 In 1988, Canavan won the Ulster minor Championship, an under eighteens tournament, but lost in the All-Ireland semi-final to Kerry. The crux of this team, including Adrian Cush, Ciaran Corr and others, would stay together as part of the senior team for most of the nineties. Canavan captained Tyrone to two All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championships titles in 1991 and 1992, having been on the team which lost the 1990 final, again to Kerry. In four years as an Under 21 player, Canavan scored 13 – 53 (13 goals and 53 points — each goal equals 3 points; 13 × 3 + 53 = 92 points, see GAA scoring rules) for Tyrone. By the time he was twenty, he was already an automatic choice in the senior panel.
