Best player from a weaker county

lala88

Was talking to someone about this and the weekend and wanted to see what people think. Who would you say is the best player to come from a ''weaker'' county?

For me is has to be Declan Browne. Even when Tipp weren't up to much you still heard about him and i think thats what makes him the best. You could also say John Galvin but for 2/3 years Limerick were nowhere you didn't hear or see very much of him.

They would be the main 2 in my eyes but would be interesting to see what others think

Tom Joad

Johnny Doyle - super player - feck all chance of ever winning anything

SeaFields

John Galvin from Limerick would be up there.


Its a great pub conversation...the best 15 not to win an All Ireland.

Stinicker

Donal Shine, Roscommon

messrs

Paul Barden - Longford

Littlehorny

Darren Fay said Declan Browne was the best player he ever played on or against, so thats a pretty good recomendation imo. Would also give a mention to Eamonn o Hara as another top player from a weaker county.

akelly02

niall mcnamee- offaly

yohan the great

Stinicker wrote: »

Donal Shine, Roscommon

Donie Shine isnt even roscommons best player

risteard7

Graham reilly meath

eigrod

From bygone days :

Kevin O' Brien Wicklow.
Noel Roche Clare.

The Jman

As a Tipp man I think Browne was totally over rated, he was a good player but nowhere near top quality and wouldn't have been good enough to start for any of the stronger counties.

Hammer Archer

The Jman wrote: »

As a Tipp man I think Browne was totally over rated, he was a good player but nowhere near top quality and wouldn't have been good enough to start for any of the stronger counties.

As a Gaelic Football fan, you're wrong.

porterbelly

Paddy Keenan-Louth

Tomas McCann-Antrim

Paul Barden-Longford

Gary Brennan-Clare

David Kelly-Sligo

Leighton Glynn-Wickloq

Brendan Murphy-Carlow

John Galvin-Limerick

Always_Running

Sean McCormark - Longford
Ross Donovan - Sligo
Cathal Cregg - Roscommon
Emlyn Mulligan - Leitrim
Niall McNamee Offaly
Paddy Cunningham - Antrim
Paddy Keenan - Louth
Barry Grogan - Tipperary

Agus

eigrod wrote: »

From bygone days :

Kevin O' Brien Wicklow.
Noel Roche Clare.

Going further back again, Mickey Kearns of Sligo

passremarkable

John Keane-Westmeath

Syferus

Stinicker wrote: »

Donal Shine, Roscommon

The Gooch - Kerry.

Sorry lad. :pac:

How can so many people be wrong?

There is only one answer to this question and it's Dermot Early.

cgpg5

Are we talking current weak counties?

Padraig Joyce
Michael Meehan
Michael Donnellan

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Declan Browne definately was one of the main ones. Declan D'Arcy springs to mind aswell. Dessie Dolan deserves a mention.

cgpg5

Your man that was Leitrim's main player in 94. was it Reynolds or am I way off?

washman3

The Jman wrote: »

As a Tipp man I think Browne was totally over rated, he was a good player but nowhere near top quality and wouldn't have been good enough to start for any of the stronger counties.

A disgruntled Tipp hurling fan by any chance.?? unhappy that Browne chose hurling over football.?? he was also an outstanding huler.
Declan was sheer class, would have walked on any county team, and a genuine nice guy also.

present outstanding players from "weaker" counties (Munster anyway) would be : Johnny McCarthy,Steven Lavin of Limerick and Gary Brennan of Clare.
Stephen Kelly is also well worthy of a mention.

washman3

Deleted User wrote: »

How can so many people be wrong?

There is only one answer to this question and it's Dermot Early.

Roscommon were far from a weaker county when Early played.
should have won the 1980 final.
Best player not to win an All-Ireland.??? probably Early...

Bizzum

cgpg5 wrote: »

Are we talking current weak counties?

Padraig Joyce
Michael Meehan
Michael Donnellan

Do two of these three not have All Ireland medals? 1998 and 2001? Nothing weak about that.

Donnielighto

cgpg5 wrote: »

Are we talking current weak counties?

Padraig Joyce
Michael Meehan
Michael Donnellan

Not sure if he'd involved for a good while, Galway are cat since Kevin Walsh finished up though.

cgpg5

Bizzum wrote: »

Do two of these three not have All Ireland medals? 1998 and 2001? Nothing weak about that.

Ah I was only slagging I'm a Galway man sure. But yes we'd have to qualify for a weak county now in all honesty so Joyce and Meehan can stay

Donnielighto

Bizzum wrote: »

Do two of these three not have All Ireland medals? 1998 and 2001? Nothing weak about that.

galway are really bad for years now

Diego Maradona

Tom Joad wrote: »

Johnny Doyle - super player - feck all chance of ever winning anything

That's funny, I could of swore Johnny Doyle won a Leinster Championship, an All-Star, a Kildare County Championship, a NFL Div.2 title and countless other personal accolades.

But sure who am I to question you.

Bizzum

Donnielighto wrote: »

Not sure if he'd involved for a good while, Galway are cat since Kevin Walsh finished up though.

No doubt, Galway have slipped, but I've fond memories of the '98 All ~Ireland final. Donnellan ran the length of the field with a ball that ended with a great point for Galway. Good Galway team, 2 All Irelands in 4 years.

Bizzum

Diego Maradona wrote: »

That's funny, I could of swore Johnny Doyle won a Leinster Championship

I think he might have 2 Leinsters.
2 Leinsters in 56 years aint exactly strong is it?
Or 4 in 80 odd years?
And as you know, zero All Irelands or indeed no League title(That I can recall?)

Diego Maradona

Bizzum wrote: »

I think he might have 2 Leinsters.
2 Leinsters in 56 years aint exactly strong is it?
Or 4 in 80 odd years?
And as you know, zero All Irelands or indeed no League title(That I can recall?)

Nope, he has 1. He wasn't around in 1998. Division 2 league title.

SureYWouldntYa

Deleted User wrote: »

How can so many people be wrong?

There is only one answer to this question and it's Dermot Early.

He won several Connacht titles, back then Roscommon were a force and not a weak side like today

Stoner

I'd have to say Donal Shine.

If a player has a provincial title should that disqualify him fro the list?

Stefan White was handy too, but I'm assuming it is for current players.

Syferus

Stoner wrote: »

I'd have to say Donal Shine.

If a player has a provincial title should that disqualify him fro the list?

Stefan White was handy too, but I'm assuming it is for current players.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that Cathal Cregg is a significantly better player, and I rate Donie as high as anyone does.


Dermot won an u21 All-Ireland and Connacht titles at just about every grade, nevermind All-Stars and a National League title. One of the greats to never win a senior All-Ireland, but certainly not someone for this discussion.

cgpg5

Stoner wrote: »

I'd have to say Donal Shine.

If a player has a provincial title should that disqualify him fro the list?

Stefan White was handy too, but I'm assuming it is for current players.

Doesn't Donie Shine have one?

Syferus

cgpg5 wrote: »

Doesn't Donie Shine have one?

He has one each at minor, u21 and senior, not to mention the 2006 minor All-Ireland. He's not short on medals.

TheGoldenAges

Another player who was unlucky not to win an All-Ireland is Ciaran Whelan, mind you he has countless provincials

cgpg5

Syferus wrote: »

He has one each at minor, u21 and senior, not to mention the 2006 minor All-Ireland. He's not short on medals.

Yeah but the above poster nominated Donie Shine and said that provincial winners shouldn't count.

I actually wasn't sure myself did he win any, I then remembered they beat SLigo in 2010 wasn't it?

ciarriaithuaidh

Niall MacNamee when he is on song is as good as any corner forward there is. Fantastic player. Offaly are rubbish right now, but if MacNamee was playing, I would want to watch the game.
Gary Hurney from Waterford is a very good footballer, has given Kerry, Cork and a few others trouble.
Brendan Murphy is a freakish athlete (not surprising Leinster rugby tried to poach him) and a great player.
John Galvin is as good a midfielder as I've seen in the last 15 years. Stood toe to toe with Darragh O'Sé and all the top midfielders over that period.

Syferus

cgpg5 wrote: »

Yeah but the above poster nominated Donie Shine and said that provincial winners shouldn't count.

I actually wasn't sure myself did he win any, I then remembered they beat SLigo in 2010 wasn't it?

Yeah. Scored 10 of our 14 points. Lad is a serious talent, he had a rough year this season but you can be sure he'll bounce back next year.

Diego Maradona

Emlyn Mulligan from Leitrim. Super player.

Donnielighto

Bizzum wrote: »

I think he might have 2 Leinsters.
2 Leinsters in 56 years aint exactly strong is it?
Or 4 in 80 odd years?
And as you know, zero All Irelands or indeed no League title(That I can recall?)

Kildare are a strong county. It's the strength of the current team too isnt it?

Donnielighto

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

He won several Connacht titles, back then Roscommon were a force and not a weak side like today

Relative played against him a few times, said he was overrated, good lad in a poor enough team.

kieran12345

Always_Running wrote: »

Sean McCormark - Longford
Ross Donovan - Sligo
Cathal Cregg - Roscommon
Emlyn Mulligan - Leitrim
Niall McNamee Offaly
Paddy Cunningham - Antrim
Paddy Keenan - Louth
Barry Grogan - Tipperary

He's retired last year from county football but

John McKeon - Leitrim (played for last 10 years i think and definitely one of the best backs in the game)

Syferus

Donnielighto wrote: »

Relative played against him a few times, said he was overrated, good lad in a poor enough team.

Ah, the famous relative/friend/sister's boyfriend/wife's cat who reckons a high-profile player is over-rated because they played again them and think that it bestows mystical levels of expertise to them on that said player.

Sure I guess this lad is flying it in his own county team, right? If not, tell him to give me a ring and I'll get him a NAMA house here and we'll Seanie J him into the team.

YoungTrouble

Johnny Doyle-such a pity he plays for such a poor county and will never reach an AI final ever.

ciarriaithuaidh

Always_Running wrote: »

Sean McCormark - Longford
Ross Donovan - Sligo
Cathal Cregg - Roscommon
Emlyn Mulligan - Leitrim
Niall McNamee Offaly
Paddy Cunningham - Antrim
Paddy Keenan - Louth
Barry Grogan - Tipperary

Actually must say Cathal Cregg has really impressed me this year. Sadly for Rossies, his good form came when the rest of the Ros team were awful for most of the year. Even the games they lost though, he never gave up and in the Galway game for example he was outstanding and still burning his man in the last few minutes.

SureYWouldntYa

Donnielighto wrote: »

Relative played against him a few times, said he was overrated, good lad in a poor enough team.

uncle was on him once, uncle retired after because he'd never be as good as him, was 22 at time and on the Ross panel

gammygils

Mark Hehir - Galway

Sadly now Galway are regarded as a weaker county

Tom Joad

Diego Maradona wrote: »

That's funny, I could of swore Johnny Doyle won a Leinster Championship, an All-Star, a Kildare County Championship, a NFL Div.2 title and countless other personal accolades.

But sure who am I to question you.

a). It was meant as a joke.

b). I thought it might get your attention - We are waiting for your views on the match on the Kildare thread seeing as you have so much to say for yourself usually especially about other teams exits from the championship. We were getting worried that you choked on the big slice of humble pie you had to swallow - will wait for your views on the game.

In the words of a great man - "I love it when a plan comes together"

Donnielighto

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

uncle was on him once, uncle retired after because he'd never be as good as him, was 22 at time and on the Ross panel

No offence but how good was your uncle so? That is a terrible reason for dropping out of a panel. I never said Earley wasn't good. Big fish in a small pond kinda situation though. My relative had a pretty accomplished career in terms of team and individual accolades so I'd take his word on it.