unknown stars

jdooley28

I'm sure this has been done before but is there any great hurlers or footballers out there who many GAA fans would not know about? I mean like if the best hurler in the country was playing with Donegal or footballer with Kilkenny.(no disrespect to donegal or kilkenny) or maybe a club player who could not be persuaded to play county

hardybuck

You won't really see it in hurling, the gulf in class between top counties and the weaker ones is absolutely massive. The best hurling club teams would be better than most counties outside Div 1 of the league.

Football is different where the average standard is higher. Waterford are steadily improving for example, and I think that five or six have played Railway Cup with Munster. Other lads like Brick Walsh who is the current hurling centre back, and a current all star, has a Munster U21 medal with Waterford and would walk onto most county panels.

An Citeog

Keith Higgins (Mayo) is a superb hurler, as is/was Shane Brick (Kerry).

gally74

Keith Raymond Sligo as good a hurler as you will see,

gally74

Keith Raymond Sligo as good a hurler as you will see,

rossie1977

if you are good enough you will rise above, just thinking about declan browne at tipperary

joe henry is best mayo hurler ever, won three railway cup medals with connaught and even appeared in all-star matches as backup, its funny joe was my pe teacher in secondary school and only once or twice did we play hurling

Hammer Archer

Nicky Horan for Meath was one of the best hurlers in Ireland in his prime. Think he was 2nd or 3rd top scorer in the Liam McCarthy in 2002 or 2003. Pat Potterton back in the 80s/90s was class as well I've heard.

thisguy

probably known by most close followers of football but niall mcnamee in offaly is a superb footballer that, i think, would make any county team.

jdooley28

I'm from offaly myself so know all about niall mc namee..hopefully he'll be on form 2nite against Down. he was pure class against meath the lad could hardly walk n still created two goals outta nothing

homerjay2005

i am convinced if shane brick was not from kerry, but from one of the other 5 counties in Munster, he would be as well known as the likes of Joe Deane, Paul Flynn, Eoin Kelly etc etc. the lad is a currently just back from a serious injury and didnt play much part this year, but over the years, he has been absolutely wonderful for Kerry. last time Kerry were in teh championship, he scored i think 1-5 against waterford in the munster championship and then 1-5 against limerick in the qualifiers so he has prooved himself at the top level that he can take on oppoisition defences and come out on top.

in terms of football, the biggest waste of talent in gaa is Declan Quill of Kerry. he would still be a huge asset to any county team in ireland, i think if limerick of dublin had him, they would be better teams. however, the emergance of a little ginger haired kid in 2002 when quill was 20 and just also breaking onto the scene at senior level, was perhaps the main reason he never really made it.

Carcharodon

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i am convinced if shane brick was not from kerry, but from one of the other 5 counties in Munster, he would be as well known as the likes of Joe Deane, Paul Flynn, Eoin Kelly etc etc. the lad is a currently just back from a serious injury and didnt play much part this year, but over the years, he has been absolutely wonderful for Kerry. last time Kerry were in teh championship, he scored i think 1-5 against waterford in the munster championship and then 1-5 against limerick in the qualifiers so he has prooved himself at the top level that he can take on oppoisition defences and come out on top.

in terms of football, the biggest waste of talent in gaa is Declan Quill of Kerry. he would still be a huge asset to any county team in ireland, i think if limerick of dublin had him, they would be better teams. however, the emergance of a little ginger haired kid in 2002 when quill was 20 and just also breaking onto the scene at senior level, was perhaps the main reason he never really made it.

Definitely agree about Brick, genuine All Star talent.

Quill was a shoe in for Kerry since he was a young lad but due to a couple of reasons he never made it. I think your reason would be further down the list than some of the others, mainly some personal/public issues.

butter13222

Definitely agree about shane brick and keith higgins they both would push for a place on any county team

Diabhal Beag

Thread is too late for Declan Browne. Great footballer with the misfortune of playing for Tipperary in football. Legit an All-Star quality footballer on his day.

morcheen k

there must have been loads back in the 60's who moved overseas never to come back and play.i know my dad would have played hurling for galway .

cruiserweight

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Thread is too late for Declan Browne. Great footballer with the misfortune of playing for Tipperary in football. Legit an All-Star quality footballer on his day.

He was awarded two all stars during his career

Diabhal Beag

cruiserweight wrote: »

He was awarded two all stars during his career

Which is why he was All-star quality. Recognised for years of great performances.

cruiserweight

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Which is why he was All-star quality. Recognised for years of great performances.

Not really what you consider an unknown star though if he has two all stars

Diabhal Beag

Keith Higgins isn't unknown due to his footballing exploits.

cruiserweight

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Keith Higgins isn't unknown due to his footballing exploits.

Known for his football exploits, but not as well known for his hurling exploits

Anyway moving on, Larry Murphy who was on the 1996 All Ireland winning team for Wexford played football and hurling at all underage levels for Wexford apparently. Damien Fitzhenry was one of the better football players in Wexford for years, but concentrated on hurling. Similarly, Ciaran Lyng turned down the chance to play hurling for Wexford to concentrate on football. Nicky Rackard won a Leinster football title with Wexford years before he won any hurling titles with Wexford. All excellent athletes but in some cases choose to concentrate on one sport

An Citeog

While we're at it, Mossy Quinn was a better hurler than footballer underage.

DH2K9

An Citeog wrote: »

While we're at it, Mossy Quinn was a better hurler than footballer underage.

He could hardly be worse.

shrewdness

Rory Woods is a fine hurler believe it or not.

Clareman

Noel Roche for Clare, long time retired now but represented Ireland in the compromise rules on a number of occasions, total gent also

flahavaj

A certain Mr Galvin from the Kingdom is a savage hurler.

Diabhal Beag

shrewdness wrote: »

Rory Woods is a fine hurler believe it or not.

He looks like a proper full-back

Clareman

flahavaj wrote: »

A certain Mr Galvin from the Kingdom is a savage hurler.

He's bad enough as he is without giving him weapons as well, I'd assume he'd be a great golfer as well, well no one would question any of his shots anyway :pac:

DC_Roscommon

John Galvin for Limerick?

hardybuck

DC_Roscommon wrote: »

John Galvin for Limerick?

Is well known around the country, and just got picked in the team of the year so far. Not what you'd call unknown, like many other suggestions so far.

unknown13

Conal Keaney is a much better hurler than a footballer.

Langerland

Leighton Glynn in Wicklow. Great hurler.

DC_Roscommon

hardybuck wrote: »

Is well known around the country, and just got picked in the team of the year so far. Not what you'd call unknown, like many other suggestions so far.

I suppose but he is underrated imo

megadodge

He's no longer playing but back in the late 80's early 90's Paul Victory from St. Mel's & Longford terrorised colleges and minor defences. Was very quickly moved onto the Longford senior team and continued his ways for a few years then just seemed to disappear.

Possibly the best underage footballer I ever saw.

Anyone know what happened to him?

parker kent

Langerland wrote: »

Leighton Glynn in Wicklow. Great hurler.

Possibly a better hurler than footballer and he would make a lot of the better football teams in the country.

davedaly7532

Barry Owens of Fermanagh absolute hero of a full back during their run to the all-ireland semi around 03/04 but had to have heart surgery due to a heart murmur and then did his cruciate as he was on his way back.

Honourable mention for Gary Hurney of Waterford footballers who has featured with the hurlers as well. Saaw him on a number of occasions and looked a smashing player.

thegen

unknown13 wrote: »

Conal Keaney is a much better hurler than a footballer.

+1, far better, with less attitude to boot!!

homerjay2005

ive seen declan browne play against kerry on 2 occasions, once in tralee and once in thurlus. the lad was savage in both those games, hitting about 1-15 in the 2 games combined. not many forwards can say that marking the likes of marc o shea and tom sullivan.

woulnt be far off the team of last decade which is some going considering who he played for and who he was up against in the full forward line (cooper, donaghy, mcdonald, clarke, canavan etc etc)

keane2097

homerjay2005 wrote: »

in terms of football, the biggest waste of talent in gaa is Declan Quill of Kerry. he would still be a huge asset to any county team in ireland, i think if limerick of dublin had him, they would be better teams. however, the emergance of a little ginger haired kid in 2002 when quill was 20 and just also breaking onto the scene at senior level, was perhaps the main reason he never really made it.

Declan top scored for Kerry in the NFL a couple of times IIRC, only to be dropped for the first game of the Championship or moved to wing forward - where he never played for anyone - so they could say they gave him a run and he wasn't good enough.

He never really got a fair shot for Kerry. Mike Frank Russell was picked ahead of him for a long time dispite performing very averagely, although at the very end of his career he came good again.

The strangest thing is I remember talking to John O'Keefe who was involved with Kerry around the time Declan was there or thereabouts, and he said if you brought someone out to training who didn't know any of the players and asked them to pick out the star man they would have picked Declan every time.

Not sure he would ever have been in the very top bracket of forwards at intercounty level, but certainly was better than his limited selections would suggest.

Carcharodon wrote: »

Quill was a shoe in for Kerry since he was a young lad but due to a couple of reasons he never made it. I think your reason would be further down the list than some of the others, mainly some personal/public issues.

I would be very careful with throwaway comments like that.

toxicity234

In hurling in Offaly,
There 2 that i can think of,
In the 60 Paddy Molloy, from Drumcullen in Offaly is a great hurler. he played for Offaly for 11 or 12 years. But only played in one Leinster final (1969). Offaly were O.K. team at the time but he was the outstanding player on the team.
The other i can think of is a man from St Rynagh (banagher) called Roy Mannion Played for Offaly up until 1993. He was about 23 at the time and left the panel that year. IMO the most skilled hurler i have ever seen. Could score from anywhere. Was very fast for a big man but it was his control in close that made him special. No weak side. Talent wise unmatched in Offaly at the time. Sad for him he never won a all-Ireland Medal. Loved going to watch him play.

Daroxtar

Paul Seevers from Sligo was a fantastic Hurler. He played Railway Cup for connacht, some achievement for a sligo man. Also played football for the county in the 90s.