Young player of the year

[INDIANA]

Have not seen enough of O' Carroll, but he seemed to get a lesson yesterday from Donaghy. who could and should have scored 2 goals.  No more than the Donegal defenders it is easier to defend when there are 13 men in your own half.  That said, young Cillian has no chance.....the media won't be pushing for a culchie for the title.

Rory O Carroll marked Decllan O Sullivan out of it. You've obviously missed that bit. Donaghy only marked ROC for 20 mins. Then again you'd have to have watched the game to know that.

Jeez INDI touchy,touchy. am I not right that Donaghy won every ball off him??or mabye you were watching the soccer for that 20 mins

He won 2 balls. Neither of which he scored a goal from. He scored a point with an illegal handpass over the bar. And he had a shot blocked. The rest of the game he marked James Mc Carthy. ROC saw off Declan O Sullivan- I suppose he's not a  good player?

[nrico2006]

Still reckon Peter Harte should get it.  Showed leadership beyond his years this year.

[lynchbhoy]

Rory oCarroll def young player of the year.
Great season. Kept his cool on sunday even though being hit and pushed by donaghy- and the same big eejit was mouthing at the young lad seemingly every time the two were on camera.

While Colm Cooper is a great forward, I have to say the fawning over him and talk of his 'genius' really bemuses me.
The example where he scored a good goal on sunday, but in the replay, the commentator or co commentator said that it was 'genius' to take up such a position in front of the goal to get the ball in order to score.
No it wasnt. In underage its called goal hanging.
Excempionally good scorer, but this nonsensical fawning rubbish from the likes of spillane and even Mr Brolly is OTT.
There was no genius on show on Sunday from him, and Crossmaglen showed up a lack of Genius in an AI club final when he was up against even lesser mortals!
....and they say Dublin are all hype !!!

[HiMucker]

Aye that was really annoying.  The goal was all about darren o sullivan.  If it had of been the other way round and cooper made the run and passed it to Darren, they would be ridin cooper saying he handed the goal on a plate to O sullivan.  One of the best forwards I have seen but the the OTT praise for him doing the run of the mill stuff is bonkers.

[AZOffaly]

Aye that was really annoying.  The goal was all about darren o sullivan.  If it had of been the other way round and cooper made the run and passed it to Darren, they would be ridin cooper saying he handed the goal on a plate to O sullivan.  One of the best forwards I have seen but the the OTT praise for him doing the run of the mill stuff is bonkers.

I agree. In my view the most important forward for Kerry is Declan O'Sullivan, and when he isn't going well, as in the final, Kerry are greatly diminished in my view. Cooper is their most natural scorer, no doubt about it, and an excellent player, but sometimes the media seem to feel they have to make the guy a superstar. He's good enough and his talent and achievements speak for themselves, you don't need Canning or Marty exaggerating every thing he does.

[AZOffaly]

That said, he took the goal absolutely superbly, picking his spot and casually stroking it past Cluxton.

He's a brilliant forward, deadly when he gets a chance. They don't have to exaggerate, that's the thing. It actually means when he does something great you sort of shrug your shoulders because they make it sound like everything he does is beyond mere mortals.

[orangeman]

Here's the difference  -  Donaghy had 2 chances of goals  - one he drove straight at the full back and keeper and the other he decided not to even bother and fisted it over the bar -  Cooper's finish was outstanding. It might be a run of the mill finish for him and a few of best forwards in the country but not run of them mill for the vast majority.

[Tony Daily]

another difference between Gooch and the rest is that - in the Semi Final and Final Gooch scored 2-04 from play BB 0-02 from play AB 0-02 from play Darren 0-01 from play Declan 0-01 from play BC 0-01 from play DC 0-00 from play PF 0-00 from play etc... The Gooch is a freak - Dont think he had his best season but in the two most important games of the yr he scored 2-10 in total - Genius

[saffronandblue]

Have not seen enough of O' Carroll, but he seemed to get a lesson yesterday from Donaghy. who could and should have scored 2 goals.  No more than the Donegal defenders it is easier to defend when there are 13 men in your own half.  That said, young Cillian has no chance.....the media won't be pushing for a culchie for the title.

Rory O Carroll marked Decllan O Sullivan out of it. You've obviously missed that bit. Donaghy only marked ROC for 20 mins. Then again you'd have to have watched the game to know that.

Jeez INDI touchy,touchy. am I not right that Donaghy won every ball off him??or mabye you were watching the soccer for that 20 mins

I refer to my quote at half time in the senior game on Sunday when I mention that Declan O' Sullivan was been fouled by his marker at every opportunity.  Just because the ref chose to ignore it does not mean it was great defending.  It's easy to mark someone when you can foul continuously without any frees been given.  Had the frees been given, as they should have been, then the performance of the full back would be more questionable.

[Jinxy]

That said, he took the goal absolutely superbly, picking his spot and casually stroking it past Cluxton.

It was never in doubt really.
His conversion ratio of scores to chances is unreal.

[HiMucker]

That said, he took the goal absolutely superbly, picking his spot and casually stroking it past Cluxton.

It was never in doubt really.
His conversion ratio of scores to chances is unreal.

I remember hearing the stat that one year that Kerry won the all ireland or were beat in the final he had missed only one shot, which was for a point, and it came of the post, he got the rebound and scored a goal from it.  He missed one shot and by doing so his scores per chances ration increased!  The point is he his that good you dont need to hype everything he does.

[sans pessimism]

Have not seen enough of O' Carroll, but he seemed to get a lesson yesterday from Donaghy. who could and should have scored 2 goals.  No more than the Donegal defenders it is easier to defend when there are 13 men in your own half.  That said, young Cillian has no chance.....the media won't be pushing for a culchie for the title.

Rory O Carroll marked Decllan O Sullivan out of it. You've obviously missed that bit. Donaghy only marked ROC for 20 mins. Then again you'd have to have watched the game to know that.

Jeez INDI touchy,touchy. am I not right that Donaghy won every ball off him??or mabye you were watching the soccer for that 20 mins

He won 2 balls. Neither of which he scored a goal from. He scored a point with an illegal handpass over the bar. And he had a shot blocked. The rest of the game he marked James Mc Carthy. ROC saw off Declan O Sullivan- I suppose he's not a  good player?

I agree with you-he's a fine player,,,but he couldn't handle big Don-not the first or last one that will happen to.Keeping with my origanal point,there are 4 or 5 in with a shout of winning so this talk of "definately X" or" Has to be Y" just means that some posters are just a little tunnel visioned.PS-thought young Nolan was superb on Sunday.

[ballinaman]

Rory O'Carroll is hardly going to get an All-Star and not young player of the year. No contest really!

[sans pessimism]

Rory O'Carroll is hardly going to get an All-Star and not young player of the year. No contest really!

Why-Gooch has plenty of all-stars,2002,2004,2005,2007,2010-Had to be young enough at least ONE of these years

[orangeman]

BETTING: 2011 Footballer Of The Year (Paddy Power): 2/5 Alan Brogan 15/8 Darran O'Sullivan 10/1 Bernard Brogan 10/1 Stephen Cluxton 12/1 Colm Cooper 33/1 Rory O'Carroll 50/1 Kevin Nolan 66/1 Karl Lacey 100/1 Declan O'Sullivan 100/1 Bryan Sheehan 100/1 Kevin McManamon