We Need an All-Star thread

[thewobbler]

Is it just me who thinks it's not the highest quality of All Star nominees this year? It wasn't the best championship, but these nominees kind of highlight the lack of individual prowess around this summer. I can't think of anyone bar Lacey, Cluxton and Cooper who are genuine All Stars for consistently high performance and/or turning in a huge display in a huge game.

If Bryan Sheehan is in the top 20 midfielders in the country then my name is MikeySheehy2. He had a good year, but not that good.

[ross4life]

5 Mayo,Kildare players? they should have gave them three each & spread the other nominations out.

Anyways i'll be surprised if Kerry get more than 3 All-stars this year (D O'Sullivan,Sheehan,Cooper) Dublin i think will get 6/7, 2/3 for Donegal & one each for Kildare,Wexford & Mayo.

[Sam2011]

Thought Keith Higgins should have got a nomination in the full back line. I think the reason he didn't was because of his behaviour in the Galway and Kerry game.
Don't think Alan Dillon was great this year. I think Kevin Mcloughlin should have been nominated instead.

[Canalman]

Reckon we (Dublin) will get 4/5. Dubs who imo (very biased) should get one

Cluxton
O'Carroll (v unlucky in 2010)
Nolan
McAuley (v unlucky in 2010)
Flynn
Brogans x2.

Hurlers should get 3 .......... Maguire, Rushe and hopefully Kelly (although I think his mistake in AISF will cost him). Paul Ryan maybe.

Donncha O'Connor should be on it also.

[Zulu]

How is Cullen not nominated while Dillion and Kelly are?

[heffo]

How is Cullen not nominated while Dillion and Kelly are?

He has been excellent all year - how he has been excluded (leaving aside players from other counties) I don't know.

[sans pessimism]

How is Cullen not nominated while Dillion and Kelly are?

He has been excellent all year - how he has been excluded (leaving aside players from other counties) I don't know.

is 12 not enough

[sans pessimism]

Is it just me who thinks it's not the highest quality of All Star nominees this year? It wasn't the best championship, but these nominees kind of highlight the lack of individual prowess around this summer. I can't think of anyone bar Lacey, Cluxton and Cooper who are genuine All Stars for consistently high performance and/or turning in a huge display in a huge game.

If Bryan Sheehan is in the top 20 midfielders in the country then my name is MikeySheehy2. He had a good year, but not that good.

Its just you

[heffo]

How is Cullen not nominated while Dillion and Kelly are?

He has been excellent all year - how he has been excluded (leaving aside players from other counties) I don't know.

is 12 not enough

If 12 is the max number of nominations Dublin are getting then he should be one of the 12.

[sans pessimism]

How is Cullen not nominated while Dillion and Kelly are?

He has been excellent all year - how he has been excluded (leaving aside players from other counties) I don't know.

is 12 not enough

If 12 is the max number of nominations Dublin are getting then he should be one of the 12.

I see your point Heffo,but you know yourself if you asked 50 people for AS noms you'd a very varied list

[moysider]

How did Dillon get nominated?

One of Mayo's most talented footballers but I thought he had a very average year. I would have Kevin McLoughlin in ahead of him from Mayo alone.

I wouldn t worry about it. It s a mess.

[moysider]

5 Mayo,Kildare players? they should have gave them three each & spread the other nominations out.

Anyways i'll be surprised if Kerry get more than 3 All-stars this year (D O'Sullivan,Sheehan,Cooper) Dublin i think will get 6/7, 2/3 for Donegal & one each for Kildare,Wexford & Mayo.

Why lump Mayo and Kildare together? Mayo deserved at least 5 but I don t believe the right ones got nominated. Saying that, the All Stars doesn t have much appeal for me.

Donegal get 7. Fair enough. I ve no problem with Donegal, unlike a lot of others. So why was so many people moaning about them? The way they play is ridiculed yet the players that execute it are lauded? The fourth estate need to make up their minds.

I suspect that this years AI semi between Mayo and Kerry will be the last of an 'open' type of championship match we will see when the games hit Summer. If Mayo had left their sweeper intact and had another couple years on the road they could have kept the losing margin to 5-6 points. Which should have been the margin in the final really when you think about it.

[Orangemac]

Is it just me who thinks it's not the highest quality of All Star nominees this year? It wasn't the best championship, but these nominees kind of highlight the lack of individual prowess around this summer. I can't think of anyone bar Lacey, Cluxton and Cooper who are genuine All Stars for consistently high performance and/or turning in a huge display in a huge game.

If Bryan Sheehan is in the top 20 midfielders in the country then my name is MikeySheehy2. He had a good year, but not that good.

Midfield selections look particularly poor this year including 2 forwards and a defender who were shipped into midfield. Days of high fielding of kick outs seem to be over.

On the subject of Michael Murphy when you see the performance he gave last weekend for Glenswilly surely Jim McGuinness can find someone to do the spadework out the field easier than he can find another forward of Murphy's quality.

[moysider]

Is it just me who thinks it's not the highest quality of All Star nominees this year? It wasn't the best championship, but these nominees kind of highlight the lack of individual prowess around this summer. I can't think of anyone bar Lacey, Cluxton and Cooper who are genuine All Stars for consistently high performance and/or turning in a huge display in a huge game.

If Bryan Sheehan is in the top 20 midfielders in the country then my name is MikeySheehy2. He had a good year, but not that good.

Midfield selections look particularly poor this year including 2 forwards and a defender who were shipped into midfield. Days of high fielding of kick outs seem to be over.

On the subject of Michael Murphy when you see the performance he gave last weekend for Glenswilly surely Jim McGuinness can find someone to do the spadework out the field easier than he can find another forward of Murphy's quality.

I doubt it.

Jack O Connor wanted at least 2 Kieran Donaghy s this year. This was a manager spoiled in the past with likes of Darragh, McCarty, Kennelly, Walsh, Griffin and Moynihan, but in spite of Kerry s reputation there are as limited as many when it comes to top quality at the business end of the year. Kerry know quality is best and Brosnan was a great call at 6. The hit that emptied him out with about 8 min to go ( it was a borderline hit imo) probably won Dublin the AI. O Connor made the mistake of putting Donaghy in ff when he was playing to great effect in midfield. He fell between 2 stools. Don t think for a minute that McGuinness would have used Murphy the way he did if he could have afforded to leave him inside. In any county there is a limited no. who can play at the level required when it gets serious.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Bryan Cullen not being nominated is wrong, end of. Alan Dillon contributed nowhere near as much. He's a fine player, Dillon, but he had an indifferent year. If there's a fifth Mayo man to go for, it'd be Higgins for me but, as pointed out, his behaviour in the Kerry and Galway games probably didn't help him.
Nominations can always be full of strange calls and you'd hope that the final selection will be closer to the reality of the season just gone. I would love to know who sits on the All-Star selection committee and do they each make a point of watching every single game of consequence either in the flesh or on TV? I know that might sound aspirational but if Paddy Kelly is being nominated after being cleaned in the All-Ireland quarter-final, is it just because of a good game v Kerry or have the selectors tracked him for every game?
Teams like Kildare and Donegal are being assisted by playing in more games that are high profile and likely to be attended by more judges. I doubt there were too many judges at the Connacht final who could see how well Mayo defended in awful conditions.