High profile county seniors who never played minor

[5 Sams]

Bomber Liston, Tom Sullivan, Aidan Mahoney and Paul Murphy. The last three from the same club.

And all 4 were winners of an All-Ireland final Man Of The Match to boot. Bomber 78, O'Mahony 06, O'Sullivan 09, Murphy 14.

It's decent trivia but O'Mahony DID play minor in 1998. Had a few injuries I think and didn't start the semi final v Laois but did come on in that game.

Tom O'Sullivan never even made a minor panel though which looks amazing now given he won 5 All Irelands, Allstars, AI final MOM etc..

Been mentioned already but Outliers has some interesting discussion on this topic.

Tom Sullivan and Mike Mac two of the most underrated and most decorated players ever to play the game...never mind for Kerry. BTW Aidan Mahoney after last Saturday and last years AIF proving to be one of the toughest lads ever to tog out in the green and gold.

[Gold]

I don't think Karl O'Connell played minor for Monaghan. What about Ross Munnelly, he didn't play minor for Laois?

The thing about Karl O'Connell is that he never played football at all until he was about 18. He was involved in athletics in his youth. Then at about 18, he was persuaded to tog out for Tyholland, a small club – they'd struggle for numbers. And here he is now scoring a point and getting nominated for man of the match in an Ulster Final.

Yeah O'Connell is a great example of a late developer. It's hard to imagine someone who picked up the game so late having such an impact on the championship that he is, I'd say he's made a contribution towards at least 6-7 points in Ulster between what he's scored and set up. He's always been athletic and had pace to burn, but I think his technical ability has really improved over the last year or so, he's obviously been working hard at it which is great to see.

He's leathal. Scored a great goal in first minute St clones the other year. Flying machine! Goal was against us (Antrim) BTW

Always looked out for him since

[rrhf]

Aidan mccrory Tyrone corner back at the minute couldn't make the errigal U21 team that's how late he devoloped

And the clonoe half back line..

[rrhf]

Socrates.

Came on for Leitrim minors v UCD in 1972.

Was socrates not a Roscommon man?

[brokencrossbar1]

Socrates.

Came on for Leitrim minors v UCD in 1972.

Was socrates not a Roscommon man?

To know, is to know you know nothing. This is the meaning of true knowledge. Whatever about Socrates I'm sure I heard Jon Evans coming off with something along these lines the other week on Talksport to Woolie!!!

[general_lee]

James Loughrey? Cork via Antrim. I know he took to GAA quite late but maybe someone can correct me whether he played minor level.

[ONeill]

Socrates.

Came on for Leitrim minors v UCD in 1972.

Was socrates not a Roscommon man?

"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of Drumshambo."

[magpie seanie]

Kieran Quinn never played minor for Sligo. Now he plays from major to minor all across the country. 

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

Bomber Liston, Tom Sullivan, Aidan Mahoney and Paul Murphy. The last three from the same club.

And all 4 were winners of an All-Ireland final Man Of The Match to boot. Bomber 78, O'Mahony 06, O'Sullivan 09, Murphy 14.

It's decent trivia but O'Mahony DID play minor in 1998. Had a few injuries I think and didn't start the semi final v Laois but did come on in that game.

Tom O'Sullivan never even made a minor panel though which looks amazing now given he won 5 All Irelands, Allstars, AI final MOM etc..

Been mentioned already but Outliers has some interesting discussion on this topic.

Tom Sullivan and Mike Mac two of the most underrated and most decorated players ever to play the game...never mind for Kerry. BTW Aidan Mahoney after last Saturday and last years AIF proving to be one of the toughest lads ever to tog out in the green and gold.

On Tom and Mike Mac, surely anyone who really knows the game over the last 20 years can't "underrate" either of them? They were both superb defenders with plenty skill. Born in the same year aswell.
On Aidan, yeah he's just a warrior. 35 years of age and still dominating in top level games. Had to laugh at Dessie Dolan suggesting he was out of his depth at half time last Saturday. Dessie seems like a good "call it as I see it" lad, but not sure where he was getting that from. Mahony has been around since 2004 and despite a year or 2 where he struggled for fitness and the diving incident in 2008, he has been a huge player for us. I honestly thought he'd retire after last years final, but it just shows the desire he has to come back for more.

[Canalman]

Never heard anyone say anything but superlatives about Tom Sullivan and Michael McCarthy. Great players and for the life of me I cannot understand how they were "underrated",

If you are looking for "underrated" Kerry players I would go no further than Seamus Scanlon and Tommy Griffin.
Both very effective but imo were always overshadowed by others. Imo of course.

[Syferus]

If Aidan O'Mahony was so dominating Kerry wouldn't need to protect their FB line so much..

[blanketattack]

Never heard anyone say anything but superlatives about Tom Sullivan and Michael McCarthy. Great players and for the life of me I cannot understand how they were "underrated",

If you are looking for "underrated" Kerry players I would go no further than Seamus Scanlon and Tommy Griffin.
Both very effective but imo were always overshadowed by others. Imo of course.

Donncha Walsh must to be near the top of the underrated list also.

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

If Aidan O'Mahony was so dominating Kerry wouldn't need to protect their FB line so much..

Are you just a bad WUM or are you really that clueless?

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

Never heard anyone say anything but superlatives about Tom Sullivan and Michael McCarthy. Great players and for the life of me I cannot understand how they were "underrated",

If you are looking for "underrated" Kerry players I would go no further than Seamus Scanlon and Tommy Griffin.
Both very effective but imo were always overshadowed by others. Imo of course.

Tommy was a very good player and did a great job whenever called on all over the field. Never got an extended run owing to injuries and the quality of others around him. Still, won 4 AI medals on the field of play, 5 total.
Scanlon did a great job for a couple of years there and really got the most out of himself. He didn't have the skills of the others mentioned though and his kicking was fairly awful at times. He got an Allstar in 2009 which was an amazing achievement considering he had been dropped from the Kerry squad around 2005, so can't say he was THAT underrated either!

[Points a Good Score]

James Loughrey? Cork via Antrim. I know he took to GAA quite late but maybe someone can correct me whether he played minor level.

James played both minor and u21 for Antrim unsurprisingly one of the stronger players they had.