All Stars 2012

[IolarCoisCuain]

Just read John Greene in the Sindo and I think he makes a very valid point not only for Paul Barden but for lads that have been great early in the year -the forgotten - every year. It is amazing that the journalists only see the players in the AI semi and final. Is it a case that they only come onboard for these matches and send the junior reporters to all other matches.

We've had that conversation numerous times on here over the years, with some people agreeing with Greene and others claiming that anyone whose team doesn't get to at least the semi finals doesn't deserve it. Their logic being, apparently, that if these players were THAT good, then their teams would have got further, which seems very weak to me given that its a 15 man game. Their response to that is always that such players, more often than not, will not be facing the top players until the latter stages, which of course ignores the fact that the best players will always be facing the top players on the other side as well. Most counties have a few top class players. Its depth that's the issue.

Although Donegal benefited this year (and last, to a lesser extent) from late competition involvement, I've had to defend the inclusion of Lacey in 06 and 09 when Donegal went out at the quarter finals. This is despite the fact that Lacey, in his corner back days, would be marking men like Stephen McDonnell and Paddy Bradley, even in the early rounds of Ulster. Thankfully, from Lacey's point of view, the men who decide the awards recognized this.

Even in those cases, however, we had to go at least to the quarter finals. When's the last time we had a Declan Browne? Has it happened since the qualifiers came in? When did Mattie Forde win and how far did Wexford go that year?

Mattie Forde won his only All-Star in 2004. Wexford lost a Leinster semi to Westmeath that year, and were zapped by Derry in Round 3 of the Qualifiers.

Declan Browne won his All-Star in 2003. If by "a Declan Browne" you mean a man whose county is unsuccessful in the Championship but is a player of such ability as to demand an All-Star, then Declan Browne himself is the last Declan Browne. Before that, I would say you're going back to 1990 and Wicklow's Kevin O'Brien. Otherwise, every other All-Star winner has been on a team that did some sort of business in the Championship. Derry won a scatter in the 1990s when they won the League so regularly - it's interesting to note that this doesn't apply to modern day Cork, the current League specialists.

Barry Owens a possible mention for his 2006 All star. I think Fermanagh only got to fourth Round of the Qualifiers after an exit to Armagh in the Ulster Semi Final.

I thought about that but Fermanagh got to an All-Ireland semi in 2004, drawing the first game before losing the replay, so I think that would have been in the voters' heads. There would have been that sense of reward there, a we-can't-forget-Fermanagh thing. The thing about Browne and O'Brien is that those teams were going no-where. Wicklow couldn't, pre-qualifiers, and the qualifiers came a little too early for Tipperary to take advantage of. Again, maybe.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Aye I think the league meant a lot more back in the 90s. Derry didnt go far in the cship back then either but the ulster championship was the prime cship back then with live coverage on RTE and BBC. The crowds were much bigger and there were no back door so more emphasis were put on the earlier rounds,and Derry played in some big games back then and we had SUPPORTERS back then believe it or not

I think you're onto something there about the live TV. Dublin got three All-Stars in 1991 because of that long series against Meath. And that might be because those games were on telly.

Which is problematic, because the voters are GAA journalists. These fellas are meant to be at games, not watching them on telly, so TV profile shouldn't be that important. But who can ever tell, really, in any of these things?

[thewobbler]

Aye I think the league meant a lot more back in the 90s. Derry didnt go far in the cship back then either but the ulster championship was the prime cship back then with live coverage on RTE and BBC. The crowds were much bigger and there were no back door so more emphasis were put on the earlier rounds,and Derry played in some big games back then and we had SUPPORTERS back then believe it or not

I think you're onto something there about the live TV. Dublin got three All-Stars in 1991 because of that long series against Meath. And that might be because those games were on telly.

Which is problematic, because the voters are GAA journalists. These fellas are meant to be at games, not watching them on telly, so TV profile shouldn't be that important. But who can ever tell, really, in any of these things?

The thing is, it's not possible for any journalist to cover all games. Not even close. Even covering the provincial finals for one journalist is normally impossible with fixture clashes.

And that was before the qualifiers. Paddy Cunningham could score 2.13 in a qualifier in the performance of a lifetime against Clare, but only Eamon O'Hara would be able to vote on that. The rest of them would be voting on what he did against Cavan on TV in the first round of Ulster.

Once you get into the last eight, all games are at Croker and there's no clashes. They're also the only genuine knock-out fixtures of the year, and performances tend to reflect that fact. Journalists are no different to the rest of us in that these games will have the greatest bearing on their end of season reflections.

[blanketattack]

Watched the All Star ceremonies last night, actually gave up on them in 1997 when Kildare got 3 for reaching and losing a Leinster semi final. The presentation was more like a funeral as the players walked past a line of men dressed in black with sombre faces shaking their hands along the lines of "sorry for your troubles" only they were probably saying "well done".

Any system that has tokenism in it is a joke hence giving the Dublin player one. Also giving Dillon from Mayo one when he was hardly spotted in the final as usual and omitting McLoughlin was an absolute joke. My question is this...where was the Kerry man?

You're still banging that drum. 

I agree about Kildare getting 3 in '97 being a joke.
In 1997 Glen Ryan and Trevor Giles marked each other 3 times and did nothing else of note in the c'ship outside of the Meath-Kildare trilogy, yet both got All-Stars. It doesn't make sense to me how 2 players marking each other can both have played brilliantly enough to deserve an All-Star.
Especially when you've Liam O'Flaherty who had played brilliantly throughout the league and c'ship and was overlooked in favour of Ryan.

1991 must be the biggest joke ever with runners-up Meath getting 2 more All-Stars than All-Ireland winners Down.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Watched the All Star ceremonies last night, actually gave up on them in 1997 when Kildare got 3 for reaching and losing a Leinster semi final. The presentation was more like a funeral as the players walked past a line of men dressed in black with sombre faces shaking their hands along the lines of "sorry for your troubles" only they were probably saying "well done".

Any system that has tokenism in it is a joke hence giving the Dublin player one. Also giving Dillon from Mayo one when he was hardly spotted in the final as usual and omitting McLoughlin was an absolute joke. My question is this...where was the Kerry man?

You're still banging that drum. 

I agree about Kildare getting 3 in '97 being a joke.
In 1997 Glen Ryan and Trevor Giles marked each other 3 times and did nothing else of note in the c'ship outside of the Meath-Kildare trilogy, yet both got All-Stars. It doesn't make sense to me how 2 players marking each other can both have played brilliantly enough to deserve an All-Star.
Especially when you've Liam O'Flaherty who had played brilliantly throughout the league and c'ship and was overlooked in favour of Ryan.

1991 must be the biggest joke ever with runners-up Meath getting 2 more All-Stars than All-Ireland winners Down.

Glenn marked Tommy Dowd for most of that trilogy rather than Giles. As for not doing anything outside of that trilogy, Glenn gave the greatest display I've ever seen from an individual Kildare footballer when we beat Laois in the first round despite being two men down for over an hour. O'Dwyer described that performance as the finest he had ever seen in Croke Park from a centre back.

[Wildweasel74]

Meath played nearly double the number of games than Down that year,Down may have won the all ireland but it didn't mean they had the best players in certain positions, Mickey Linden was good that year but he was against Colm O`Rourke in that postion that year when you couldn't change players about. Colm got the footballer of the year back in 1991. Who you you think missed out? not sure of the down all stars then, N Collins, G Blaney, J McCartan? and Ross Carr i think. DJ Kane had a good year but again was against. Martin O`Connell who was very good and will go down as the best no.7 i seen in my time. Connor Deegan didn't get one i think and he was probably the best full back that year

[5 Sams]

Any reports from the US of A??

[Sea The Stars]

The All-Stars are given to the players who defined the season. If a players is knocked out in Round 3 of the qualifiers, then he'd want to have had an extraordinary year to be getting one ahead of a player who had a decent year and played in an All-Ireland Final.

The players hard done by in this selection were MD McAuely, Kevin McLoughlin and Colm Boyle in my opinion. But you can only pick 15 - naturally there will be a few players left out who others might feel should have been included.

Anyway point I'm really making is that there's no argument for Paul Barden recieving one this year (fine effort in getting nominated though) and I don't think John Galvin should have any more than he currently has. Current method for picking All-Stas is perfectly acceptable annd bar one or two close calls, every year, is an accurate reflection of what the public thinks too.

[INDIANA]

The All-Stars are given to the players who defined the season. If a players is knocked out in Round 3 of the qualifiers, then he'd want to have had an extraordinary year to be getting one ahead of a player who had a decent year and played in an All-Ireland Final.

The players hard done by in this selection were MD McAuely, Kevin McLoughlin and Colm Boyle in my opinion. But you can only pick 15 - naturally there will be a few players left out who others might feel should have been included.

Anyway point I'm really making is that there's no argument for Paul Barden recieving one this year (fine effort in getting nominated though) and I don't think John Galvin should have any more than he currently has. Current method for picking All-Stas is perfectly acceptable annd bar one or two close calls, every year, is an accurate reflection of what the public thinks too.

The current method of selection is a load of me nads if you ask me. Rewards players for maybe one good game a season. You don't speak for the public by the way

[Farneylawd2011]

Any Scores on the Game ??

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Any Scores on the Game ??

The 2012 GAA-GPA Football All-Stars have beaten the 2011 GAA-GPA Football All-Stars by 8-17 to 8-7 in New York tonight. (Courtesy of Cóilín Duffy).

[Captain Obvious]

Any Scores on the Game ??

The 2012 GAA-GPA Football All-Stars have beaten the 2011 GAA-GPA Football All-Stars by 8-17 to 8-7 in New York tonight. (Courtesy of Cóilín Duffy).

Highlights on TG4 now

[Syferus]

Why in the name of Sean Purcell is Kevin McManamon  playing in a hoodie?

[5 Sams]

At least 6 or 7 players that I know of that were on the All Stars jolly were on Twitter saying how great a trip it was.....also each one to a man thanked "the GAA and the GPA" for the opportunity...sounded like a party line....or am I reading too much into it..

[blanketattack]

Why in the name of Sean Purcell is Kevin McManamon  playing in a hoodie?

Trying to sell hoodies I'd imagine!