Galway star Joe Canning says he is surprised by the recent retirements in Kilkenny.

Canning faced off against Kilkenny in two mammoth clashes with the Cats in this past summer's All-Ireland senior hurling championship and believes that JJ Delaney and Brian Hogan still have a lot to offer the All-Ireland champions.

"To be honest I am very surprised because they are still young guys and still at the top of their powers," the Portumna man said at the Irish Independent Sportstar of the Year awards earlier this week.

"It's great in one way for any forward in Ireland not be to marking them again. They were probably in the top five or six hurlers in Ireland. JJ and Tommy Walsh were the top backs in the game so if they want to come out of retirement and come to Galway we would be welcoming them but we just want to wish them all the best."

As for the Tribesmen, Canning hopes that 2015 will see an improvement on recent years.

"We will knuckle down and do our best like we do every year but it just hasn't been going for us the last couple of years but hopefully we can get a bit of luck and a bit of momentum next year and hopefully win something," he said.

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