Dubs’ emergence rightly framed with 10 nominees

IT’S in the nature of the GAA beast to get all post-modern when it comes to All Star nominations: what’s not in the text, hidden codes, all that jazz.

It’s like we can’t help ourselves. Correction: it’s not like that. It’s exactly that.

There aren’t too many grounds for complaint in the nominations served up yesterday. About the only notable omission was Eddie Brennan, who could point to a fairly significant intervention in the All-Ireland final – that dash down the middle and handpass to Richie Hogan for the crucial goal.

But an honest man like Eddie would surely accept that he had too little game time all year to be in the mix. Anyway, a Celtic cross is faircompensation.

For once you don’t need to be a literary critic to see the real narrative at work in the All-Stars. Kilkenny’s fourteen nods and Tipp’s 10 are only to be expected for All-Ireland finalists, but if you’d imagined a couple of years ago that Dublin would collect ten as well given they’re likely to get intodouble figures in football as well, maybe those words of Tolkien areapposite: a new power has risen; its time is at hand.

Away from the elves and trolls, it’s good to see Conal Keaney get anomination, and to be in with a fair shout of an award. For those whodetect sentiment, cast your mind back to Keaney’s outstanding leagueperformances, when he singlehandedly launched a major assault on the notion that you have to keep a hurley in your hand 24 hours a day if you’re to make it at intercounty level.

There are other pointers to the future in yesterday’s release. Limerick have gone from disarray in 2010 to three nominees in 2011, and at least one player, Declan Hannon, with arespectable claim on the Young Hurler of the Year trophy.

Given the dismal year endured in Clare, the new manager that county has appointed, the lack of All-Star nominations for the Banner, everybody – on both sides of the Shannon – should be down on their knees praying for a Clare-Limerick tie in the Munster SHC. In fact, make that everybody in the southern province.

Cork have no nominees either, which isn’t surprising given a second double-digit exit from the championship. The surprise is that Galway, their conquerors, have overcome the memory of an abject surrender to Waterford to collect a couple of nominations.

Our parting thought, though, is this: time was when winning a trophy three times was enough to entitle the victor to keep it. When Tommy Walsh and Henry Shefflin collect their awards in a couple of weeks, should those statuettes be simply remodelled in their likenesses?