Footballer Of The Year 2013. Who will win it?

ProudDUB

Ok, so I am bored out of my mind waiting for our next game. To pass the time o'day, I thought I'd start a thread about who will win this years Footballer Of The Year award.

So who do we all think will win it this year? For the first time in several years, as we head into the semi's, there is no obvious front runner. So here are who I think are the possible candidates so far. Am only going on current semi finalists for obvious reasons.


Tyrone

Stephen O'Neill - Had a brilliant, brilliant league campaign. Tyrone came within a hairs breath of winning the league thanks to him. Was voted player of the league (or whatever its called) but has been less effective as the Champo season has gone on. Doubts if he still has the legs for the full 70 mins, this late in the season. Would need to have a massive last two games and, for Tyrone to win Sam to win it imo.

Sean Cavanagh - Having a great Champo season. If Tyrone go on to win Sam, I think he'd be in pole position to win it. But has the controversy over the rugby tackle on the Monaghan lad damaged his reputation too much? I think that most people feel that Joe Brolly went too far in his personal attack on him, but SC does still have a reputation for cynical fouls and a tendency to hit the ground rather fast. Will that put people off voting for him, even if Tyrone lift Sam and/or he is the standout player in the remainder of the Champo? I don't think that it will, but it will be a controversial win if he does win it.

Kerry.

Colm Cooper - Playing some lovely ball in his new position. Will get lots of votes purely for who he is.

Can't really think of any other Kerry player in the running really. I haven't seen them play often enough. Feel free to add your own if ye do.

Dublin

Bernard Brogan - Long shot. Had a brilliant league campaign. Was on fire for the first several games. Finished top scorer in the league even though he missed 3 games due to injury. Just hasn't been the same player since he came back. Getting a lot of stick for not scoring as much as he used to. But in the qf in particular, he got on to and won a lot of dirty ball, and did a lot of things that win you games, but don't get you the headlines. So for Berno to get it, he would have to have two shoot the lights out games, and for Dublin to win their games thanks largely to him. Like Cooper, he'd probably hoover up a good few votes from lazy voters who stop paying close attention to the champo when their county gets knocked out of it, just for being who he is.

Paul Mannion/Jack McCaffery/Ciaran Kilkenny/Jonny Cooper - Am lumping all The Young Ones in together. They are all having a great Champo, but they are all very young and are unproven at this level. Dublin would have to win Sam & one of them would have to do outrageously good things to win it, as they are all so relatively unknown. Deffo think that one of them will get Young Player of The Year.

Stephen Cluxton - No explanation needed and, as he was our top scorer in the quarter final against Cork, sure why not ! :P

Mayo.

Aidan O'Se - He'd be my front runner so far, especially after that performance against Donegal. Does he have another display like that in him? If he does, I can see him winning it, regardless of who wins Sam, a la BB in 2010. So far, I think that he is the only player with a shot at winning POTY, even if his county doesn't win Sam.

Cillian O'Connor - Two back to back champo hat tricks, not many players can say that they have done that, but they had such an easy road to the quarter finals, that may go against him. He'd have to keep on scoring at that pace to knock AOS off his front runner perch imo.


So there we have it. Who am I missing? Who does every one else think may win it and why? And does how well you play in the league matter? Does it at least get you on peoples radar? If BB & SON didn't have very impressive league campaigns, there is no way they would even be on this list.

Fireball07

Depends who wins the All-Ireland I'd say... with 2 games to go, I'd say it'll be Cavanagh/O'Shea/Kilkenny/Flynn/Cooper based on the winner.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

O' Shea and Cavanagh are the clear front runners imo, and whoever comes out top in that semi-final will win POTY.

Cluxton is Dublin's best shot, but it's extremely hard to justify giving POTY to a keeper, he'd have to have kept a clean sheet throughout while making excellent saves.

O' Neil won't win it, he's been average in the Championship to be honest, and they never take into account league form.

If Flynn or Kilkenny have 2 big games they could be in with a shout, likewise with Cooper, O' Connor and McCaffrey. No one else has a chance.

At the moment, it's O' Shea and Cavanagh well out in front though.

Poor_old_gill

Trophy is nearly completely based on who has a big semi final & final- so it will depend on who wins as previously stated
Usually you can win it on the back of a cracking semi final performance coupled with a good final performance.

Please tell me that you were joking with Brogan.

If you want a prediction- I'll go with Mayo to win the All Ireland & Keith Higgins/Alan Dillon/Aidan O Shea to win POTY with my bet being on Higgins

Stoner

THFC wrote: »

O' Shea and Cavanagh are the clear front runners imo, and whoever comes out top in that semi-final will win POTY.

Cluxton is Dublin's best shot, but it's extremely hard to justify giving POTY to a keeper, he'd have to have kept a clean sheet throughout while making excellent saves.

O' Neil won't win it, he's been average in the Championship to be honest, and they never take into account league form.

If Flynn or Kilkenny have 2 big games they could be in with a shout, likewise with Cooper, O' Connor and McCaffrey. No one else has a chance.

At the moment, it's O' Shea and Cavanagh well out in front though.

I'd agree here, as it stands i could see O' Shea getting it not Cavanagh, just in reaction to his recent press.

Cant see anyone from Kerry winning it. For Dublin , no way for Brogan, possibly Kilkenny if he plays a stormer in the game / games but its a longish shot.

I can see the young player going to Dublin, simply because it might be close and they have 2 or 3 possibilities, with O'Shea taking the main prize.

68Murph68

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Trophy is nearly completely based on who has a big semi final & final- so it will depend on who wins as previously stated
Usually you can win it on the back of a cracking semi final performance coupled with a good final performance.

Performances in the league count for zero.

Basically the POTY is based on performances in August and September.

It's very rare that the POTY goes to a player whose team doesn't win the final.

Cavanagh and Brogan have already won it so if it any of them are in contention then I would expect that to count against them.

I cant see Aidan O'Se having a performance to match his performance last time out, mainly because it was so dominant a performance but if he has 2 decent performance I can see him picking it up. The thing is I can see Mayo winning the All-Ireland if O'Se only has 2 decent performances. It's hard to see another Mayo player emerge to overtake him unless they have 2 outstanding performances in the next 2 games. O'Connor's double hat-trick gets discounted because it was against London and a car-crash Donegal, but might help if he scores highly in the next 2 games from play.

Cluxton is the key member of the Dublin team but I find it hard to see both Kerry and either of Mayo or Tyrone not putting his kickouts under proper pressure as opposed to Cork's utter failure to have a tactic to counter this. If put under pressure I could see this strength becoming a weakness. The fact that Meath were able to put Dublin's kickout strategy under pressure says its not that difficult a proposition. Dublin's forwards have been putting up decent scores on the back of having an serious above average amount of chances. If they fail to maintain the same advantage in terms of chances created, their below average conversion rate is going to cause them problems.

Cavanagh's good form started 2 games too early imo. I can't see him maintaining his form through the next 2 games. If O'Neill turns it on (which he is capable of) and Tyrone win I wouldnt be shocked to see him picking it up.

If Kerry do win the All-Ireland its almost impossible not to imagine Cooper winning it, given his role in the team.

Basically what has happened to date counts for very little. It's pretty much all about the next 2 games - really cant see a player from a side that loses the next day winning it.