Allstar accolade was lucky, admits Canavan

PETER CANAVAN has admitted what we all knew - he was lucky to get an All Star award last year.

The Tyrone legend, who has retired from intercounty football, was named at centre forward despite having featured mainly as an impact substitute.

Now the All-Ireland winning skipper of 2003 has broken his silence and admitted that he was fortunate to land the award.

“Just like the hurling All Stars, the football recipients also gave cause for a few eyebrows to be raised. The selection of yours truly came as a surprise to most people and none more so than to myself.

“In my opinion, the best centre half forward by a long distance was Brian McGuigan so not hearing his name called out was a major surprise.”

And according to Canavan, that was not the only error made. “Like every year the final 15 provokes great debate and like most years you could easily pick another 15 instead,” he told hoganstand.ie

“Dublin, Cork, Derry and Galway can all have good arguments as to why no-one from their county received one. Despite receiving eight All Stars, Tyrone can still feel disappointed for the boys that didn’t. Enda McGinley has been one of our most consistent players - in the early part of the season he was our best player! Yet his versatility between forwards/midfield may have resulted in him losing out.

“It is a fabulous honour to receive an All Star - but it is still an individual award - winning a coveted All Ireland medal will be the highlight of the year for the eight All-Star recipients from Tyrone.”

However he added that there can be no argument about the Player of the Year. “The GPA and the Vodafone player of the year deservedly went to Stephen O’Neill. Both Colm Cooper and Ryan McMenamin were in contention but in 2005 Stevie was in a class of his own. As the year progressed we got used to Stevie making difficult scores look easy,” said Canavan.

“This year Stevie has developed into a real leader. He now revels under pressure and when Tyrone really needed him he stood up. It was a privilege playing alongside him at this stage of his career.

“I’ve enjoyed watching from the pitch, now I hope to enjoy watching him from the stands!”

Regarding that new vantage point - Canavan admits that he and fellow retiree Chris Lawn have found new things to keep them busy in lieu of training sessions. “As for Chris and myself - Thursday night 7.30pm - what’s happening in Coronation Street this weather?”