Sunday Game - Hurling Team of the Year (so far)

KevIRL

Donal Og
Noel Connors
Eoin Cadogan
Jackie Tyrrell
Tommy Walsh
Brick Walsh
JJ Delaney
Michael Rice
Shane O'Sullivan
Damien Hayes
Henry Shefflin
Eoin Kelly (Waterford)
John Mullane
Richie Power
Shane Dooley

flahavaj

Tony is very unlucky to be competing with the best hurler in the land for the number 5 jersey tbh.

Delighted to see Noel Connors getting recognised, what a find.

An Citeog

I'd find it very hard to disagree with many of those selections. Connors and Shane O'Sullivan have been superb for Waterford from what I've seen of them, as was Shane Dooley for Offaly.

suitcasepink

Number 5 must be the toughest one if all tbh
Tommy Walsh, Tony Browne and John Gardiner are all superb players and really each of them deserve to be on it..

Ahh shur when Waterford win the AI in September they'll be evevn more men on it. (I kid, I think one of the first things you learn with Waterford is never to go in expecting!)

Its kinda weird to see no Tipperary players on it, but I guess they've only played average teams apart from their trashing by Cork. You'd have to expect them to get a few by the end of the year though.

unknown13

Joey Boland has been better than brick Walsh

munsterrugby09

that waterford team lads will not be beaten easy this year,i was in thurles yesterday and i though they gritted it out big time.in john mullane and eoin kelly they have class in the forward and noel connors is a masterclass at corner back...my county man is doing a suprisingly super job down their!

unknown13

munsterrugby09 wrote: »

that waterford team lads will not be beaten easy this year,i was in thurles yesterday and i though they gritted it out big time.in john mullane and eoin kelly they have class in the forward and noel connors is a masterclass at corner back...my county man is doing a suprisingly super job down their!

Yes, they will. I believe they have the winner of Galway or Tipp in the Semi finals. That is who will beat them.

deiseash

unknown13 wrote: »

Yes, they will. I believe they have the winner of Galway or Tipp in the Semi finals. That is who will beat them.

Don't know how you can say that as if its a fact, I think Waterford have proved a hunger, a spirit and a determination this year that will be very hard for either Tipp or Galway to break!!

jordainius

unknown13 wrote: »

Yes, they will. I believe they have the winner of Galway or Tipp in the Semi finals. That is who will beat them.

I wouldn't bet on that! Sure didn't Waterford only beat Galway last year and they caught Tipp in the semi final the year before. Waterford are arguably better now than they were the previous two seasons, good mix of youth/experience and they have bags of character.

Waterford are not one to be taken for granted!

DH2K9

As they said on the Sunday Game, there are unbelievable half backs in hurling at the moment.

parker kent

unknown13 wrote: »

Yes, they will. I believe they have the winner of Galway or Tipp in the Semi finals. That is who will beat them.

I can anything happening between them. Galway have looked very average so far this year, on that form Waterford should beat them. Of course, Galway could pull one out of the bag. As for Tipp/Waterford, could go any way really.

deisedevil

unknown13 wrote: »

Joey Boland has been better than brick Walsh

Haven't seen enough of Dublin to agree or disagree but I have seen Brick and if Joey has been playing better then he should be hurler of the year.

unknown13 wrote: »

Yes, they will. I believe they have the winner of Galway or Tipp in the Semi finals. That is who will beat them.

Galway had a difficult time of it trying to get past Offaly. Tipp then got past Offaly handy enough. Cork breezed past Tipp because Tipp had a seriously bad day at the office. Hopefully Tipp have another bad day and Galway have it easy, that would be best for Waterford. But I wouldn't agree with you that it is a dead cert that either Galway or Tipp will beat Waterford, what are you basing that on?

killbillvol2

unknown13 wrote: »

Yes, they will. I believe they have the winner of Galway or Tipp in the Semi finals. That is who will beat them.

So Waterford will be beaten easily by the winners of Tipp or Galway?

Would you like to go on Betfair and back up that assertion with some hard cash?

aidan24326

Why is Henry Shefflin on this selection? He's had two handy games where he went through the motions and popped over a few frees. It seems no team can be picked now without 'King Henry' being on it. He gets an all-star every year as though it's his birthright, regardless of whether he's actually played well or not.

adrian522

aidan24326 wrote: »

Why is Henry Shefflin on this selection? He's had two handy games where he went through the motions and popped over a few frees. It seems no team can be picked now without 'King Henry' being on it. He gets an all-star every year as though it's his birthright, regardless of whether he's actually played well or not.

I think he's done enough to be on the team, he's been by far KK's best forward. He's scored some cracking points and was excellent v Galway.

Not sure about putting him at no 11 though, as I don't think he's played there at all..

Who would you have in his place?

As for the all star argument...so you think he hasn't been deserving in the last few years? I think KK wouldn't be all ireland champs last year without him..he really ties all the forwards together, just look at league v championship, the only real difference is shefflin missing during the league

flahavaj

adrian522 wrote: »

I think he's done enough to be on the team, he's been by far KK's best forward. He's scored some cracking points and was excellent v Galway.

Not sure about putting him at no 11 though, as I don't think he's played there at all..

Who would you have in his place?

As for the all star argument...so you think he hasn't been deserving in the last few years? I think KK wouldn't be all ireland champs last year without him..he really ties all the forwards together, just look at league v championship, the only real difference is shefflin missing during the league

For his semi final performance alone against the Deise, Shefflin deserved his All Star from last year. He was imperious, absolutely brilliant.

aidan24326

flahavaj wrote: »

For his semi final performance alone against the Deise, Shefflin deserved his All Star from last year. He was imperious, absolutely brilliant.

adrian522 wrote: »

I think he's done enough to be on the team, he's been by far KK's best forward. He's scored some cracking points and was excellent v Galway.

Not sure about putting him at no 11 though, as I don't think he's played there at all..

Who would you have in his place?

As for the all star argument...so you think he hasn't been deserving in the last few years? I think KK wouldn't be all ireland champs last year without him..he really ties all the forwards together, just look at league v championship, the only real difference is shefflin missing during the league

I'm not denying that he's a top class player. I'm just saying that there's this mythical aura about him now, all of this King Henry stuff, that for me means his performances sometimes tend to be exaggerated. It happens with players in any sport who are talked up to a level where they can do nothing wrong.

I mean what did he do against Galway that was so great? He played ok, but didn't do anything special that I can recall. And the game vs Dublin was only a stroll in the park. As for the all-star-awards, no doubt he deserved at least some or even most of them, I'm just arguing that because he's King Henry he is likely to get one anyway even if his performances aren't anything out of the ordinary.

nkay1985

I can see the point you're making about Shefflin. It seems like when they're picking All-Star teams his name is pre-printed on the sheet sometimes. In fairness he is phenomenal but I didn't agree with his inclusion in 2008 I think it was. He'd had a decent season but John Mullane had been unreal and yet missed out again.

Just looking at it again and it was 2008. All the other forwards deserved their spot there. Brennan and Larkin had been the driving force behind Kilkenny. Ben O'Connor had pulled Cork by the scruff. Joe Canning had his amazing breakthrough year. Eoin Kelly scored all around him. Then Shefflin got in there when Mulanne had a better season IMO. I know Henry was named at 11 and Mullane wouldn't fit there but that hasn't mattered much in the past and this team from The Sunday Game is the same. Your man from Kilkenny said he thinks Henry's played a total of about 4 minutes at 11.

Hard to argue with the team that was named to be honest. There's huge competition in the half back line and I don't see that changing between now and October.

davedaly7532

if tommy walsh wasn't such a high profile player, he wouldn't have spent enough time on the pitch to warrant selection cause he'd be sent off within about 20 mins of every game. Filthy dirty player but refs don't seem to have the balls to show him the line.
IMO, although there are many great hurlers in the country at the minute, Brick Walsh is the currently out on his own as the finest- an imperious centre back who on current form looks a shoe-in for hurler of the year

Daysha

FWIW there was a thread a few months ago about odds for the HOTY before the C'ship started. I singled out Brick Walsh at 40/1 and Tony Browne at 50/1 as brilliant bets. Wish I had put my fecking money where my mouth was!

An Citeog

davedaly7532 wrote: »

if tommy walsh wasn't such a high profile player, he wouldn't have spent enough time on the pitch to warrant selection cause he'd be sent off within about 20 mins of every game. Filthy dirty player but refs don't seem to have the balls to show him the line.
IMO, although there are many great hurlers in the country at the minute, Brick Walsh is the currently out on his own as the finest- an imperious centre back who on current form looks a shoe-in for hurler of the year

FFS, every single time he's mentioned in any thread someone has to throw their oar in. It's getting tiresome at this stage and it just drags every thread down. This isn't the place for it.

parish girl

The big shame is that the All Ireland winners / runners up will get 12 All Stars based on one game (about 8 if your team wins and about 4 if they loose. the difference might be only a point but its 4 all stars) and some of the more consistant players over the season will loose out. Take Eoin Connors for example ;if Waterford dont win semi his chances of an All star will disimprove dramatically, even though he is clearly one of the best corner backs. It will be interesting to see the changes after all only 1/2/3 games left for all players.

adrian522

I think he'll get one either way.Don't see ahuge amount of competition there to be honest, he has been well ahead in that regard,

yahoo_moe

Better than Michael Walsh or not, Joey Boland has been superb this year. One of the few Dublin players to completely outstrip his performances last year, when he'd already done very well.

Other years I'd agree about Shefflin (whoever mentioned '08 was spot on, Mullane was robbed) but not this year - he's been awesome, even by his own standards.

The fact that KK aren't being tested is at least as much about their brilliance as the opposition and Shefflin's been at the heart of it.

yahoo_moe

parish girl wrote: »

The big shame is that the All Ireland winners / runners up will get 12 All Stars based on one game (about 8 if your team wins and about 4 if they loose.

The AI often has a disproportionate effect alright - but clearly a fair few of the players will already have earned their All-Stars before the final so you can't say they're all down to one game.

You don't get to an AI final without at least 3 All-Stars on the team.

MfMan

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Better than Michael Walsh or not, Joey Boland has been superb this year. One of the few Dublin players to completely outstrip his performances last year, when he'd already done very well.

Other years I'd agree about Shefflin (whoever mentioned '08 was spot on, Mullane was robbed) but not this year - he's been awesome, even by his own standards.

The fact that KK aren't being tested is at least as much about their brilliance as the opposition and Shefflin's been at the heart of it.

Don't agree. He's not been outstanding in any of the games (club AI, v. Dublin, v. Galway, probably best game) I've seen. The stat that he's the highest scorer in c'ship history is a favourable bias towards him. I'd say JC has easily scored more from play thus far.

An Citeog

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Better than Michael Walsh or not, Joey Boland has been superb this year. One of the few Dublin players to completely outstrip his performances last year, when he'd already done very well.

He hasn't been as good as Brick Walsh imo but that's definitely no slight on him. He's really stepped it up this year and has been Dublin's standout player (along with probably Mossy O'Brien). He's only 23 aswell, as is Tomás Brady and the two of them will hopefully be at the heart of that Dublin defence for the next 10 years.

adrian522

MfMan wrote: »

Don't agree. He's not been outstanding in any of the games (club AI, v. Dublin, v. Galway, probably best game) I've seen. The stat that he's the highest scorer in c'ship history is a favourable bias towards him. I'd say JC has easily scored more from play thus far.

He has been head and shoulders above any other forward in both championship games he's played this season and was very good in the all Ireland club final also. There's more to forward play than points from play and he brings a lot more to the teams he plays on than the scores he takes from play.

I also don't know why everyone automatically discounts frees as if they don't count or they are so easy that anyone could put them over.

Yeah, biased towards him in the sense that he's scored more than anyone in the history of the game.

Of course Canning has scored more from play this year but he hasn't been particularly good either, by his own standards. He's played twice as many games for a start.

toxicity234

I though David Kenny from offaly would be there at full back.
He was great for us in the games so far this year and againist Tipp he was played at no 5. (Madness - IMO).