[8] He is considered one of the great players of the last twenty years by commentators such as John Haughey of the BBC,[9][10] and in 2009, he was named in the Sunday Tribune's list of the 125 Most Influential People in GAA History.

He is married to Finola (sister of former Tyrone teammate Ronan McGarrity[15]), and has four children, Aine, Claire, Darragh and Ruairí, and has been a physical education teacher in Holy Trinity College, Cookstown, throughout most of his career (Gaelic games are amateur sports).

Canavan registered as a member of the Killyclogher hurling club, even though he didn't play the sport, just so he would be eligible for selection for the Tyrone minors.

The game was remembered as contentious for Tyrone fans, for the fact that a point that would have equalised the match in the dying seconds was controversially disallowed, because the blind-sided referee deemed Canavan to have touched the ball on the ground.

[13] For the 1996 championship, Canavan was handed the captaincy of Tyrone, and was Ulster's leading scorer for the third consecutive season,[4] and subsequently awarded his third successive All Star.

[25] During a weak period for Tyrone Seniors in the late 1990s, Canavan represented Ireland in the inaugural International Rules Series in 1998 against Australia.

[28] Tyrone were one of the favourites for the 2002 All-Ireland SFC, having won their first National Football League title in the spring,[25] but ended up losing a qualifying match to Sligo, even though Canavan scored six points on the day.

As he approached the podium on Croke Park's Hogan Stand after the final, his nervousness was visible, and after being handed the trophy, he made an emotional speech about how he had to enviously watch other Ulster teams lift the Sam Maguire Cup, but "to eventually win it is something else.

"[33] His appearance in the final was remarkable for the fact that he was the top scorer of the day with five points,[34] despite having suffered an ankle injury in the previous match, and was not expected (or advised) to play.

With ten minutes remaining, he was reintroduced by manager Mickey Harte,[33] likely due to his experience as the only member of the team who had played in an All-Ireland SFC final before.

He remarked in his autobiography that he feared Tyrone were going to lose by one of the biggest margins in Ulster SFC history, if they didn't stem the flow of the Down attack.

Following an email campaign throughout Ireland, Canavan was an early forerunner for the national award, despite the fact that Gaelic games have very little exposure in Great Britain.

[46] Mickey Harte chose Canavan on the starting line-up of the All-Ireland SFC final and went on to score Tyrone's only goal, winning on a scoreline of 1–16 to 2–10.

Canavan was part of both Tyrone sides that won the National Football League title two consecutive seasons (2002 and 2003)[9]—and he competed in the 1994 final against Derry.

[51] In December 2008, he moved into management for the first time, by taking charge of Errigal Ciaran,[52] leading them to win the Tyrone All County League final in 2009.

[26] Jack O'Connor, Kerry's manager in the 2005 All-Ireland SFC final suggested in his autobiography that Canavan tackled Colm Cooper off the ball, preventing him getting into a goal-scoring position,[56] a claim backed up by Sunday Tribune journalist, Kieran Shannon.

[57] Canavan was appointed manager of Fermanagh in November 2011 on a three-year term to be reviewed annually, with trainer Kieran Donnelly and selector Enda Kilpatrick joining him.

[62][63] Canavan has written a column for the Gaelic games magazine, Hogan Stand[64] and the Northern Ireland edition of The Daily Mirror.

[69] In January 2025, Canavan joined the Football Review Committee alongside former inter-county referee Maurice Deegan, succeeding previous members Michael Murphy and Malachy O'Rourke when they became unavailable.