Hurling All Stars

cruiserweight

This years hurling all stars are :

Goalkeeper - Davy Fitzgerald (Clare)
Right Corner Back - Pat Mulcahy (Cork)
Full-Back - Diarmuid O'Sullivan (Cork)
Left Corner Back - Ollie Canning (Galway)
Right Half-Back - Derek Hardiman (Galway)
Centre Half-Back - John Gardiner (Cork)
Left Half-Back - Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (Cork)
Midfield - Jerry O'Connor (Cork)
Midfield - Paul Kelly (Tipperary)
Right Half-Forward - Ben O'Connor (Cork)
Centre Half-Forward - Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny)
Left Half-Forward - Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny)
Right Corner Forward - Ger Farragher (Galway)
Full-Forward - Eoin Kelly (Tipperary)
Left Corner Forward - Damien Hayes (Galway)

what do people think?

Mars Bar

although i'm from galway and i savour the all-ireland semi final......any kilkenny ppl remember? i thought dj deserved to be in the team

Waylander

Cant agree with that. DJ was a great player but he is getting on now, and this season his performances did not warrant inclusion. I would not have too many complaints with the selected team.

cruiserweight

I would agree that DJ did not deserve one! Also I wonder if Clare people are slightly miffed that they got 1 all star,where as Tipperary got 2 even though they were knocked in an earlier! I am not disputing the merits on which people got all stars just wondering about the numbers!

chubba1984

I am "miffed" alright. Sean McMahon should have got one. He was immense all year and, I thought, a shoe-in for centre-back. Gardiner didn't even play there. That said he did organise our destruction from that position.

Also I felt Henry Shefflin did very little this year to warrant inclusion. Fine, he scored 2-11 v Offally, but Offally were hopeless that day. I feel Tony Carmody could have got the nod there. Four points from play in each of 2 games in Croke Park is fairly good. If he didn't get it I'd imagine David Forde from Galway should have got one.

I could also make a genuine argument for Brian Lohan instead of the Rock (who wasn't great all year) but I feel it'd do Darragh Ryan a disservice. He was outstanding all year and definitely deserving of an award. A full-back line of Mulcahy, Lohan and Ryan would be fairly decent.

Tommy Walsh's achievement is legendary. All-Stars at corner back, midfield and wing forward, the only man to win one in all three sectors of the field. Amazing, it show's the exceptional talent and versatility of the man. Might beat DJ's record of 9 yet. As for DJ getting one this year, that's definitely a wind-up!

jank

No Donal Og Cusack!!!!:mad: :mad: Davy Fitz my ass!!

There has been war in cork about that. Its like they threw him in there to appease clare.
Even Ger "I love Clare" Loughnane and Tony "Cork are ****!" Cosidine both say that Donal Og should have got it. That from 2 Clare men!!

Also why only 6 when usually the winners get 7-8 easily?
Cork just won back to back all irelands. Have they gotten worse then last year when they won 7 all stars yet remained unbeaten this season??

There are even rumours that the Cork team may boycott the event...doubt it will happen both these all stars are seriously starting to lose their credability

Who picks them anyway.

chubba1984

Jank I agree Donal Og probably should have got one, but by the same token Diarmuid O'Sullivan is a joke of an award. It's is a farcical situation to claim that the All-Irleand winners should get 7-8 awards. Name the 7-8 people who should have got it so.

I assume the rest of the country are only entitled to what's left after Cork carve them out among themselves. I suppose Neil Ronan should get an All-Star too? 16 Cork players, would you be happy then?

Clare getting one award despite getting to the All-Ireland semi-final is the joke. The man that got the award shouldn't have got it (i.e. Fitzy cos Donal Og in my opinion controls a game better than any other modern player) but B Lohan, G Quinn, S McMahon and T Carmody could easily have got one.

Also to answer your question the national journalists pick them (in my opinion it should be a panel of former players, but who listens to the genuine fan these days anyway?).

Henry Shefflin my hole. Stupid award really

Waylander

Jank Cork were not that good this year right up to the final, and were lucky to get past Clare by their own admission. I think they got as many all stars as they deserved.

mchurl

woul have to pick donal og instead of fitzy but in saying that surprised carmody and seanie mcmahon werent included. also david forde maybe should of been in the team but who would you take out for him?

The Rooster

jank wrote:

these all stars are seriously starting to lose their credability

Actually by starting to reduce the number given to the All Ireland champs, they are going to right way to restore their credibility which has been lost long ago.

But no matter who picks them, there will always be contentious decisions. Same with picking any team at any time.

jebuz

I thought Damien Fitzhenry was outstanding in goal for the championship and maybe should have pipped the goalkeeping position

hurling_lad

I would agree that Cork probably deserved no more than the six that we got, but Donal Óg Cusack was far more deserving than Davy Fitz.

That said, he was even more deserving again than Diarmuid O'Sullivan, who had a solid year, but the only spectacular things that he did were a few cock-ups that resulted in conceding goals.

One problem that the all-star selectors have is that they basically have to pick the best 2/3 players in a particular line, but even so, the Tipperary inclusions are a bit odd. There seems to be several players that made the team on their reputations (Fitzgerald, Ó hAilpín, O'Sullivan, Shefflin, Eoin Kelly, Canning) moreso than their performances in the 2005 championship.

Also, I think that no defenders from the Galway-Kilkenny semi-final deserve all-stars, while Galway should have picked up a few more in the forwards.

River Allow

Ah come off it lads, without a doubt, Donal Og deserved an all-star... how could ye possibly think otherwise... he saved two penalties during the year and any goal that went in was a complete fumble that he couldn't possibly have saved..
The man has improved immensely since last year and was much more deserving of it than Fitz and I don't care what anyone says. The arrogance then of Davy Fitz just made it worse.. "I deserved my award!" Bull****!!!! Six was a small amount of awards for all-Ireland champions.. two in a row like!

But we'll get over it... ask Donal Og this morning would he deserve a celtic cross or a meaningless award, given by overpaid, overweight old fellas who wouldn't know a hurley from a football and he would be VERY quick to give you his answer... All Ive to say is that it's more fuel in the fire and just more motivation to win three in a row!

jank

Yea spot on. Lots of the Cork players will be right fired up by this.

Tom Kenny and Brian Murphy may have been a little disappointed too and did Brian Corcoron. He saved Corks ass many a time.

7-8 would have been right and if Donal Og got it it would have been 7.
What no Clare players in the team? So what. The Cork footballers got to the semi's this year and they got no all star!

Kojak

hurling_lad wrote:

I think that no defenders from the Galway-Kilkenny semi-final deserve all-stars, while Galway should have picked up a few more in the forwards.

galway's forwards deserved to get more awards - I dont think so. If Forde had played even at 60% he MIGHT have got the centre forward position but thats it. The others - Murray, Kerins, Healy - not on your life, man. And before you go accusing me of anti-Galway bias, I'm from Galway.

ublinia2

Kojak wrote:

galway's forwards deserved to get more awards - I dont think so. If Forde had played even at 60% he MIGHT have got the centre forward position but thats it. The others - Murray, Kerins, Healy - not on your life, man. And before you go accusing me of anti-Galway bias, I'm from Galway.

David Tierney could have been in contention , he played well against Kilkenny.Tom kenny from Cork should have got midfield.

Steve_o

jank wrote:

No Donal Og Cusack!!!!:mad: :mad: Davy Fitz my ass!!

.

I agree, Donal Og should have got it!!

Culchie

I think it was a close call, flip of a coin really, you couldn't really castigate the choice of Fitzy.

jank

Culchie wrote:

I think it was a close call, flip of a coin really, you couldn't really castigate the choice of Fitzy.

tbh the only reason Donal Og didnt get it is that fitzy lost out on other occasions, so they gave it to him this time around

Culchie

You may be right, who knows.

Don't forget that Clare ran Cork to a point, so on this years form, their players justify claims to alot of positions.

I don't follow the hurling to the same level of detail as the football, so will bow to superior knowledge, however I wouldn't have missed a 'Sunday Game' and I wouldn't have put down Donal Og as an automatic choice, Fitzy was just as deserving... someone has to win, and someone has to lose, c'est la vie.

Jack Lynch

This isn't the first time he's been turned down. In my opinion, Donal's the best goalie in the country (Cummins is a close second, and McGarry is up there too). How come he's only won one All-Star? There's no doubt he's improved since 1999, but no award since then. Could it be a biteback because of the GPA, i wonder... He does quite well in their awards.

Flukey

There is a very simple reason why McGarry does not get an All-Star any year: He is not the best goalkeeper!

Well for those that were not happy with goalkeeper's position from last year's team, as listed above, Donal Óg got it this year. Well deserved too.

chubba1984

Delighted to see my clubmate Tony Griffin got an All-Star, an extremely dedicated hurler both in training and on the field, and a gentleman off it as well. A well deserved award in my opinion.

monosharp

Jack Lynch wrote:

This isn't the first time he's been turned down. In my opinion, Donal's the best goalie in the country (Cummins is a close second, and McGarry is up there too).

..... The simple fact you didn't mention Damien Fitzhenry is enough evidence to completely negate your original posting in the first place.

Donal Og isn't within an arses roar of the best keeper in the country. Cummins and Fitzhenry are the two best with little between them, then its Davy Fitzgerald. Donal probably comes here but i'd put himself and McGarry at a similiar level.

We all know Donals a great team leader, a great starter of plays etc but he is a LONG way from the best keeper in the country.

How come he's only won one All-Star? There's no doubt he's improved since 1999, but no award since then. Could it be a biteback because of the GPA, i wonder... He does quite well in their awards.

Why has he only won one all-star ? Because he only deserves one all-star thats why. Its not controversial, it might as well be written in stone.