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Kilkenny shouldn't have been anywhere near the award.

Dubs on Facebook giving out about Keegan getting POTY and the Anti Dubs media bias....but I thought I heard Ger Canning say that the winner is picked by his peers...then again it is Canning so its probably shite.

It is picked by their peers, but the type of Dublin fan that seems to frequent Twitter and Facebook comments section seems to be predominantly people who know nothing about football, probably only started paying attention to the Dublin footballers in 2011 and has barely watched a full match all year. They're all mouthing off without knowing a single thing about the process.

Keegan deserved the award and anyone who was paying attention this year knows that.

I think they went for Boyle as he was the populist's choice since he was a name. However Durcan deserved it in front of Boyle and I'd have had O'sullivan ahead of Boyle also for that matter. Similar with McHugh (although he had a strong case for one), his family name done him no harm and Donnelly edged out Brennan/Acheson unfairly imo because of his name also. As with all subjective awards, there is political manoeuvring in these selections but I wouldn't take them too seriously. Look what happened McMahon last year when he should have lifted POTY but they give it to McCaffrey instead because of media image.

As for POTY I imagine Keegan will get it and deservedly so imo. However as with mcMahon last year, it wouldn't overly surprise me if it goes to the more clean cut image of Fenton.

Ryan McHugh was a cert for me, he was immense in pretty much every game he played this year and you like who Donegal played in Championship football this year - Fermanagh, Monaghan x2, Tyrone and Dublin. I think he should have his third all star in a row if things weren't as political as they are.

Donnelly is quite fortunate, he had guys like Acheson and Brennan up against him here from two lesser counties and Brennan in particular was superb this year.

McHugh was fantastic this year. I was at their match v Cork at Croker and he was the best player on the park by a country mile...unbeleivable. He also deserved 1 two years ago

Connelly is the best footballer in the country. Keegan stopped him illegally over 2 games this year...not a case of him not doing it in a big game...calling a spade a spade it was illegal and anti football.

Not sure about M Donnelly winning one at all

Dont agree with Fenton  at all for POTY

Can we please stop perpetuating the myth that Diarmuid Connolly is some shrinking violet who doesn't like a physical battle and isn't regularly giving as good as he gets and more?

Boyle plays on the edge, as many great players do. He often sets the tone of a match and is a great leader for Mayo. He was the one who stood up and drove them on in the qualifiers. So what if he's a bit fiery? Some of the very best players are. If we're going to start leaving players out based on temperment and discipline, then we might as well leave out Philly McMahon and Diarmuid Connolly while we're at it.

If we've time-warped back to 2014, then yes, O'Donoghue deserves to be in ahead of Connolly.

I don't think it's as close a call between Keegan and Fenton as some people are saying. Keegan is the best player in the country, hands down. He deserves the award and it's not even close.

Kilkenny shouldn't even be in contention.

I certainly don't want to pile in on Robbie Hennelly, but he had a very poor day and he needs to take some of the criticism on the chin, as well as Rochford. It's not fair to simply say that it's all on Rochford for picking him, as some have been suggesting. Hennelly made himself available for selection this year and presumably he wanted to play. It's up to him to justify being picked on the day and he didn't. I'm not going to police the guy's personal social media account, but surely there's something to be said for dealing with these things away from the glare of the media? I know he wanted to have his say, but he didn't have to justify himself to the world. He had a bad day. It happens to a lot of players. Just take your medicine and move on.

That said, I don't think there's any need to keep putting the boot in and going over the issue again and again. Brolly's agenda regarding the GPA in his criticism of Robbie Hennelly is obvious and I don't really have a whole lot of time for his opinions generally. Too frequently he claims to be an authority on every ill within the game, and acts as though he knows exactly what's "wrong" with certain teams, or bemoans the creeping professionalism of the game, while also w**king over Dublin at every available opportunity. And he seems utterly incapable of leaving personal criticisms out of it and actually seems to enjoy going after individuals and launching crusades against certain people in the media. Takes a particularly nasty type of person to do that.

Kilkenny doesn't deserve player of the year unless you're going to dole them out now for lateral hand passing and over-carrying.

Keegan is the player of the year but he's too controversial. They bottled it with McMahon last year too because of the controversy around him. They won't give it to a non Dub anyway. Fenton will get it.

Keegan isn't a bit controversial. Takes on the tough assignments and takes it and leaves it behind after. Just shrugged his shoulders the last day after being wrongly carded. Got some of the best scores of the year while mostly playing in a deep defensive role. Not his problem if his excellence was singled out by a craven biased media as something to target. I'm sure though he doesn't give a f**k about these awards either.

I don't know why you're getting so defensive. I really like Keegan. I think he's the best player in the country and the player of the year this year. He'd walk onto any team in the country and I don't think there's anything wrong or illegal about how he plays the game. My point was simply that he has become a controversial figure this year, rightly or wrongly, and they won't give the player of the year to somebody like that. The same way they wouldn't give it to McMahon last year. The likes of Brian Fenton are downright vanilla compared to the Keegans of the world and they're always going to be the safer bet for these awards where people won't want to rock the boat too much with their choices. Can you imagine the shite the Dubs would kick up if they gave the player of the year to Keegan?

Keegan is the player of the year but he's too controversial. They bottled it with McMahon last year too because of the controversy around him. They won't give it to a non Dub anyway. Fenton will get it.

Enjoyed the Mayo/Dublin saga the last couple of weeks! Dublin's dominance continues. They will not be touched in Leinster for a long time. The League is just a hobby and the AI's a just rolling in. Mayo and my own Kerry are in decline. Kerry are nearly dead and Mayo are just dyeing slowly and for their fans it will be a slow agonising death. Croke Park is Dublins fortress now! The practice games in Croker during the league bring them on leaps and bounds come the Summer. They have really got their act together at every level. They even have a strong media presence and the campaign on Keegan was well planned and orchestrated. It worked a treat. Mayo had little or no media presence to counter act it. Deegan fell for it hook line and sinker.  Brolly stung Mayo in the lead up to 2012 (with cynical) and our Mafia got into place in 2014 (with Streetwise). (So Called) Good/Great teams get leeway compared to their opponents. Media controls everything now, Venues, Player profiles and even the rules of the game. The Referee and linemen pulled out of big decisions on Saturday evening. There was a few token calls, but that is all they were. They feared making the real big decisions as they might end up scrutinised by a righteous media.

I'd find the Mayo losing another AI stuff hilarious except they are the closest at present to this GAA Headquarters created team. And when you have Mayo as the main threat to dominance, you are in trouble.

In conclusion, we have a well organised Dublin team with loads of money, set up with jobs, playing all their important games at home, with huge investment in their structures and no end to it all.

Then again there are the Kerry Minors of the last 3 years!

That's definitely one of the biggest piles of bollocks I've read in a while.

Clarke should have been kept purely for the fact that he would have built a relationship with his fullback line over the course of big games in the summer. They looked a lot more confident with him behind him. Messing with that dynamic was a huge mistake.

Not sure if all that introspection is needed in Mayo.

Despite allegedly having no forwards and coming up against the often touted greatest forward line of all time, Dublin won by a solitary point, which was mostly courtesy of Mayo's keeper gifting them penalty.

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Exactly. All you read in the media today is how Dublin got everything right and what Mayo done wrong. Proof that the script is dictated by the victors. Mayo were agonisingly close to winning the title but unfortunately they came up against a side that just had a little bit more quality.

Not to mention a Referee who got some major calls wrong which coincidentally all seemed to favour Dublin.

I have some sympathy with the referee as Gaelic football has become almost an impossible sport to referee properly but I did feel as though Dublin benefitted from the major decisions. Most notably failure to show Small a red card and also the decision to award a penalty when Hennelly clearly played the ball. He was so embarrassed by his mistake that he didn't even put up an argument but I felt that he won the ball first. The Small decision was more clear cut though and that was the lines mans fault

I actually agree re the peno. The keeper did play the ball and Paddy Andrews dived. Watch it...Andrews thinks about it and then dives. The awful mistake beforehand took concentration away from what happened immediately after

Connelly clearly dived for the keegan black. Tomas or spillane said it was a clear pull to the ground while the cctv was showing it clearly wasnt....that sorta shit would be laughed out of court. Does no one call these pundits to account?! Connelly dived to get a free and/or a black...simple.

No matter what though, EVEN IF MAYO KEPT ALL THEIR players and even if no penalty was given, you just couldnt see them kicking on and winning....so frustrating because their ddefending and intensity was a joy to watch....they are just missing a go to scoring forward...even if they had Costello, a forward with a bit of pace and scoring threat they wouldve won...even one from b brogan, p andrews, mannion, costello, connelly or rock wouldve been enogh to get them over the line

Decision to bring Andy Moran off was mind boggling. Best ball winner and best baller. To be replaced by a tall gangly player they barely kicked the ball into was madness. He won one dubious free but was slower than slow out to the next ball..that wont win you an all ireland

Would like to see Andy Moran stay next year. Mayos best forward to watch.
Big o se again floundered on tthe biggest stage..winning of ball and pass to keegan was perfect but mayo needed scores, not wides from him down the home stretch. Clutch player he is not

1- it was clearly a penalty. Saying a Dublin player dived only draws me to conclude that you are under the influence

2- Keegan prevented Connolly sticking the ball in the back of the net - that's a black card

3- Andy moran was taken off because Mick Fitz obliterated him.

4- Mayo lost any chance of winning  the game because they changed the keeper . that's the unfortunate reality. And the bottom line. That is the Mayo's management's fault. ironic considering the Mayo players threw the last management team under the bus. Karma is an unusual thing.

Karma? Not sure why some people are using this as an opportunity to  gloat or force the Mayo players to eat humble pie over the management issue. The call they made last year has left them open to a lot of criticism and I'm sure they knew that when they took the decision to vote against the management. They made that decision anyway, knowing they'd be criticised, and that takes courage. They lost this final by a solitary point after 160 minutes against the best team of the last few years. While I'm sure it's no consolation for them, there's no shame in how they did in both finals this year and few things here or there and they might have won. They're a good team and seem very determined. Rochford got the goalkeeper call wrong and it probably did cost them, but he got a lot of other calls very right throughout the year. He's a good manager and a young man too, so plenty of time to improve from this. There's no reason why they can't build and learn from this.

I wouldn't like to pile in on the lad, but the decision to play Hennelly was a huge call that backfired spectacularly. Rochford should have shown loyalty to the keeper who had been having a great season and had been instrumental in Mayo's success this year. A very, very bad judgement call that probably cost Mayo the match. Harsh on Clarke and harsh on Hennelly both. He threw Hennelly into the pressure cooker and the lad looked a nervous wreck from the get-go. Hard not to feel for the players honestly. They gave it everything but ultimately management over thought things and didn't show enough faith in the players who had gotten them this far.

Irish independent reporting that O'Connor is injured and won't start. Vey bad news for Mayo if true. They won't win without him.