The Greats that never were

[J70]

For Donegal, I would give a hesitant vote for Brendan Devenney. He has it all in terms of ability and accuracy, but he has only produced it in patches in recent years on the championship stage. He seemed to lose a bit of speed through injuries over the years, and seems to be very much a confidence player. He has definitely not delivered on the promise of his first half of his career, and probably peaked with his performance in 2001 when he took Brian Lacy to the cleaners in a qualifier down in Newbridge. Similar performances have been few and far between since, particularly in the championship.

Tony Boyle is a legend in Donegal, and delivered time and again when it mattered, so I'm not saying he didn't fulfill his potential, but all of the injuries over the years definitely robbed him of some opportunities.

[Pangurban]

Shorty Treanor of Down, an undoubted star who for some strange reason was unable to shine at Co.level

[stephenite]

A lot of people going for established inter-county players, people that have played for years at the highest level. Whilst they may not have reached their full potential (in the eyes of some) they certainly have had the opportunities to be great, Devenney and Ollie Murphy would fit into this category, but hardly for greats that never were, younger players with huge talent who never had the opportunites to be great, for a variety of reasons, never made it...

Scan is a good shout - saw him a few times for Jarlaths, awesome. James Devenney from my own club was probably one of the better players I've seen and could've been the anchor at full back for Mayo for a long time - he never wanted to play inter-county. Joe Keane from Crossmolina was one who I always thought was good enough for Inter county, but both of these lads have All Ireland Club medals so probably don't fit into the category either

[Goats Do Shave]

Des Mackin for Armagh I'd say. Him and Diarmuid were the key players in the '92 Minor team but he never fulfilled that potential.

The main man on that team was Barry Hughes - Super footballer! Unfortunately he was plaugued by injuries!

In 1999 I was involved in an Armagh County final at minor level against a Pearse Ogs team including Ronan Clarke, Andy Mallon, Paul Duffy, Pauric Duffy (& Ben Dover  ) - There main man was Barry Boylan! - Incredible waste of talent!!

[the Deel Rover]

Just finished reading Keith Duggans book "House of Pain" on Mayo football. Excellent read, although there are some factual inaccuracies on some matches which probably only a paranoid Mayo fan would spot, but annoying nonetheless!

When you see the last 30 years narrowed down to a few hundred pages you sometimes see trends arising. In this instance for me it strikes me that Mayo have had potentially top-class forwards over the past 30 years that never had full careers for one reason or another:

- Ted Webb died in the mid-seventies.
- Padraig Brogan and Ger Geraghty were the men of the mid-80s - one appears to have gone have the rails, the other emigrated to America.
- Kevin McStay suffered serious injury in the early 90s.
- mid 90s John Casey laid down a marker early on but had to retire at the age of 25!
- Ciaran McDonald for all his great days has missed out on many days for one reason or another.









And now you have to wonder is Pierce Hanley the next great hope to have vanished, and will the wait go on.

Now of course like in every county the potential greatness of these players multiplies by their absence.

What about your own counties - who wore the county jersey for far too brief a period?

Don't know about the inclusion of ciaran mc there Barney he has played with the county every year bar maybe 1 or 2 since 1993. He has allways given 100%, despite not winning the Ai a lot of players would like to have had the career he had. He has been a  great servant to both club and county   

[BennyHarp]

I'd say Adrian Kilpatrick from Dungannon! Had all the talent in the world to be the answer to the well documented tyrone midfield problem during the early 90's. Unfortunately didnt have the work ethic to match! Had one great season in 1993, when tyrone lost to down in the ulster final in fact scoring a goal that day i think!!

[orangeman]

Dungannonn Clarkes had loads of players like that - sad really to see such talent not realising its potential.

[magpie seanie]

That isn't the same Johnny Kenny who played for Finn Harps and Sligo Rovers, is it?

The very same.

[Maximus Marillius]

Balboa 

[BennyHarp]

Totally agree Orangeman, The clarkes won the minor championship in 1989, 1993 and 1994, getting to the ulster minor final twice and dominated the underage championships in tyrone in the early nineties yet dont even have a senior championship final appearance to show for it! A huge waste of talent!

[Puckoon]

Barry Eccles - didnt he score a bagful in the mckenna cup one year? Had a whole spread devoted to him in the Ulster Herald.

[Newbridge Exile]

Derry -Declan McNicholl who emigrated in the mid 80's( better than Dermot) and Eunan O'kane who was the most naturally talented of the Derry Minor team of 89
Tyrone- Sean Teague the most complete full back I have seen , cut down before his prime through injury
Fermanagh- Mark ( Tyson) Gallagher outrageously talented (lazy though)

[Feckitt]

Philip Loughran.  In 2003 he looked the real deal.  Had a bad game in 2003 AIF, and has been no good ever since.

[orangeman]

What do you mean no good since ? Philip Loughran hasn't been playing a lot since 03 - hard to write him off ?

[cavanmaniac]

Some other Cavan poster can correct me here but I remember hearing that Dessie Brady from Gowna was an absolutely class forward that played with the All-Ireland U21 team of the eighties that featured Ronan Carolan etc. but terrible injuries meant he never made it at senior intercounty level.

When in college I lived with a lad from Leitrim who was always raving about one of their players called Gene Bohan. He did look a tidy player alright but seemed to collect injuries and drift away from the scene down there.

John Tierney is another Cavan player that probably won't fulfil his potential because of chronic overuse as a teenager and I'd say Ger Pierson will go the same way because of a lousy attitude towards intrcounty football.