2005 Vodafone GAA Football All-Stars

Lemlin

From GAA.ie

Just three counties are represented in the 2005 Vodafone All-Star football team, revealed at the awards ceremony at CityWest Hotel, Dublin on Friday night - the lowest number of counties since the inception of the All-Star awards in 1971.

All-Ireland champions Tyrone dominate the selection with eight awards. Only Armagh and Kerry managed to get representation on the line-out, with the All-Ireland finalists winning four awards and the Ulster champions getting three.

Peter Canavan is a surprise inclusion at centre forward following a year marred by injury and a red card that was rescinded soon afterwards. However, one of the highlights of the summer was his last-gasp winning point from a free in the All-Ireland semi-final victory over Armagh.

Tyrone dominate the attack, taking four of the six positions through Brian Dooher, Canavan, Eoin Mulligan and top scorer Stephen O'Neill at full forward. Ryan McMenamin is named in the full back line, while Conor Gormley and Philip Jordan take two of the three half back positions, with Sean Cavanagh retaining his place in midfield.

All four Kerry players were on the 2004 team. Diarmuid McCarthy retains the goalkeeping position, as does Mike McCarthy who moves this year from corner back to at full back. They are joined by Tomas O'Se (right wing back) and Colm Cooper (right corner forward) to complete the Kerry contingent.

Andy Mallon, Paul McGrane and Steven McDonnell account for Armagh, stepping into corner back, midfield and corner forward respectively. In all, just five players on this year's team were also on the team a year ago, with Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh joining the four Kerry players.

Dublin will be disappointed not to have received any All-Stars, with Stephen O'Shaughnessy in defence and Bryan Cullen in attack both winning praise for their parts in Dublin's resurgence in 2005.

Cork midfielder Nicholas Murphy will also be disappointed he didn't get he nod, while Ross Munnelly of Laois and Derry's Paddy Bradley might also have hoped to win places in the attack.

2005 VODAFONE GAA FOOTBALL ALL-STARS:

Goalkeeper - Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry)
Right Full Back - Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone)
Full Back - Mike McCarthy (Kerry)
Left Full Back - Andy Mallon (Armagh)
Right Half Back - Tomas O'Se (Kerry)
Centre Half Back - Conor Gormley (Tyrone)
Left Half Back - Philip Jordan (Tyrone)
Midfield - Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone)
Midfield - Paul McGrane (Armagh)
Right Half Forward - Brian Dooher (Tyrone)
Centre Half Forward - Peter Canavan (Tyrone)
Left Half Forward - Eoin Mulligan (Tyrone)
Right Full Forward - Colm Cooper (Kerry)
Full Forward - Stephen O'Neill (Tyrone)
Left Full Forward - Steven McDonnell (Armagh)

So James Reilly misses out. Maybe next year

cournioni

Bollocks really. Diarmuid Murphy had sweet fúck all to do in the championship this year.

kaimera

bollocks is Canavan getting a damn allstar for **** all all season. Just because he retired. My arse.

bollocks is the panel of people choosing the team and picking players for the sake of having them, not picking the best player in each position.

idiots.

chubba1984

Not including Anthony Lynch, Paddy Bradley or Ross Munnelly is a disgrace.

mchurl

chubba1984 wrote:

Not including Anthony Lynch, Paddy Bradley or Ross Munnelly is a disgrace.

agree totally and how the f**k did canavan get in there:mad:

blackbelt

Canavan got in because he scored the winning point against Armagh and also scored the goal against Kerry that made all the difference.

I'm pissed that Tomas Quinn,Ross Munnelly and David Heaney were not selected as nominees

Lemlin

There are a number of debatable positions. Canavan had one outstanding game in the Championship: against Cavan in the replay. Other than that, he did little to deserve an All-Star IMO.

Its been given purely because he's retiring and I think a player of his stature should realise that and be embarassed to receive it. I wouldn't mind but he's already got five ffs.

Can't see how Diarmuid Murphy got the goalkeeper either. I knew James Reilly had little chance of getting it, as did he himself, but Paul Hearty certainly deserved it over Murphy.

Culchie

mchurl wrote:

agree totally and how the f**k did canavan get in there:mad:

The whole awards have been discredited. Terrible selections, with Canavan being almost laughable, with about 90 minutes football played all year.
He was embarrassed himself.

McGuigan, Bradley and Munnelly should have been 'shoe-ins'.

jacool

Let's just call them the Gall Stars because it must be galling for both Ross Munnelly and Paddy Bradley, who interestingly almost everyone in here has mentioned, not to be recognised. The above awards might have made sense in the old days, when teams didn't get to play as many games and, we the public weren't exposed to all the quality 'individual' players who shone in the Championship. Though in the old days, Tyrone would have been out at the Ulster Final stage !
The reality is that these are great 'teams' but there are better individuals out there. I hope that Peter Canavan was mortified. The GAA certainly should be. This is an ideal opportunity to praise the heroes who are quality in teams that are not, a la Best for Northern Ireland, if I may be topical. There are guys out there destined never to win all-ireland medals, but honours like this are a great reward for a season of toil. But if we want to reward someone who played 60 minutes or so in a year, well then, everyone knows what to do next year !

Steve_o

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Bollocks really. Diarmuid Murphy had sweet fúck all to do in the championship this year.

Agreed, Paul Hearty and Fergal Byron would've been more deservin for the award!

cournioni

Steve_o wrote:

Agreed, Paul Hearty and Fergal Byron would've been more deservin for the award!

Byron wasn't nominated. Of the ones nominated, it DEFINATELY should have been James Reilly. I am biased, but I've never seen any Gaelic keeper play as well as he has all year.

Steve_o

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Byron wasn't nominated.

Tis a crying shame, he's the most consistent keeper at the moment imo!

omahony99

Murphy left in one goal in total throughout the C'ship.

Culchie

Yeh, there was no 'outstanding' goalie this year (IMO). I would have given it to Hearty, but O'Sullivan was steady.

I think there's far more obvious mistakes and downright pilferidge of other positions.
The Canavan situation has ruined the credibility of the All Stars in my view, Canavan is a legend, but not his year.

cournioni

omahony99 wrote:

Murphy left in one goal in total throughout the C'ship.

That doesn't mean anything. He mightn't have had a thing to do in any of the games because of the defence in front of him.

James Reilly had eighteen one-on-one saves to make this year. EIGHTEEN!! And he only conceeded seven (two of which were penalties). That is an unbelievable ratio.

He won Irish Independant's man of the match award on three occasions in the championship this year. What other goalkeeper has three to their name never mind have three in one season?! That is outstanding enough for me Culchie. If he had been from another county or had RTE shown the majority of Cavan games live I think Cavan would have an All Star among their ranks at this very moment.

news for you

Culchie wrote:

He was embarrassed himself.

McGuigan, Bradley and Munnelly should have been 'shoe-ins'.

Yeah he was embarressed, a bit like when Mulligan was named RTE man of the match in the all-Ireland final. I don't know about Bradley, he sometimes doesn't produce when he does get the chance against a big/biggish team, like Laois this year. Wheras Mulligan played well against Kerry, Dublin and Armagh-maybe only in 4 games, but there was a time when Kerry etc didn't even play 4 games in the championship. Munnelly and McGuigan should have got an award instead of Canavan and McDonnell, and Hearty and O'Reilly did more than Diarmuid Murphy this year-though that's probably due to Kerry's mostly good defense. Tyrone got a lot of awards, but they probably deserved at least 7, and sure every year the winning team gets a tonne of them.

Culchie

PORNAPSTER wrote:

That doesn't mean anything. He mightn't have had a thing to do in any of the games because of the defence in front of him.

James Reilly had eighteen one-on-one saves to make this year. EIGHTEEN!! And he only conceeded seven (two of which were penalties). That is an unbelievable ratio.

He won Irish Independant's man of the match award on three occasions in the championship this year. What other goalkeeper has three to their name never mind have three in one season?! That is outstanding enough for me Culchie. If he had been from another county or had RTE shown the majority of Cavan games live I think Cavan would have an All Star among their ranks at this very moment.

Hey, I'm not saying he didn't deserve it. I didn't see feck all of him to judge. However if I didn't see feck all of him, then you can be sure the selection committee didn't either.

When Cavan were shown live (v Mayo), it was the worst game of football in history, so I'm sure that didn't do any Cavan man any favours, as they were knocked out then.

Flukey

It doesn't matter what way the Allstars are picked, who picks them and who gets picked, there will always be disputes and disagreements. That is part of what they are for too. We can all agree that most of the players that got one, deserved it. That's as far as we can go, because we'll never get a consensus. You can be damn sure that the selection committee had their disagreements too. I am sure there were a few that would agree with some of the points here, but we have got the team we got. That's all there is to it really. So congratulations to all those that got one.

Culchie

Flukey wrote:

It doesn't matter what way the Allstars are picked, who picks them and who gets picked, there will always be disputes and disagreements. That is part of what they are for too. We can all agree that most of the players that got one, deserved it. That's as far as we can go, because we'll never get a consensus. You can be damn sure that the selection committee had their disagreements too. I am sure there were a few that would agree with some of the points here, but we have got the team we got. That's all there is to it really. So congratulations to all those that got one.

Yes....but Canavan :rolleyes: He must have a very large mobile phone bill, because there is absolutely no way he deserved an All Star, he barely played.

mchurl

munnelly should of been in the side and i'd agree with james reilly i thought he was top class throughout the year and he was playing behind a far weaker defense than that of kerry and armagh

Lemlin

Culchie wrote:

Yes....but Canavan :rolleyes: He must have a very large mobile phone bill, because there is absolutely no way he deserved an All Star, he barely played.

Agreed. The only game I saw him play for more than 60 minutes was against Cavan where he was terrific and scored 1-6, as well as winning a penalty. That shouldn't warrant inclusion though.

Mulligan should be embarassed too IMO. Yes, he scored 'that' goal against Dublin and became the media's darling boy because of it but he was abysmal for 6 of Tyrone's 10 games. He couldn't even get his place for a few.

As for James Reilly, it says something about these awards when he isn't picked because Cavan weren't on TV enough. Perhaps RTE should have been doing their job as our national broadcaster and showing the Cavan vs. Tyrone replay, as many people wanted, instead of showing a Confederations Cup soccer friendly match that didn't even include our national soccer team.

Reilly didn't expect to get it anyway but hopefully he and Cavan will go one further next year. I'm sure he was just happy to be nominated and, that he was nominated from an 'unknown' team like cavan, shows just how good a year he had.

The Rooster

Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry)
Glad Hearty didnt get it, dont rate him at all. I would have done with Reilly.

Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone) Mike McCarthy (Kerry) Andy Mallon (Armagh)
I thought there were better corner backs than Mallon in 05 - three in Leinster alone.

Tomas O'Se (Kerry) Conor Gormley (Tyrone) Philip Jordan (Tyrone) Jordan had a relatively poor year, but a very good All Ireland final. Usually enough to warrant an All Star, but it shouldnt be. Anthony Lynch was excellent all year for Cork - he deserved the All Star.

Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone) Paul McGrane (Armagh)
The fact that Cavanagh was poor anytime he played in midfield this year, seems to have been ignored.

Brian Dooher (Tyrone) Peter Canavan (Tyrone) Eoin Mulligan (Tyrone) I'd have no hesitation in making the half-forward line an all Tyrone affair, but this is a feckin joke. The three best half forwards in the country over the last 12 months were, without a shadow of a doubt, Dooher, Brian McGuigan and Cavanaugh. Cullen outperformed Munnelly in Leinster this year IMO, but maybe thats my bias, they certainly both played very well and were more deserving of All Stars in the HF line than Canavan and Mulligan, but I personally would have had them just missing out because of the 3 Tyronies I picked.

Colm Cooper (Kerry) Stephen O'Neill (Tyrone) Steven McDonnell (Armagh)
Cooper and O'Neill were no-brainers IMO. The last place would be very tight between McDonnell, Mulligan and Bradley and there are good arguments in favour of all 3. I'd plump for Stevie Mac, just - NFL does count, and his performance in the final was the best of any forward I saw all year.

Lemlin

Don't know where you got that idea about Jordan. He'd be included in most people's All-Star list, including mine. He had a fine Championship and was an influential player in Tyrone's half-back line, why else would he of been selected for the Aussie Rules?

He scored some vital points for them as well as giving good ball through to the forwards.

The Rooster

Yeah, Pete McGrath got his selections spot on, didnt he?

Jordan is a fine player, and has generally been one of the best wing backs in the country in the few years prior to this year. But he'd a below par year this year. Tyrone fans were disappointed in his performances all year. (Not sure where you're going with his scoring of vital points. He got a point in the final of course, and no doubt he was one of the best players on the pitch that day - but he didnt score in any of the 5 games against Armagh and Dublin - maybe it should have been "vital point" - and regardless of his point scoring or lack thereof his performances in those 5 games ranged from below par to average). Of course he is quality, and there was never a call for him to be dropped in the hope that he'd come good - and he certainly did in the final.

But in my opinion the three best half backs were O'Se - Gormley - Lynch.

Lemlin

The Rooster wrote:

Yeah, Pete McGrath got his selections spot on, didnt he?

Jordan is a fine player, and has generally been one of the best wing backs in the country in the few years prior to this year. But he'd a below par year this year. Tyrone fans were disappointed in his performances all year. (Not sure where you're going with his scoring of vital points. He got a point in the final of course, and no doubt he was one of the best players on the pitch that day - but he didnt score in any of the 5 games against Armagh and Dublin - maybe it should have been "vital point" - and regardless of his point scoring or lack thereof his performances in those 5 games ranged from below par to average). Of course he is quality, and there was never a call for him to be dropped in the hope that he'd come good - and he certainly did in the final.

But in my opinion the three best half backs were O'Se - Gormley - Lynch.

First off, Pete McGrath's selections are not the topic here. Jordan was selected for the Aussies Rules team and, whatever problems some people may have, that the footballers who went are of a high quality is not in question.

Second off, you mentioned five of Tyrone's games there. Did you forget that they played ten games this year or have you selective memory? I'll give you a hand, he scored 1-1 against Cavan in the replay game. How about you go and check out the other games yourself.

Thirdly, the fact that he even did score is another merit to him. Its not a half backs job to score IMO, its their job to get the ball into the forwards who do so.

The Rooster

Lemlin wrote:

First off, Pete McGrath's selections are not the topic here.

Agreed, even more so irrelevant given that the guy I picked that should have got the award, Lynch, was also picked. But you were to one to bring it up :rolleyes:

Second off, you mentioned five of Tyrone's games there. Did you forget that they played ten games this year or have you selective memory? I'll give you a hand, he scored 1-1 against Cavan in the replay game. How about you go and check out the other games yourself.

As per usual, when you are proved wrong you change the context to try and prove yourself right. No I don't have selective memory, I'm well aware Tyrone played 9 games to get to the All Ireland final, 6 of which were quite tight and 3 of which were absolute canters. However, your "selective memory" seems to have forgotten that we were talking about "vital scores". The point he got in the 7 point win against Down was hardly "vital", and again scoring 1-1 when you beat a team by 20 points is hardly "vital". Did he score in the 5 games against Dublin and Armagh? No. Did he score in the drawn game against Cavan? No. He got one "vital score" in the champioship in the final against Kerry. That's a fact, will you accept it? <Doubt it >

Thirdly, the fact that he even did score is another merit to him. Its not a half backs job to score IMO

Indeed, but again you were the one to bring it up by stating "He scored some vital points" as one of the reasons you thought he deserved an All Star. Do you think his distribution was up to his usual standard this year? I don't. And his most important job, his defence, most certainly was not up to scratch in any of the 5 games against Dublin and Armagh (his performance in the All Ireland semi was as bad as I've ever seen him). I only saw brief highlights of the drawn Cavan game so can't comment whether or not he'd a blinder in that game. He certainly had a blinder in the All Ireland final, and that's often enough to gain an All Star in some people's minds (especailly for some with a reputation (a deserved reputation because of his performances in prior years) like Jordan's). But an All Star is supposed to be based purely on performances in the current year, and while Jordan should certainly have been a strong contender because of his performance in the biggest game of the year, IMO this was quite a good year for half backs and there were 3 better half backs than Jordan this year.