Football’s star turns
THIS team won’t be manacled by the sectionalising of the nominations. Therefore Cork’s Donncha O’Connor gets in at No 12 for no other reason than he deserves an All-Star for his season’s work. Which is no bad reason. And he kept going in the final, and displayed a resilience conspicuously absent in some of his colleagues.
He is the only Cork man on my selection. Nicholas Murphy or Graham Canty? That depends on which side of the perennial All-Star question you stand: do you recognise those who’ve been consistent since February or those who front up on the biggest days.
Murphy was excellent for Cork up to and including the semi-final against Meath’s Crawford and Ward. But while we can put the Munster final down to a blip, the Carrigaline man left no footprint at all on the All-Ireland final.
Darragh Ó Sé did, and had a crucial last ten minutes in the quarter-final against Monaghan, when Kerry’s All-Ireland crown was slipping away. I’ve got to go with Ó Sé to partner Whelan, because he’ll produce when it matters.
Canty? More of a claim, because though well beaten in the final against Kerry, the source of the problems were further out the field. Still, was he better at No 3 than Darren Fay?
Leen’s All-Stars: B Murphy (Meath), M Ó Sé (Kerry), D Fay (Meath), C. Gormley (Tyrone); A. O’Mahony (Kerry), T Ó Sé (Kerry), K. Young (Kerry); C. Whelan (Dublin), D. Ó Sé (Kerry); A. Brogan (Dublin), Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry), D. O’Connor (Cork); C. Cooper (Kerry), K. Donaghy (Kerry), T. Freeman (Monaghan).
CHOOSING an All Star selection is like being asked who you love more: your mum or your dad. The reality is that there is no right answer and, no matter what your decision, someone’s nose is going to be seriously put out by it.
This 15 was chosen without regard to the colour of the jerseys so it was only on completion when realisation dawned that no player from Tyrone, Sligo or Meath made the list despite the fact the first two won provincial titles and the third reached an All-Ireland semi-final.
So, apologies to the likes of Conor Gormley, Sean Cavanagh, Darren Fay, Caomhin King, Stephen Bray, Michael McNamara but, what can we say, dems are the breaks.
The two All-Ireland finalists carve up the majority of positions among themselves most years but it isn’t just because of the nature of this year’s lopsided decider that Kerry have seven places to Cork’s one here.
The Kingdom’s path to Sam has been far too smooth in times past but no-one can dispute the worth of their latest triumph having dispatched Cork twice and edging two superb affairs against Monaghan and Dublin.
Cork? Who did the Rebels beat this summer? Limerick and Tipp were mere cannon fodder in Munster while Sligo and Meath were pale shadows of their earlier selves in the quarter and semi-finals.
Dublin’s four nods backs up the belief that they were clearly the second best side in the country while Derry’s two recipients shows you don’t have to be on the very best teams to stand out.
One more thing, it won’t have escaped people’s attention that Donegal have no representatives despite the fact that they clocked in with one of the most impressive league campaigns in recent years.
The reality is that, vital though the league is, it means diddly squat when it comes to these awards. Hasn’t the time come to simply drop the charade altogether and call this process the Vodafone All-Ireland All Stars?
S Cluxton (Dublin); M Ó Se (Kerry), K McCloy (Derry), G Canty (Cork); T Ó Se (Kerry), A O’Mahony (Kerry), B Cahill (Dublin); D Ó Se (Kerry), C Whelan (Dublin); P Galvin (Kerry), D O’Sullivan (Kerry), A Brogan (Dublin); C Cooper (Kerry), P Bradley (Derry), T Freeman (Monaghan).
