All Stars 2012

[J70]

Durcan over Clarke really grinds my gears. He had pratically only had 1 save to make all summer ffs.

Off the top of my head....

Reflex, close range save v Derry
THAT save against Donnelly
Late diving save against Down

Pretty sure there were more, including against Tyrone..

Throw in almost zero mistakes, excellent kickouts and excellence under high ball..

He's cone a long way, has Durcan.

[Greenabovethered]

Darragh Ó Sé doesnt include Mark McHugh in his team of the year and does include Aidan O'Mahoney!!!


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/1003/1224324774352.html

Dara manages to mention "Kerry" 12 times in the article, enough said.

[JHume]

The real curiousity with the nominees is that 6 Leinster counties have nominees.

I know they play some class of Leinster championship that one team has dominated for ten years and won one All Ireland, but nominations for players from the likes of Meath and Wexford and Longford, while there are none from Limerick or Tipperary or Clare or Galway or Leitrim suggests the Leinster-bias continues unabated.

6 Leinster counties have nominees
3 Ulster
2 Munster
1 Connacht.

[AZOffaly]

Not sure of your point there. Limerick, Tipp or Clare or Leitrim hardly deserved one, and I doubt too many Galway lads are surprised given the year they had. Longford, Wexford and Meath all performed fairly well, and the likes of Paul Barden, Adrian Flynn and others played well in that run. Leinster teams did fairly well in the qualifiers against non-Leinster opponents, and Leinster provided 3 of the 8 quarter finalists, and so I don't think they are over-represented. At the end of the day the awards will be split between the Champions, the runners up, and a few token awards. Like every other year.

[JHume]

Yerra, I'd have thought the Tipperary must have had a few notable individual performances in winning 3 Qualifier matches.

No harm to Longford, but they get 2 nominations and none for the likes of Tipp.

Mustn't be many Tipp journos on the selection committee...

Longford didn't beat teams of the calibre that Tipp did.

But you're right AZ, it will all come down to the semi-finalists.

It's just bizarre to see so many Leinster counties get nominations.

[mackers]

How does Jamie Clarke get nominated in every All Star list going? If he sat out a season I'd still be pretty confident that he'd get his customary nomination...

Weird post. Are you completely ignoring the club championship earlier in the year?  Are you saying that he isn't in the top nine full forwards in the country? Just because Armagh had a sh1t year doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a nomination.

what about Junior C players? Don't they deserve all stars as well?

Don't be a bollox.........

[Mayo4Sam]

I see it being
Donegal 7
Mayo 5
Cork/Dublin 3

And nobody else, I can't see how they could leave out any of the all Ireland finalists this year and leave in anyone who didn't make the semis. Would u have Flynn over any of the Donegal HBs for this year? Or Quigley ahead of Moran/Gallagher? I wouldn't

[J OGorman]

All Star nominations

Goalkeepers: David Clarke (Mayo); Stephen Cluxton (Dublin); Paul Durcan (Donegal).

Full Backs: Eoin Cadogan (Cork); Ger Cafferkey (Mayo); Keith Higgins (Mayo); Donal Keogan (Meath); Eamon McGee (Donegal)Neil McGee (Donegal); Paddy McGrath (Donegal); Rory O’Carroll (Dublin); Michael Shields (Cork)

Half backs: Emmet Bolton (Kildare); Colm Boyle (Mayo); Adrian Flynn (Wexford); Lee Keegan (Mayo); Karl Lacey (Donegal) Frank McGlynn (Donegal); Kevin Nolan (Dublin); Michael Quinn (Longford); Anthony Thompson (Donegal)

Midfielders: Neil Gallagher (Donegal); Rory Kavanagh (Donegal); Barry Moran (Mayo) Aidan O’Shea (Mayo); Brendan Quigley (Laois); Aidan Walsh (Cork)

Half Forwards: Paul Barden (Longford); Alan Dillon (Mayo); Paul Flynn (Dub); Paul Kerrigan (Cork) Michael Darragh Macauley (Dublin) Mark McHugh (Donegal); Kevin McLoughlin (Mayo); Graham Reilly (Meath); Ciarán Sheehan (Cork)

Full forwards: Bernard Brogan (Dublin); Jamie Clarke (Armagh); Colm Cooper (Kerry) Conor Laverty (Down); Colm McFadden (Donegal); Andy Moran (Mayo) Michael Murphy (Donegal); Donncha O’Connor (Cork); Colm O’Neill (Cork)

not a Derry man in sight.

Why is Mark McHugh continuously listed in nominations and awards as a half-forward? think only the Sunday Game team of the year had him as a defender. Fine player

makings a quare compromised rules team ;-)

[nrico2006]

I see it being
Donegal 7
Mayo 5
Cork/Dublin 3

And nobody else, I can't see how they could leave out any of the all Ireland finalists this year and leave in anyone who didn't make the semis. Would u have Flynn over any of the Donegal HBs for this year? Or Quigley ahead of Moran/Gallagher? I wouldn't

Never watched Quigley thus year, but say he played in 3 matches and had 3 stormers.  That should be enough for an All Star by definition of the award name.  Paul Barden seemed to be the best player on the pitch in any game he played this year, but should he not get an All Star simply due to the fact that someone else played more games than him yet maybe didn't shine as brightly as he did?  The awards should be simply picked on who was the best player in each position.   How many games did Eoin Cadogan play this year?  Only watched him maybe a few times and for me he was as good a defender as there was about.  Surprised Joe McMahon didn't get a nomination either.

[theticklemister]

Usually dara o se talks a bit of sense in his column.........but leaving Mark McHugh out of his team!! And of course replacing him with a Kerry man??  Mark McHugh would nw in my top 3 players of the year but big Dara wouldn't have him in top fifteen, I mean I maybe away out of order but.............. Dara you are a tube!! There I said.

[ross4life]

I think it will be.... (BTW why is Frank McGlynn nominated as a half back and why is Bernard Brogan nominated at all?)


Paul Durcan,

Keith Higgins,
Neil McGee
Eamon McGee

Adrian Flynn
Karl Lacey
Frank McGlynn

Rory Kavanagh
Barry Moran

Mark McHugh
Kevin McLoughlin
Alan Dillon

Colm McFadden
Michael Murphy
Andy Moran

Would agree with those selections apart from the two Moran's. Colm O'Neill,Cooper, Donncha O'Connor had a better year than Andy Moran actually Cillian O'Connor should have been nominated instead of him & while Barry Moran deserves one i think they will give it to Walsh instead.

[Halfquarter]

Usually dara o se talks a bit of sense in his column.........but leaving Mark McHugh out of his team!! And of course replacing him with a Kerry man??  Mark McHugh would nw in my top 3 players of the year but big Dara wouldn't have him in top fifteen, I mean I maybe away out of order but.............. Dara you are a tube!! There I said.

Well,the man is entitled to his opinion !

[LeppinMick]

Largely agree with the selections but find the inclusion of Michael Quinn ahead of his clubmate Sean McCormack a bit hard to understand. McCormack kicked 0-33 in 5 games and won man of the match on 3 occasions. Quinn came back from Aus with an enhanced reputation but took a long time to establish himself into anyone position on the Longford team. Just seems a little odd.

The inclusion of Brogan beggars belief, prob a cut and paste job from last year and forgot to delete him.......

[Onlooker]

Yerra, I'd have thought the Tipperary must have had a few notable individual performances in winning 3 Qualifier matches.

No harm to Longford, but they get 2 nominations and none for the likes of Tipp.

Mustn't be many Tipp journos on the selection committee...

Longford didn't beat teams of the calibre that Tipp did.

But you're right AZ, it will all come down to the semi-finalists.

It's just bizarre to see so many Leinster counties get nominations.

I know we all watch football through our own county coloured glasses, but from a Tipp point of view, I reckon that Ciaran McDonald was worth a nomination in the full back line.  We did beat 2 Leinster counties, including Wexford, in the qualifiers, but in all likelihood most of the selectors for the All Star nominations probably never heard of him.  On the other side of the coin 6 Tipperary hurlers were nominated and very few Tipp people would reckon that we deserved any where near that number.  The hurling selectors must have missed the All Ireland semi final against Kilkenny, Tipp's heaviest defeat since the 1890's.

[moysider]

Not sure of your point there. Limerick, Tipp or Clare or Leitrim hardly deserved one, and I doubt too many Galway lads are surprised given the year they had. Longford, Wexford and Meath all performed fairly well, and the likes of Paul Barden, Adrian Flynn and others played well in that run. Leinster teams did fairly well in the qualifiers against non-Leinster opponents, and Leinster provided 3 of the 8 quarter finalists, and so I don't think they are over-represented. At the end of the day the awards will be split between the Champions, the runners up, and a few token awards. Like every other year.

I saw Leitrim play once and Emlyn Mulligan was outstanding on a besten team. A class act.