Your County's Best 15

keane2097

With the league due to start this weekend it might be interesting for people to know how the various teams other counties are sending out compare to their strongest line ups. Could help with our pool picks as well!

We all probably know the key players for most counties, but it can be hard to keep up with the calibre of many of the players who are less reported on.

I think Kerry's strongest 15 - injuries etc notwithstanding - would be pretty close to:

-------------------- Brendan Kealy --------------------

Tom O'Sullivan ------- Marc O'Sé ------- Shane Enright

Tomás O'Sé --------- Eoin Brosnan --------- Killian Young

----------- Anthony Maher --- Brian Sheehan -----------

Paul Galvin ------- Declan O'Sullivan ------- Darren O'Sullivan

Colm Cooper ------ Kieran Donaghy ------ Kiaran O'Leary

What's your counties best 15?

ciarriaithuaidh

keane2097 wrote: »

With the league due to start this weekend it might be interesting for people to know how the various teams other counties are sending out compare to their strongest line ups.

We all probably know the key players for most counties, but it can be hard to keep up with the calibre of many of the players who are less reported on.

I think Kerry's strongest 15 - injuries etc notwithstanding - would be pretty close to:

-------------------- Brendan Kealy --------------------

Tom O'Sullivan ------- Marc O'Sé ------- Shane Enright

Tomás O'Sé --------- Eoin Brosnan --------- Killian Young

----------- Anthony Maher --- Brian Sheehan -----------

Paul Galvin ------- Declan O'Sullivan ------- Darren O'Sullivan

Colm Cooper ------ Kieran Donaghy ------ Kiaran O'Leary

What's your counties best 15?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8DXE5Sx5m8#t=0m05s

dcr22B

TBH I couldn't see a better 15 than the starting 15 from the All Ireland final last September for us.

ciarriaithuaidh

dcr22B wrote: »

TBH I couldn't see a better 15 than the starting 15 from the All Ireland final last September for us.

McMenamon not a better forward than say, Barry Cahill, no? He basically won the semi & final for ye to be fair.

keane2097

Dublin's strongest 15 then:

----------------- Stephen Cluxton -----------------

Cian O'Sullivan ----- Rory O'Carroll ----- Michael Fitzsimons

James McCarthy ------- Ger Brennan ------- Kevin Nolan

---------- MD Mcauley --- Denis Bastick ----------

Paul Flynn -------- Barry Cahill -------- Brian Cullen

Alan Brogan ----- Bernard Brogan ----- Diarmuid Connolly

dcr22B

ciarriaithuaidh wrote: »

McMenamon not a better forward than say, Barry Cahill, no? He basically won the semi & final for ye to be fair.

Fair point but I think Maxi's best work is done when teams are tired and he runs directly at them. He's been great when starting in the league games but has yet to really produce it when on the starting 15 come Championship.

Would love to see him nail down a starting place come summer though.

keane2097

I think the Dublin forward line above is really well balanced, don't see McMenamon improving it as a unit regardless of how good his individual performances are.

Could be interesting to see him at corner forward in place of Diarmuid Connolly. Connolly imo flatters to deceive, McMenamon's pace in the inside line could cause some problems.

dcr22B

keane2097 wrote: »

Connolly imo flatters to deceive

Not in my eyes, he played a massive role in the last 10 minutes in last year's final but it almost went unnoticed.

keane2097

Here's a Cavan 15 I had suggested elsewhere:

James Reilly

Oisin Minnagh
Sean McCormack
Damien Barkey

Mark McKeever
Padraig Reilly
John McCutcheon

David Givney
Gearoid McKiernan

Niall Smith
Eugene Keating
Ronan Flanagan

Kevin Meehan
Niall McDermott
Jack Brady

keane2097

Here's my own stab at Kildare:

Shane Connolly; 

Hugh McGrillen, Mick Foley, Peter Kelly; 
Emmet Bolton, Gary White, Morgan O'Flaherty; 

Ronan Sweeney, Daryl Flynn; 

Padraig O'Neill, Eamonn O'Callaghan, Eoghan O'Flaherty; 
John Doyle, Tomás O'Connor, James Kavanagh

Thoughts?

StupidLikeAFox

keane2097 wrote: »

Here's a Cavan 15 I had suggested elsewhere:

keane2097 wrote: »

Here's my own stab at Kildare:

No Seanie Johnston in either of them.....?

keane2097

Heh, well I think it's fair to say he won't be part of the Cavan 15 this year, anything else remains to be seen!

keane2097

Here's Donegal:

Paul Durcan

Paddy McGrath     Neil McGee         Frank McGlynn
Anthony Thompson    Leo McLoone     Karl Lacey

Neil Gallagher  Rory Kavanagh

Mark McHugh     Mickey Hegarty             Ryan Bradley
Patrick McBrearty      Michael Muphy     Colm McFadden

klairondavis

keane2097 wrote: »

Here's my own stab at Kildare:

Shane Connolly; 

Hugh McGrillen, Mick Foley, Peter Kelly; 
Emmet Bolton, Gary White, Morgan O'Flaherty; 

Ronan Sweeney, Dermot Earley; 

Padraig O'Neill, Eamonn O'Callaghan, Eoghan O'Flaherty; 
John Doyle, Tomás O'Connor, James Kavanagh

Thoughts?

No Daryl Flynn? :eek:

keane2097

Yeah I know that was a mistake!

adrian522

Is this an exclusively football thread or can I throw up a team for the Kilkenny hurlers?

It's very early to predict what will happen come championship but probably something like this:

1. Herity
2. Murphy
3. Dalton (PRoblem position I think, maybe another year in Hickey)
4. Tyrell
5. Walsh
6.Hogan
7. Delaney
8. Rice
9. Fennelly
10. Shefflin
11. Power
12. Hogan
13. Fennelly
14. Larkin
15. Fogarty

I think Kilkenny are fine for positions 1-7, even 1-9 but are a bit light in the forwards if there are a few injuries.

keane2097

No sure lash away with hurling as well!

Tom Joad

keane2097 wrote: »

Here's a Cavan 15 I had suggested elsewhere:

James Reilly
 
Oisin Minnagh
Sean McCormack
Damien Barkey
 
Mark McKeever
Padraig Reilly
John McCutcheon
 
David Givney
Gearoid McKiernan
 
Niall Smith
Eugene Keating
Ronan Flanagan
 
Kevin Meehan
Niall McDermott
Jack Brady

Hard to know our best 15 at this point with all the young lads but would find it hard to argue with this one. I would maybe go for Raymond Galligan for his score getting ability and his freetaking.

Fireball07

Limerick. Bound to forget someone, just doing this off the top of my head.

1. Brian Scanlon
2. Barry Fitzpatrick
3. Johnny McCarthy
4. Stephen Lavin
5. John Riordan
6. Stephen Lucey
7. Pa Ranahan
8. Jim Donovan
9. John Galvin
10. John Cooke
11. Stephen Kelly
12. Seanie Buckley
13. Ger Collins
14. Seamus O'Carroll
15. Ian Ryan



Not sure what the story is with Stephen Kelly tbqh, he might be injured atm, I've been a bit out of touch with football news lately. Tom Lee's in Australia and we're yet to see whether new players like Darragh Treacy, Graham O'Connell and Paul Kinnerk will step up.

keane2097

I actually know Graham well, he's a super footballer. Would love to see him doing well for ye.

rossie1977

Geoffrey Claffey
sean mcdermott, niall carty, stephen ormsby
peter domican, niall daly, ian kilbride
michael finneran, karl mannion
donie smith, cathal cregg, david o gara
cathal shine, senan kilbride, donie shine

niall daly is a super player who has yet to start a championship game as far as i know but he has been one the best underage/college player in ireland last 2 years keeping good cork and kerry players out of the UCC team so for sure will become a mainstay in the team this year and into the future.....as will his younger brother

donie smith is only 18 but was star of the minor team just last summer that just missed out on another all-ireland final, a scoring half forward, something roscommon badly need

cathal shine just turned 20 but has missed the last year with injury, incredible fielder of a ball, that goal he scored against kerry minors in 2009 (last seconds to draw level) was fantastic, cathal is 6'4, kilbride is 6'3 and donie is 6'4/6'5 so that would be the tallest full forward line in the country i suspect if they ever lined out

i truly believe donie shine will revert to midfield after this year when mannion retires from intercounty, he changed the course of the minor final in 2006 completely when he went in there and dominated tommie walsh, the other week he again changed the course of the game against mayo when moved into midfield

blackbelt

:D:D

Dublin

1.Stephen Cluxton
2.Michael Fitzsimons
3.Rory O Carroll
4.Cian O Sullivan
5.James McCarthy
6.Ger Brennan
7.Kevin Nolan
8.Denis Bastick
9.Michael Dara McAulay
10.Paul Flynn
11.Barry Cahill
12.Bryan Cullen
13.Alan Brogan
14.Dermot Connolly
15.Bernard Brogan

Subs

Kevin McManoman for Flynn
Eamon Fennel for Denis Bastick
Philly McMahon for James McCarthy

keane2097

Anybody take a stab at Monaghan?

jkbrackens11

Tipp Hurling 15

Cummins
Cahill
Curran
Stapelton
Maher
O' Mahoney
Shane Maher
Brendan Maher
Shane McGrath
Bonner Maher
Noel McGrath
Gar Ryan
Corbett
O' Brien
Shane Bourke/John O' Neill

Fireball07

Limerick Hurling 15 imo

1. Nick Quaid
2. David Moloney
3. Tom Condon
4. Shane O'Neill
5. Seamus Hickey
6. Gavin O'Mahoney
7. Wayne McNamara
8. Paul Browne
9. Donal O'Grady
10. Declan Hannon
11. David Breen
12. Shane Dowling
13. Graeme Mulcahy
14. Kevin Downes
15. Seanie Tobin


Though some of the younger players will get a chance in the league and Nicky Quaid will probably get gametime outfield so we'll see.

jalock

1. Adrian Faherty
2. Colin Forde
3. Finian Hanley
4. Jonny Duane
5. Gareth Bradshaw
6. Diarmuid Blake
7. Gary Sice
8. Thomas Flynn
9. Fiontán Ó Curraoín
10. Cormack Bane
11. Paul Conroy
12. Mark Hehir
13. Michael Martin
14. Nicky Joyce
15. Danny Cummins

blue note

adrian522 wrote: »

Is this an exclusively football thread or can I throw up a team for the Kilkenny hurlers?

It's very early to predict what will happen come championship but probably something like this:

1. Herity
2. Murphy
3. Dalton (PRoblem position I think, maybe another year in Hickey)
4. Tyrell
5. Walsh
6.Hogan
7. Delaney
8. Rice
9. Fennelly
10. Shefflin
11. Power
12. Hogan
13. Fennelly
14. Larkin
15. Fogarty

I think Kilkenny are fine for positions 1-7, even 1-9 but are a bit light in the forwards if there are a few injuries.

Sure they could be the best 15 footballers in Kilkenny anyway!

LeoB

1.Stephen Cluxton
2 Cian O Sullivan
3.Rory O Carroll
4.Philly McMahon
5.Luke Fletcher (St Maurs)
6.Ger Brennan
7.Kevin Nolan
8.Paul Flynn
9.Michael Dara McAulay
10.Gary Sweeney (St Sylvesters)
11.Kevin McMenamen
12.Bryan Cullen
13.Alan Brogan
14.Ciaran Kilkenny Castleknock.
15.Bernard Brogan

Possible changes
Darren Daly for Philly McMahon
Eamon Fennell for Flynn
Ciaran Dorney (St.Vincents) for Kilkenny/Connolly

Think our defence is good enough and Luke Fletcher is well worth a run. Exceptionally talented footballer, still only 19 but if they are good enough they are old enough!! I think our forwards need someone like Gary Sweeney who is so pacy and could work well along side McMenamen. Ciaran Kilkenny fits the bill for me and As we have seen without the Brogans we dont have many natural forwards. Paul Flynn plays his best fooTball when competing in mid field a really good fielder of the ball

AGC

LeoB wrote: »

Paul Flynn plays his best fooTball when competing in mid field a really good fielder of the ball

Flynn plays his best football in the half forward line as was seen last season

LeoB

AGC wrote: »

Flynn plays his best football in the half forward line as was seen last season

He had a good year ok but I still believe he can offer a fair bit more in mid field.

Mountainlad

jkbrackens11 wrote: »

Tipp Hurling 15

Cummins
Cahill
Curran
Stapelton
Maher
O' Mahoney
Shane Maher
Brendan Maher
Shane McGrath
Bonner Maher
Noel McGrath
Gar Ryan
A.N OTHER
O' Brien
Shane Bourke/John O' Neill

:P

MickySticks

keane2097 wrote: »

Here's my own stab at Kildare:

Shane Connolly; 

Hugh McGrillen, Mick Foley, Peter Kelly; 
Emmet Bolton, Gary White, Morgan O'Flaherty; 

Ronan Sweeney, Daryl Flynn; 

Padraig O'Neill, Eamonn O'Callaghan, Eoghan O'Flaherty; 
John Doyle, Tomás O'Connor, James Kavanagh

Thoughts?

Shane Connolly

Hugh McGrillen, Mick Foley, Peter Kelly
Emmet Bolton, Morgan O'Flaherty, Ollie Lyons

Daryl Flynn, Ronan Sweeney

Eamonn Callaghan, Mikey Conway, James Kavanagh
Johnny Doyle, Tomas O'Connor, Eoghan O'Flaherty

keane2097

Here's a Tyrone selection from elsewhere:

Tyrone:

P McConnell
PJ Quinn
Justy McMahon
Conor Gormley
Sean O'Neill
Joe McMahon
Cathal McCarron
Aidan Cassidy
Colm Cavanagh
Sean Cavanagh
Peter Harte
Marty Penrose
Stephen O'Neill
Mark Donnelly (Kyly Coney would have a chance if learns to keep the game simple)
Owen Mulligan

keane2097

Here's Offaly:

1 Kevin Meehan

2 Sean Pender
3 Shane Sullivan
4 Paul McConway

5 Brian Darby
6 Ross Brady
7 Sean Ryan

8 Ritchie Dalton
9 Niall Smith

10 Bernard Allen
11 Daniel Currams
12 Anton Sullivan

13 Alan Mulhall
14 Niall McNamee
15 Ken Casey

keane2097

Antrim:

1. Sean O'Neill/C Kerr;

2. Brady
3. McClean
4. O'Boyle

5. Tony Scullion
6. Justin Crozier
7. James Loughrey

8. Michael McCann
9. Gallagher

10. K McGourty
11. David Niblock
12. C Kelly

13. CJ McGourty
14. Magill
15. Thomas McCann

keane2097

Armagh:

Paul Hearty

Andy Mallon
Brendan Donaghy
James Morgan

Aaron Kernan
Ciaran McKeever
Paul Duffy / Kevin Dyas

Kieran Toner
Charlie Vernon

Michael O'Rourke
Billy Joe Padden
Malachy Mackin

Jamie Clarke
McParland
Stevie McDonnell

MickySticks

keane2097 wrote: »

Antrim:

No Paddy Cunningham?

keane2097

Here's what I would have had for Westmeath, although the three players with brackets after their names won't be available this year and I don't know who will replace them:

Gary Connaughton

Francis Boyle (Hurling)
Kieran Gavin
James Dolan

Ger Egan
Seanie O'Donoghue
Michael Ennis

Darragh Daly
David O'Shaughnessy

Paul Sharry
Conor Lynam (America)
Doran Harte

Paul Greville (Hurling)
Dennis Glennon
Dessie Dolan

keane2097

MickySticks wrote: »

No Paddy Cunningham?

He wasn't on any of the three Antrim teams I had named to me - you're welcome to do your own version

keane2097

Teams with an attempt made so far:

Kerry
Dublin
Cavan
Kildare
Donegal
Limerick
Roscommon
Galway
Tyrone
Offaly
Antrim
Armagh
Westmeath

Anyone care to chime in with a Down/Derry selection?

razor425

rossie1977 wrote: »

Geoffrey Claffey
sean mcdermott, niall carty, stephen ormsby
peter domican, niall daly, ian kilbride
michael finneran, karl mannion
donie smith, cathal cregg, david o gara
cathal shine, senan kilbride, donie shine

niall daly is a super player who has yet to start a championship game as far as i know but he has been one the best underage/college player in ireland last 2 years keeping good cork and kerry players out of the UCC team so for sure will become a mainstay in the team this year and into the future.....as will his younger brother

donie smith is only 18 but was star of the minor team just last summer that just missed out on another all-ireland final, a scoring half forward, something roscommon badly need

cathal shine just turned 20 but has missed the last year with injury, incredible fielder of a ball, that goal he scored against kerry minors in 2009 (last seconds to draw level) was fantastic, cathal is 6'4, kilbride is 6'3 and donie is 6'4/6'5 so that would be the tallest full forward line in the country i suspect if they ever lined out

i truly believe donie shine will revert to midfield after this year when mannion retires from intercounty, he changed the course of the minor final in 2006 completely when he went in there and dominated tommie walsh, the other week he again changed the course of the game against mayo when moved into midfield

I'd have to agree with most of this but Donie Smith is a pretty left field choice. IMO he will be lucky to make the forward line for our u21 team this year never mind the senior team. In his place I would probably have one of David Keenan, Kevin Higgins or Conor Devanney.

Great call on Niall Daly, probably our most exciting prospect over the next few years.

Not fully sure on Niall Carty at full back but the main problem with leaving him out would be lack of a decent alternative.

MickySticks

Derry

D Devlin
SL McGoldrick
K McGuckin
D McBride
G O’Kane
C Kielt
K McCloy
J Diver
M Friel
M Lynch
J Kielt
B McGoldrick
E Muldoon
P Bradley
C Gilligan

harpsman

keane2097 wrote: »

Here's Donegal:

Paul Durcan

Paddy McGrath     Neil McGee         Frank McGlynn
Anthony Thompson    Leo McLoone     Karl Lacey

Neil Gallagher  Rory Kavanagh

Mark McHugh     Mickey Hegarty             Ryan Bradley
Patrick McBrearty      Michael Muphy     Colm McFadden

Michael Hegarty
Are players who have been dropped for writing a book eligable?

keane2097

harpsman wrote: »

Michael Hegarty
Are players who have been dropped for writing a book eligable?

Is that as helpful as you're capable of being?

harpsman

keane2097 wrote: »

Is that as helpful as you're capable of being?

Ok, I'll spell it out for you.
Hegarty out,Cassidy in from team you named.

If Cassidy not allowed,then Molloy.

MickySticks

harpsman wrote: »

Ok, I'll spell it out for you.
Hegarty out,Cassidy in from team you named.

If Cassidy not allowed,then Molloy.

Since when did Cassidy play in the forwards?

smashey

MickySticks wrote: »

Since when did Cassidy play in the forwards?

Guys, let's not get carried away with this. It's a bit of fun and very, very subjective.

harpsman

MickySticks wrote: »

Since when did Cassidy play in the forwards?

The last championship game Donegal played they had one player in the opposition half so I dont see any need to have 6 "forwards" in their team.

In answer to your question,June 2010 against armagh-he started at full forward. also,I've a feeling he was possibly their 5th highrest scorer from play last years championship,so would be quite happy with him playing in the "forwards".

The days of 6 2 6 are long gone for majority of teams.

MickySticks

harpsman wrote: »

The last championship game Donegal played they had one player in the opposition half so I dont see any need to have 6 "forwards" in their team.

In answer to your question,June 2010 against armagh-he started at full forward. also,I've a feeling he was possibly their 5th highrest scorer from play last years championship,so would be quite happy with him playing in the "forwards".

The days of 6 2 6 are long gone for majority of teams.

Doesn't matter anyway he won't be playing anywhere this year!

I hear Kieran McGeeney rang him yesterday :pac:

Fowler87

Best Mayo team going on current form

---

D.Clarke

---

L.Keegan---G.Cafferky---K.Higgins

R.Feeney---D.Vaughan---C.Boyle

----S.O'Shea---P.Harte----

A.Dillon---A.Freeman---K.McLoughlin

C.Mortimor---A.Moran---C.O'Connor

keane2097

Cork?

1. O'Halloran
2. Cotter
3. Shields
4. Cadogan
5. O'Leary
6. Canty
7. D. O'Sullivan
8. O'Connor
9. Walsh
10. Sheehan
11. Kelly
12. Kerrigan
13. Goulding
14. O'Connor
15. C. O'Neill