
— Liberty Insurance (@LibertyIRL) July 6, 2015
Click here to see an enlarged image.
TJ, of course, will be the happier man having left Croker with another Leinster title and besides, he can always point back to last year, when he hit the sliotar at a whopping 181.1 km/h in Kilkenny’s All-Ireland semi-final victory over Limerick.
Imagine getting hit with a strike that hard in the back of your thigh on a cold, wet day?