Hurler of the Year candidates

yahoo_moe

May as well start one for this given now that we know the 2 finalists. Anyone any thoughts?

Stand-out candidates for me so far are JJ Delaney (huge year) and Richie Power. Tommy Walsh has cleared a huge amount of ball for them too but probably a bit behind those two. Fennelly and Rice in the middle have also been impressive.

Naughton and Curran from Cork have each been superb while Connors, Walsh and Mullane were great for Waterford. While Tipp have made the final, it's been a collective effort to get them there, though they've a few players at each end of the pitch coming into form now. Some from other teams will be in All-Star contention but none at HOTY standard for me given their teams' earlier exits.

If I were awarding it today, it'd be JJ I think.

Gerard.C

Brendan Maher playing centre field for Tipp has been outstanding this year, has to be in contention

flahavaj

Between Tommy Walsh and Fennelly of KK for me, though Richie Power could make a late run if he puts up a big score in the final.

Naughton should be nowhere near though OP. He was good against Tipp but since he has been very hot and cold since and his decision making at times is pure brainless. He shouldn't even get an All Star nomination (there have been several better players at centre field - Fennelly, Farragher, Shane Mc Grath, Brendan Maher, Richie Foley to name but a few) not to mind be up for POTY tbh.

mink_man

brick

sportinglegend

JJ Delaney would be the front runner for me

Tommy Walsh and Jackie Tyrrell would be just behind him and a good final could win it for either.

After them three would be Fennelly, Power and Brick Walsh with Corbett and Brendan Maher the two from Tipp that would be contenders.

aidan24326

There's no really outstanding canditate for me. Disappointing that most of the people mentioned are backs, hasn't been any really great forward displays this year.

Diabhal Beag

Ger Farragher and Noel Connors had great years IMO. They won't win but they deserve to be nominated.

mink_man

it's just that the hurling championship is very short and the good teams only really play 2 top teams a year so it's hard to pick a great player from 2 games..

phkk

1 Tommy Walsh
2 Michael Fennelly
3 Brick Walsh
4 John Mullane
5 Michael Rice
6 Shane McGrath
7 Richie Power

aidan24326

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Ger Farragher and Noel Connors had great years IMO. They won't win but they deserve to be nominated.

Farragher blew hot and cold as usual. He was excellent in a couple of the earlier games but didn't show up at all against Tipp and played poorly against Kilkenny aswell. And while his freetaking was generally good, he did miss a couple that Canning would have scored. It may sound harsh to pick on a couple of misses but the fact is that Canning never misses, so as a Galway freetaker that's what you're being judged against. Overall apart from the Tipp game he had a fairly good year but not a contender for player of the year by any means.

JimsAlterEgo

will prob be the motm in the AI final

cremeegg

Joe Canning

adrian522

cremeegg wrote: »

Joe Canning

Love the way Canning is always considered a shoe in for all star etc no matter how he plays.


http://www.examiner.ie/sport/gaa/canning-i-didnt-perform-at-all-this-year-128142.html

aidan24326

adrian522 wrote: »

Love the way Canning is always considered a shoe in for all star etc no matter how he plays.


http://www.examiner.ie/sport/gaa/canning-i-didnt-perform-at-all-this-year-128142.html

I assume creemegg was just joking. Canning is nowhere near to being a hurler of the year contender and won't get an all-star either. I really hope he gets that injury sorted out so we can see the best of him next year.

cremeegg

ya i was joking..;) he was poor.. i guess a lot will depend on AI final... B maher , lar corbett, p curran all could have a sniff if tipp win... the usual suspects then if the other lads wins

halfforward

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Ger Farragher and Noel Connors had great years IMO. They won't win but they deserve to be nominated.

Noel Connors will get young hurler, presuming he's still elegible

yahoo_moe

flahavaj wrote: »

Naughton should be nowhere near though OP. He was good against Tipp but since he has been very hot and cold

I thought he was good against Antrim and in long parts against Waterford (first game mainly, I think but not 100%).

I was mainly just going through the four semi-finalists with that though - the only candidates are KK players this year (and I agree there are a lot of midfield candidates).

yahoo_moe

halfforward wrote: »

Noel Connors will get young hurler, presuming he's still elegible

Yup, he played U-21 this year so is eligible.

Probably stand-out candidate given that Clare's season never really got going at senior level.

jonnybravo

halfforward wrote: »

Noel Connors will get young hurler, presuming he's still elegible

I'd say Brendan Maher will give him a run for his money if he has a good All Ireland. He has been Tipps best player so far and although he was quite enough against Waterford (he was sick in the week leading up to it) a good final and I think hes a shoe in for the Young Player of the Year.

For the Hurler of the Year if Lar has a good game in the final I think he could win it. Was unlucky not to win it last year. If Tipp don't win then there's a good few of the KK players that have a chance.

Treaty_M

Micheal Brick Walsh is guaranteed an All-Star this year.

derealbadger

Treaty_M wrote: »

Micheal Brick Walsh is guaranteed an All-Star this year.

welcome to boards and we look forward to more of your in dept analysis very revealing:D

toxicity234

It probably be Eoin Kelly is tipp win the final. i think the tipp half back have had a great year. Myself i think D Fanning at No. 5. has being outstanding this year. (i have said it so he probably get taking to the cleaners in the Final.)

If Kilkenny win, JJ again has being awesome. He'll win it if KK win the Final.

An Citeog

I've deleted the off topic stuff over the last few posts and Go Wesht has been banned for a week for personal abuse, so let that be an end to it.

Deise Tom

Brick Walsh.

liammur

I'd give it to mullane. He carried a very average waterford forward unit by himself to the munster and all ireland semi.

Deise Tom

liammur wrote: »

I'd give it to mullane. He carried a very average waterford forward unit by himself to the munster and all ireland semi.

I would not say that the Waterford forwards are average, but would say that under the manager we had with the past 2+ years they could be made look average because of the tactics used by him.

adrian522

If he didn't win it last year i'd say Tommy Walsh was in with a good shout, 2 MOTM performances out of 3 games.

As always the final will go a long way to determining the winner as there are no really stand out perfomaces a la DAn in 2007

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Definitely wont be anyone from Galway and its unlikely someone from Cork will get the award. Personally I hope Mullane gets it but I doubt he will. I can see Brick being nominated with at least 1 Kk player. IMO no Tipp player should be nominated. I also dont think Tommy Walsh will get it (seeing as he won last year) even though he was by far the stand out player yet again. Rte will nominate two of Walsh, Power and Delaney with Brick. Either Power or Delaney will win it.