All Stars of the Sunday Game era.

[BennyCake]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

[Angelo]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

[screenexile]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

[Angelo]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

Is it?

I think his performances last year were probably the best we seen from him, he was an absolute inspiration in the Super 8s game with Kerry. 2 of his 3 all stars have been in the HF line and he's played the vast amount of his intercounty career there.

[From the Bunker]

Not a mention of Larry Tompkins?

I've always thought Tompkins was underrated, the best player in the country from 1987-1990 although I was only a kid. You only have to listen to what the Meath players say about him and how most of their pre-match talks were about stopping Tompkins; His free taking was outrageous too, the free against Mayo from the Hogan stand side is about as good as you'd ever see as was his free against Meath which should have won the 1988 All Ireland. Looking at that list of the genuine centre half forwards I'd pick Tompkins over Blaney, Fallon, McDonald, McGuigan & Giles.

He kicked the equalising point from a free with the last kick of the game in the AI semi final against Galway in 87 too. Although it was never a free in the first place I might add.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5zmjJXkykg

Yes, very soft free.

[lenny]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

I didn't realise blaney was on the list. He was an unbelievable player, definitely the best all round chf in the last 35 years or so. He was so strong and such a good footballer, it's a travesty if he isn't in the team.

[Maroon Manc]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

Brian McGuigan?

[BennyCake]

Always felt McGuigan was hugely overrated. He doesn't compare to Blaney.

[Maroon Manc]

Always felt McGuigan was hugely overrated. He doesn't compare to Blaney.

I don't think he has any business being mentioned in the same category as Giles, Tompkins, Fallon or McDonald either.

[tbrick18]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

I didn't realise blaney was on the list. He was an unbelievable player, definitely the best all round chf in the last 35 years or so. He was so strong and such a good footballer, it's a travesty if he isn't in the team.

Blaney was the best CHF I have ever seen. He had it all, vision, ability to win dirty ball, he could tackle and he could score. He even pulled his sock up.
Where did Maurice Fitz play? If he was a half forward, he'd be hard to go past.
M Donnellan....when on form was unstoppable, but had quite a few off days.
For me Brian McGuigan was overratted too, good footballer not doubt, but wasn't all that.
Brian Dooher (as much as I didnt like him) would have to get a WHF slot. The single biggest reason Tyrone won as much as they did IMO.
Trevor Giles was some baller too.

I've only just come upon this thread and havent seen all the results up until now. I'm biased too, but Kieran McKeever, Tony Scullion and Sean Marty Lockhart are as good a full back line as I've ever seen.
MF, Anthony Tohill was the best I've ever seen...even compared to more modern day footballers.
The second Midfielder for me would be John McDermott/MD McAuley. Both under-ratted IMO. Both very influential, hard running players who would dig a team out of a hole just when needed.

[Angelo]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

I didn't realise blaney was on the list. He was an unbelievable player, definitely the best all round chf in the last 35 years or so. He was so strong and such a good footballer, it's a travesty if he isn't in the team.

Blaney was the best CHF I have ever seen. He had it all, vision, ability to win dirty ball, he could tackle and he could score. He even pulled his sock up.
Where did Maurice Fitz play? If he was a half forward, he'd be hard to go past.
M Donnellan....when on form was unstoppable, but had quite a few off days.
For me Brian McGuigan was overratted too, good footballer not doubt, but wasn't all that.
Brian Dooher (as much as I didnt like him) would have to get a WHF slot. The single biggest reason Tyrone won as much as they did IMO.
Trevor Giles was some baller too.

I've only just come upon this thread and havent seen all the results up until now. I'm biased too, but Kieran McKeever, Tony Scullion and Sean Marty Lockhart are as good a full back line as I've ever seen.
MF, Anthony Tohill was the best I've ever seen...even compared to more modern day footballers.
The second Midfielder for me would be John McDermott/MD McAuley. Both under-ratted IMO. Both very influential, hard running players who would dig a team out of a hole just when needed.

MacAuley?

[screenexile]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

Is it?

I think his performances last year were probably the best we seen from him, he was an absolute inspiration in the Super 8s game with Kerry. 2 of his 3 all stars have been in the HF line and he's played the vast amount of his intercounty career there.

Don't get me wrong I think Murphy is the best footballer in the Country for the last 10 years and he can play anywhere and be fantastic but Donegal needed him out the field which is why he played there. Had he been around in the 90s/early noughties he would have been unstoppable at FF as he always is when isolated one on one.

Ironically a player who suffered from the introduction of the blanket defence!

[tyrone86]

Always felt McGuigan was hugely overrated. He doesn't compare to Blaney.

I don't think he has any business being mentioned in the same category as Giles, Tompkins, Fallon or McDonald either.

I disagree entirely lads, he wasn't rated highly enough. He was the key that unlocked that Tyrone forward line, in particular for Mulligan and O'Neill. He may not be as flashy as the players above but what he did was completely effortless and his footballing brain and ability to pick a pass were on a different level. The only criticism you could potentially throw his way that he didn't contribute heavily enough on the scoreboard but he certainly chipped in with his fair share in all the big games. To come back at the top level and win an All Ireland after the eye injury he received in club football in 2007 which affected his vision, which was a large part of his game, certainly means he should be in the conversation.

[Angelo]

Blaney! Forgot about him.

Donnellan out, Blaney in.

Canavan a corner forward yes, but sure positions mean feck all now when it comes to awards or all stars.

In terms of pure talent or ability, Donnellan must be first name included. As was said though, a career curtailed by injury.

In terms of a complete centre forward, nobody matches Blaney.

Winning dirty ball, brave, hard, no nosense, played with the head up, delivering quick accurate kick passes into the dangerous forwards. Could take a score too. He was a master of the CHF position.

Michael Murphy does all that.

Murphy's best position is FF... Blaney the best CHF I've seen closely followed by McGuigan who was a real flair player and creator at CHF but Blaneys ball winning and all round play would set him higher for me!

Is it?

I think his performances last year were probably the best we seen from him, he was an absolute inspiration in the Super 8s game with Kerry. 2 of his 3 all stars have been in the HF line and he's played the vast amount of his intercounty career there.

Don't get me wrong I think Murphy is the best footballer in the Country for the last 10 years and he can play anywhere and be fantastic but Donegal needed him out the field which is why he played there. Had he been around in the 90s/early noughties he would have been unstoppable at FF as he always is when isolated one on one.

Ironically a player who suffered from the introduction of the blanket defence!

Donegal needed him out the field because that's where he can influence the game most.

He's been playing out the field effectively since 2013 and the reason for that was it was where he could influence the game. They badly missed his presence inside you could say as McFadden was in decline and McBrearty was still inconsistent (he started the 2014 SF and final off the bench). I think Murphy is the perfect no 11, he's got absolutely everything in his game and is a born leader.

The point had he been around in 90s is a fair one but that's also hypothetical and I think he's played most of his best football for Donegal out the field and for me last year was the best year he has played in a Donegal shirt. If Donegal had made it to a final or even a SF I think he was nailed on for FOTY. In the modern game, Murphy is able to influence the game a lot more out in the middle of the field.

[Estimator]

Half forward line has already been selected:
Canavan, Spillane, Connolly.

You can vote for the FF line now, but it appears that Gooch and Murphy are leading the way in the votes.