Top 10 Forwards since 1977 - Survey Results

[BennyCake]

Connolly rarely even stands out on the Dublin team. Players like Kilkenny, Fenton, MacAuley, McManamon, Flynn, Rock and even Brogan stand out and are more inspirational figures on the field than Connolly is. In most games he is anonymous, except when he's up to his dirty tricks.

[Owen Brannigan]

Connolly rarely even stands out on the Dublin team. Players like Kilkenny, Fenton, MacAuley, McManamon, Flynn, Rock and even Brogan stand out and are more inspirational figures on the field than Connolly is. In most games he is anonymous, except when he's up to his dirty tricks.

His removal on a black card was a major factor in Dublin's decline in the league final against Kerry.  Even when marked by Keegan he has the ability to provide the killer scores.

[Zulu]

Ah stop Benny, you must be winding me up. DMcA, Rock, McManamon, seriously? A guy who can't make the team, a guy who can't kick and a guy who probably wouldn't make the team if he wasn't a very good free taker? Like I said, you're either winding me up or you honestly hold an opinion that very few would share.

[Syferus]

What's your point? Having one of the best footballers in Ireland designated to mark you every time you play is proof positive of the quality of Connolly. I don't imagine Mayo management assign their best player to man mark Connolly because he's overrated.

..except they play opposing positions regardless, and continually loses the duel even on the scoreline - embarrassing for a forward.

I'm glad the Connolly hype train has broken the last 12 months. Lovely skills but not the temperament or big match delivery that justifies him being ranked on these sorts of lists or as the best footballer in Ireland - a title he never won in any of its yearly award forms, it should be noted.

[From the Bunker]

Factors that come to mind that can skew the results of making a list over thirty years.

TV coverage of intercounty games 20+ years ago was sh1te.

TV coverage of club games 10+ years ago was sh1te.

TV Coverage of League Games 10+ years ago was sh1te.

The lack of a back door pre-2001 meant that many many counties had less games. for example Dinny Allen in the 70's and early 80's had few if no games after the Munster final.

No Quarters finals in the Championship pre-2001.

Great players who get a serious injury can help or curtailed their status in the game. Matt Connor regretfully never got the chance to lose form in his late 20's early 30's. Many players are very talented at 24 but lose form later in their career and are remembered for the end of their careers. eg Ronan Clarke

There can often be a gloss in the way we remember players from long ago. Often exaggerated from seeing them with youthful eyes. Memories can play trick with us and exaggerate displays.

Many who vote for such a list are to young to remember or to have just seem them when they were in decline.

Present day footballers will always be naturally high on the Radar.

Provincial, County and Club bias will always come into play.

Weaker counties players never get just recognition.

All Ireland medal snobbery will away come into play.

[Champion The Wonder Horse]

You missed the factor whereby contributors don't read the rules and give an alphabetical list, instead of a top to bottom list, skewing the results in favour of the likes of Blaney, Brogan, Canavan etc to the detriment of those later in the alphabet.

It would be interesting if those submissions (at least seven) were excluded form this survey; would the outcomes change?

[Zulu]

What's your point? Having one of the best footballers in Ireland designated to mark you every time you play is proof positive of the quality of Connolly. I don't imagine Mayo management assign their best player to man mark Connolly because he's overrated.

..except they play opposing positions regardless, and continually loses the duel even on the scoreline - embarrassing for a forward.

I'm glad the Connolly hype train has broken the last 12 months. Lovely skills but not the temperament or big match delivery that justifies him being ranked on these sorts of lists or as the best footballer in Ireland - a title he never won in any of its yearly award forms, it should be noted.

Nonsense. A half back now has loads of bodies back supporting him so it's much easier to mark a forward and then break ahead yourself if your teammates turn it over. Keegan is a great player but half back is the place to be if you want to shine in the modern game.

His temperament is fine, yes a bit more aggressive than ideal but no harm having that edge. He has played brilliantly for Dublin in many big games so to say he doesn't deliver in big games is just silly. How many player of the year awards did Cooper or Canavan win? If other IC managers could pick a player to join their team Connolly would be on all the lists.

[JoG2]

Anyone who doesn't rate Connolly either needs their head examined or just doesn't like him on a personal level. He's an exceptional footballer.

'I'm glad the Connolly hype train has broken...'...seek help!

[Syferus]

What's your point? Having one of the best footballers in Ireland designated to mark you every time you play is proof positive of the quality of Connolly. I don't imagine Mayo management assign their best player to man mark Connolly because he's overrated.

..except they play opposing positions regardless, and continually loses the duel even on the scoreline - embarrassing for a forward.

I'm glad the Connolly hype train has broken the last 12 months. Lovely skills but not the temperament or big match delivery that justifies him being ranked on these sorts of lists or as the best footballer in Ireland - a title he never won in any of its yearly award forms, it should be noted.

Nonsense. A half back now has loads of bodies back supporting him so it's much easier to mark a forward and then break ahead yourself if your teammates turn it over. Keegan is a great player but half back is the place to be if you want to shine in the modern game.

His temperament is fine, yes a bit more aggressive than ideal but no harm having that edge. He has played brilliantly for Dublin in many big games so to say he doesn't deliver in big games is just silly. How many player of the year awards did Cooper or Canavan win? If other IC managers could pick a player to join their team Connolly would be on all the lists.

Canavan won the Texaco PotY in 2003, Gooch the following year.

Trying to tell someone Connolly has a 'fine' temperament two weeks after he got sent off in a national final, itself hot on the heels of coming on in the previous game and getting sent off within 15 minutes, is laughable in the extreme.

[imtommygunn]

Canavan is bound to have won in 95 too.

[Zulu]

What's your point? Having one of the best footballers in Ireland designated to mark you every time you play is proof positive of the quality of Connolly. I don't imagine Mayo management assign their best player to man mark Connolly because he's overrated.

..except they play opposing positions regardless, and continually loses the duel even on the scoreline - embarrassing for a forward.

I'm glad the Connolly hype train has broken the last 12 months. Lovely skills but not the temperament or big match delivery that justifies him being ranked on these sorts of lists or as the best footballer in Ireland - a title he never won in any of its yearly award forms, it should be noted.

Nonsense. A half back now has loads of bodies back supporting him so it's much easier to mark a forward and then break ahead yourself if your teammates turn it over. Keegan is a great player but half back is the place to be if you want to shine in the modern game.

His temperament is fine, yes a bit more aggressive than ideal but no harm having that edge. He has played brilliantly for Dublin in many big games so to say he doesn't deliver in big games is just silly. How many player of the year awards did Cooper or Canavan win? If other IC managers could pick a player to join their team Connolly would be on all the lists.

Canavan won the Texaco PotY in 2003, Gooch the following year.

Trying to tell someone Connolly has a 'fine' temperament two weeks after he got sent off in a national final, itself hot on the heels of coming on in the previous game and getting sent off within 15 minutes, is laughable in the extreme.

Ok so the guy who was voted by GAAboard as the best of the last 40 years won it once and Gooch, regarded by many as the best Kerry forward of all time, won it once. Surely if the POTY award was genuinely reflective of the greatness of a player it would be won more than once by those greats? If Connolly wins it before he finishes does that change things? He has certainly been in the running a few times too.

A black card for a rush of blood to the head was silly but the Monaghan black card was very soft (wrong actually). For a guy who has to deal with a lot of attention he has been remarkably restrained. If Canavan was in the era of the black card he'd have gotten a few. One of the things that made Canavan a great player was that edge that Connolly has.

He might not be everybody's cup of tea but it's daft to question his standing in the game, easily the best player in the country.

[Syferus]

What's your point? Having one of the best footballers in Ireland designated to mark you every time you play is proof positive of the quality of Connolly. I don't imagine Mayo management assign their best player to man mark Connolly because he's overrated.

..except they play opposing positions regardless, and continually loses the duel even on the scoreline - embarrassing for a forward.

I'm glad the Connolly hype train has broken the last 12 months. Lovely skills but not the temperament or big match delivery that justifies him being ranked on these sorts of lists or as the best footballer in Ireland - a title he never won in any of its yearly award forms, it should be noted.

Nonsense. A half back now has loads of bodies back supporting him so it's much easier to mark a forward and then break ahead yourself if your teammates turn it over. Keegan is a great player but half back is the place to be if you want to shine in the modern game.

His temperament is fine, yes a bit more aggressive than ideal but no harm having that edge. He has played brilliantly for Dublin in many big games so to say he doesn't deliver in big games is just silly. How many player of the year awards did Cooper or Canavan win? If other IC managers could pick a player to join their team Connolly would be on all the lists.

Canavan won the Texaco PotY in 2003, Gooch the following year.

Trying to tell someone Connolly has a 'fine' temperament two weeks after he got sent off in a national final, itself hot on the heels of coming on in the previous game and getting sent off within 15 minutes, is laughable in the extreme.

Ok so the guy who was voted by GAAboard as the best of the last 40 years won it once and Gooch, regarded by many as the best Kerry forward of all time, won it once. Surely if the POTY award was genuinely reflective of the greatness of a player it would be won more than once by those greats? If Connolly wins it before he finishes does that change things? He has certainly been in the running a few times too.

A black card for a rush of blood to the head was silly but the Monaghan black card was very soft (wrong actually). For a guy who has to deal with a lot of attention he has been remarkably restrained. If Canavan was in the era of the black card he'd have gotten a few. One of the things that made Canavan a great player was that edge that Connolly has.

He might not be everybody's cup of tea but it's daft to question his standing in the game, easily the best player in the country.

Easily not the best in the country. In a list of the best forwards of all-time I question his standing.

In the game right now he's one of the top forwards, again with obvious temperamental caveats that have followed him throughout his career and are unlikely to change at the age of 29.

There's a Church of Connolly in some GAA circles but his failure to do anything of note against Keegan the last few years when it really mattered as well as his disciplinary issues cropping up again show the folly of christening him the best footballer in the country. The best player in the country was the player he was marking, and I don't say that lightly being from Roscommon.

[Owen Brannigan]

You missed the factor whereby contributors don't read the rules and give an alphabetical list, instead of a top to bottom list, skewing the results in favour of the likes of Blaney, Brogan, Canavan etc to the detriment of those later in the alphabet.

It would be interesting if those submissions (at least seven) were excluded form this survey; would the outcomes change?

Thanks for pointing that out.  It does skew the results when the weighting is applied. However, if the weighting is removed and the individual votes are counted the results are:

1   Peter Canavan   (1)
2   Colm Cooper   (3)
2   Maurice Fitzgerald   (2)
4   Mickey Linden   (6)
5   Matt Connor   (4)
6   Bernard Brogan   (5)
7   Frank McGuigan   (8 )
7   Stephen O'Neill   (18)
7   Mike Sheehy   (9)
10   Pat Spillane   (10)
11   Ciaran McDonald   (12)
12   John Egan   (11)
12   Steven McDonnell   (17)
12   Larry Tompkins   (16)
15   Greg Blaney   (7)
15   Michael Donnellan   (13)
15   Oisin McConville   (14)
18   Diarmuid Connolly   (19)
18   Michael Murphy   (24)
20   Sean Cavanagh   (15)
20   Trevor Giles   (21)
22   Padraig Joyce   (20)

()Results in brackets are those with the weighting

[Zulu]

Simply wrong. Connolly was excellent defensively against Keegan and turned over the ball repeatedly. It's unfortunate that the game has gone that way but Connolly, on top of being an extremely skilful, two footed and accurate forward is a very hard working effective tackler. The more I think about him the more I realise how good he is. The best player in Ireland by a distance. If there is a church of Connolly (whatever that is) then it's well earned.

[Cunny Funt]

The Top ten NFL scorers this year. Interesting not many Div 1 forwards have made the list but in fairness apart from Roscommon the Div 1 forwards were up against well organized defences.

1    John Heslin    3-60    
2    Paul Geaney    3-42    
3    Conor Sweeney  4-38    
4    Donal Kingston  5-34    
5    Dean Rock    0-48    
6    Paul Broderick    3-35    
7    Robbie Smyth    0-39    
8    Seanie Furlong  1-35    
9     Jack McCarron 3-29    
10    Emlyn Mulligan  1-33