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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, and has represented Ireland in the International Rules Series on several occasions since its reintroduction in 1998. After nearly sixteen years on the Senior inter-county scene, and with two All-Ireland Medals, six All Stars, four Ulster titles, and several prestigious under-age and club championship medals to his name, he is considered one of the great players of the last twenty years. He is known primarily for his hugely prolific scoring record, scoring 218 points in his career, as well as his tenacious attitude on the field, often playing while injured. His scoring usually leads to matches being labelled 'one-man shows,' which was particularly true in his earlier years when he would often be Tyrone's highest scorer, on numerous occasions scoring ten and eleven points in a game.

Personal life
Canavan is married to Finola, and has three children, Áine, Claire and Darragh.

He is a Physical Education teacher in Holy Trinity College, Cookstown, and has been throughout most of his career. While there, he taught a young Eoin Mulligan, and the pair have been known in the media as 'master and student' ever since, particularly by television commentators.

He now writes a column for the Gaelic games magazine, Hogan Stand.

Asthma
Canavan has suffered from asthma since he was a child, and has battled throughout his career to control the ailment. In an interview with the Asthma Society of Ireland, Canvan said "I thought to myself, this is something that I am just going to have to put up with." In later years, however, improved medication has afforded Canavan what he described as "a better quality of life".

Father's death
In 2003, just over a week before Tyrone's first Ulster final appearance against Down, Canavan's father, Seán, died. It came as a shock to Canavan, who had thought his father, who was already in hospital, was getting better. He decided to play in the Ulster Final, stating that he knew, subconsciously "I was going to be playing in the Ulster final all along and Daddy certainly wouldn't have wanted me to do anything but play."

Playing career
Peter is considered to be one of the best Gaelic footballers of all time, being the highest scorer at both club level and inter-county level on numerous occasions, as well as being Tyrone's most influential player. 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 (more than any other Ulster player, and joint third overall ) 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. Canavan has also represented Ireland in the International Rules Series, notably in 1999, when he scored eleven points in the first test in Adelaide.

Under Age
Canavan had to squirm around a Gaelic Athletic Association bye law in order to represent his county, due to a dispute in his local town, Ballygawley, where the players were not recognised as being GAA members. To avoid this, he registered as a member of Killyclogher Hurling club, even though he didn't play, just so he would be eligible for selection for the Tyrone Minors. Prior to that, he had not played club football.

In 1988, Tyrone won the Ulster minor Championship, with Canavan on the team, along with other players, like Adrian Cush, but lost in the All-Ireland semi Final to Kerry.

Canavan captained Tyrone to two All-Ireland Under 21 titles in 1991 and 1992, having been on the team which lost the 1990 final, again to Kerry. The only other person in the history of Gaelic football to achieve this feat was Cormac McAnallen, also with Tyrone in 2000 and 2001. In four years as an U-21 player, Canavan scored 13 goals and 53 points for Tyrone (a total of 92 points).

By the time he was twenty, he was already an automatic choice in the Senior panel, alongside greats like Plunkett Donaghy, and John Lynch.

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, when he was the top-scorer in Ulster. Tyrone lost the Ulster Final to Down, who eventually went on to become the All Ireland Champions.

His scoring tally earned him his first All Star, at the age of 23.

1995
In 1995, Canavan scored eleven of Tyrone's twelve 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. Throughout the championship he had spearheaded Tyrone's march to the final, with round after round of massive scoring exploits. Against Derry in the Ulster Semi Final, he scored 0-8, and against Galway in the All-Ireland semi final, he scored 1-7. He was the top scorer in Ireland that year, with a total of 1-38 as well, earning him the inaugural Footballer of the Year title.

1996
In 1996, Canavan was Ulster's leading scorer for the third year in a row, and subsequently earned his third All-Star in a row. This made him Tyrone's most represented player on the All Star Roll of Honour, joining Eugene McKenna, his then manager, with three.

Tyrone made it to the All-Ireland semi-final against Meath, but Canavan was one of a significant number of Tyrone players (including young Brian Dooher and Gerard Cavlan in their debut years) to sustain injuries that day, which some Tyrone fans attribute to Meath's heavy-handedness. Canavan's injury was so severe, he was still feeling the effects for over a year, and speculation abounds as to whether he was playing on a broken foot.

1997-2000: International stage
Tyrone underwent a change in management, with Danny Ball taking over the helm. However, they didn't appear in an Ulster final under Ball's tutelage, meaning Canavan's presence faded on the All-Ireland stage.

However, he did represent Ireland in the International Rules Series in the inaugural series in 1998. In 1999, he was named vice-captain of the team for the tour to Australia, and Ireland came away convincing winners. In 2000, Canavan was left off the initial squad, and instead put on the stand-by list. However, the drawn All-Ireland final that year between Kerry and Galway meant that six players would be unavailable for the tour because the replay was only a day before the first test. Canavan was sent off in the second test, however, after fighting Australian Jason Akermanis. He was banned for one match - which wouldn't be played until the next year, and so ruled himself out of the next series.

2001
When Eugene McKenna and Art McRory retook the mantle of the Tyrone Seniors, they guided them to their ninth Ulster Championship success, and Canavan's third.

2002
Canavan's influence may be best illustrated by Tyrone's 2002 campaign. Whenever he was on the pitch, the team seemed like All-Ireland title contenders, a claim given weight by the fact that earlier in the year, they won their first National League.

Canavan was unable to play in the All-Ireland quarter final, against Sligo. Tyrone were heavy favourites, and were expected to cast aside Sligo's challenge with ease, but ended up losing the match, and thereby getting knocked out of the Championship. Canavan won his fourth All Star that year, which may go some way to emphasizing the value of his presence on the team.

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 neighbouring rivals, 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 very early, 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. 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 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, a tribute to both the player's legacy, and inspiration, and the manager's tactical superiority.

In the Ulster final against Down, Canavan was playing just over a week after the passing of his father. Tyrone looked like they were going to be steamrolled by the young and unfancied Down team, as they were nine points down after two quick goals in the second half. Canavan remarked in his autobiography that he feared Tyrone were going to lose by one of the biggest margins in Ulster Championship history, if they didn't stem the flow of the Down attack. When Tyrone were awarded a penalty, Canavan stepped up, due to Stephen O'Neill, the first choice penalty-taker, being on the bench. He took the kick, and managed to find the net, which he now describes as "the most important kick of my career," citing the fact that if Tyrone had been heavily beaten, they probably wouldn't have been able to pick themselves up to play in the qualifier series.

Canavan amassed a total of 1-48 (51 points) over the course of the Championship. Among his more notable performances of the year included an eight-point haul in the replayed first round match against Derry, and in the replayed Ulster Final, Canavan scored eleven points.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Following an email campaign throughout Ireland, Canavan was an early forerunner for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. 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 of the Year.

Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ulster
Canavan became the first GAA star to gain an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster, and was awarded along with David Humphreys, the Ulster and Ireland rugby player.

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 scoring Tyrone's only goal, winning on a scoreline of 1-16 to 2-10. He also displayed how important his experience was to the team in the semi-final against Armagh (who were meeting Tyrone for the third time in the championship that year), when, after a very taut match, with two perfectly matched teams heading for a draw. Tyrone won a free kick in the last seconds, and Canavan, a substitution took the responsibility of the pressure kick. He simply slotted the ball over the bar with literally the last kick of the game to win the match for Tyrone. His fiery temperament was displayed earlier in that championship however, as he was notoriously sent off within a minute of coming on as a substitute in the Ulster Final replay, again against Armagh. This decision, along with the dismissal of Armagh's Cairan McKeever, and also Tyrone's Stephen O'Neill, was highly criticised, however, and the referee later admitted he had made a mistake with the sendings off. Armagh came back from four points down on that day to win the Ulster Championship.

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, and he competed in the 1992 final against Derry.

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.

Indiscipline on the pitch
Canavan's career is dotted with examples of indiscipline. He would often get into on-pitch scuffles with other players, although it could not be said to have always been at his instigation as he was usually singled out for the attention of the tougher tacklers of opposition teams because of his skill.

Retirement
Canavan retired from Inter-County football in 2005, ending a sixteen-year tenure in Senior championship football. Canavan said of his decision, "I have spent enough time on the treatment table," referring to his die-hard habit of 'playing through' potentially career-threatening injuries, as he had done in 1996 and 2003. Canavan's appearance in the 2005 final (his last game for Tyrone), was his forty ninth Championship match. In January 2007, Canavan rounded off his career by captaining the 2005 All Star team in an exhibition game in Dubai against the 2006 All Stars team. The 2005 All Stars won the match 4-13 to 3-10.

Club career
He has continued to play at club level for Errigal Ciaran, and is enjoying success at this level. Ironically, in 2006, Canavan won his first Tyrone All- Star for his performances in the club championship.

Errigal Ciaran has a rich history in Canavan's years, winning six Tyrone Senior Club titles, and two Ulster Club Championships.

Other competitions
Canavan's success in other competitions include five Railway Cups, two Vocational Schools titles, and one Dr. McKenna Cup in 2005.