Football All-Stars 2009

From the Irish Times:

Kingdom and Rebels dominate

All-Ireland finalists Kerry and Cork boast 22 of the 45 GAA Football All-Star nominations for 2009 and all three of the candidates for Footballer of the Year, though 12 counties are represented in total on the shortlist revealed this evening.

After claiming Sam on Sunday, the Kingdom’s Paul Galvin and Tomás O’Sé will once again go head-to-head with Cork captain Graham Canty for the individual award.

Tadhg Kennelly is another Kerryman on the All-Star list, wrapping up a remarkably successful return to domestic football after a lengthy spell in the AFL with the Sydney Swans. He’ll know if he will emulate his father Tim – a two-time winner at centre back in 1979 and 1980 - on Friday October 16th.

A decade on from winning his first All-Star, Rebel defender Anthony Lynch is nominated again but his team-mate Colm O’Neill has been omitted, though he is shortlisted for the Young Player award alongside Donegal’s Michael Murphy and Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea.

Murphy’s scoring exploits were exceeded only by fellow full forward Colm Cooper, while his scoring average of six points per game was bettered only by Dublin’s Bernard Brogan.

Brogan is joined on the list by his brother Alan, Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton and half-back Barry Cahill.

Tyrone have five nominations in total but there is no place for 2008 Footballer of the Year Seán Cavanagh.

The 2009 GAA Football All Stars nominations

Goalkeepers

Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry), Alan Quirke (Cork)

Full Backs

Tommy Griffin (Kerry), Tom O’Sullivan (Kerry), Marc Ó Sé (Kerry), Anthony Lynch (Cork), Michael Shields (Cork), Ciarán Hyland (Wicklow), Karl Lacey (Donegal), Johnny McCarthy (Limerick), Justin McMahon (Tyrone)

Half Backs

Graham Canty (Cork), John Miskella (Cork), Michael McCarthy (Kerry), Tomas Ó Sé (Kerry), Davy Harte (Tyrone), Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone), Barry Cahill (Dublin), Johnny Davey (Sligo), Andy Moran (Mayo)

Midfield

Dermot Earley (Kildare), Nicholas Murphy (Cork), Alan O’Connor (Cork), Kevin Hughes (Tyrone), John Galvin (Limerick), Séamus Scanlon (Kerry)

Half Forwards

Paul Galvin (Kerry), Tadhg Kennelly (Kerry), Alan Brogan (Dublin), Leighton Glynn (Wicklow), James Kavanagh (Kildare), Trevor Mortimer (Mayo), Paddy Kelly (Cork), Pearse O’Neill (Cork), Joe Sheridan (Meath)

Full Forwards

Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Colm Cooper (Kerry), Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry), Tommy Walsh (Kerry), Daniel Goulding (Cork), Michael Murphy (Donegal), Michael McCann (Antrim), Stephen O’Neill (Tyrone), Alan Smith (Kildare)

Footballer of the Year

Graham Canty (Cork), Paul Galvin (Kerry), Tomas Ó Sé (Kerry)

Young Footballer of the Year

Michael Murphy (Donegal), Colm O’Neill (Cork), Aidan O’Shea (Mayo)

Peter Sweeney
Cian Murphy
Kieran McSweeney
Martan O'Ciardha
Damian Lawlor
Martin Brehony
Jim O'Sullivan
Brian Carthy
Michael Lyster
Eammon O'Hara
Sean Moran
Vincent Hogan
Denis Walsh
Enda McEvoy
Michael Clifford



CROWD OF JOKERS.

If Tadgh Kennelly wins an All-Star i might do the same as Loyal has promised if Joe canning gets on in the hurling, how he can even be nominated is beyond me.

I would have thought another one of the Antrim lads would have deserved a nomination.

Here's my All Stars

1 Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry) not because i think he deserves it but looks like he is gonna get it
2 Karl Lacey (Donegal)
3 Justin McMahon (Tyrone)
4 Anthony Lynch (Cork)
5 Tomas Ó Sé (Kerry)
6 Graham Canty (Cork)
7 Johnny Davey (Sligo)
8 Dermot Earley (Kildare)
9 Kevin Hughes (Tyrone)
10 Paul Galvin (Kerry)
11 Pearse O’Neill (Cork)
12 James Kavanagh (Kildare)
13 Colm Cooper (Kerry)
14 Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry)
15 Daniel Goulding (Cork)

FOTY Graham Canty

YFOTY Michael Murphy (Donegal)

Who will be the token Dub? Cluxton or Alan Brogan?

Delighted to see Johnny get a nomination.

IMO he's been consistantly Sligo's strongest player for 3 or 4 years now, but never gets the praise/attention that the like of David Kelly, Eamonn O'Hara or Charlie Harrison get. He's probably the only Sligo player (possibly along with Fizzy Greene) who would realisticly have a chance of getting into any team in the country.

I fear for his chances of winnign an award though, possibly the strongest line in the selections this year.

black&white wrote:Delighted to see Johnny get a nomination.

IMO he's been consistantly Sligo's strongest player for 3 or 4 years now, but never gets the praise/attention that the like of David Kelly, Eamonn O'Hara or Charlie Harrison get. He's probably the only Sligo player (possibly along with Fizzy Greene) who would realisticly have a chance of getting into any team in the country.

I fear for his chances of winnign an award though, possibly the strongest line in the selections this year.

Seemingly. Cormac McGuinness and Seamus Kenny don't even get nominations. Bit of a disgrace that this Davey Johnson lad gets one ahead of them as well B&W.

I think Bernard Brogan should get a spot.

Agree Loyal - Meath getting to a semi and only getting one nomination is not right. Would love to see the Seneschalstown Rocket get picked! C'mon Joe!

1.Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry)

2.Tom O’Sullivan (Kerry)
3.Michael Shields (Cork)
4.Karl Lacey (Donegal)
5.John Miskella (Cork)
6.Graham Canty (Cork)
7.Tomas Ó Sé (Kerry)

8.Dermot Earley (Kildare)
9.Séamus Scanlon (Kerry)

10.Paul Galvin (Kerry)
11.Pearse O’Neill (Cork)
12.Trevor Mortimer (Mayo)
13.Colm Cooper (Kerry)
14.Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry)
15.Tommy Walsh (Kerry)


Footballer of the Year

Paul Galvin (Kerry)

Young Footballer of the Year

Colm O’Neill (Cork)

Jayo Cluxton wrote:I think Bernard Brogan should get a spot.

Agree Loyal - Meath getting to a semi and only getting one nomination is not right. Would love to see the Seneschalstown Rocket get picked! C'mon Joe!

This is exactly why the all-stars are seen as such a joke and in need of a revamp. The awards were originally about acknowledging individual players, but somehow over time they have become as much about recognition of a countys achievements as about recognition of individual players.

Look at the headlines in the papers today - it's all about how many nominations each county got. And JC asks a question above that represents how the focus has changed. It is expected that a counties progress in the championship will be rewarded with an AS. Who get's it is almost secondary to the expectation that the county will get one.

It's all wrong in my opinion.

RMDrive wrote:

Jayo Cluxton wrote:I think Bernard Brogan should get a spot.

Agree Loyal - Meath getting to a semi and only getting one nomination is not right. Would love to see the Seneschalstown Rocket get picked! C'mon Joe!

This is exactly why the all-stars are seen as such a joke and in need of a revamp. The awards were originally about acknowledging individual players, but somehow over time they have become as much about recognition of a countys achievements as about recognition of individual players.

Look at the headlines in the papers today - it's all about how many nominations each county got. And JC asks a question above that represents how the focus has changed. It is expected that a counties progress in the championship will be rewarded with an AS. Who get's it is almost secondary to the expectation that the county will get one.

It's all wrong in my opinion.

Very good point RMD.

For once I think that Johnny Davey's nomination is as much to do with individual performances as Sligo's progress (not much TBH). As pointed out here and other places, Sligo had only one win all year (unconvincing, and against a Division 3 team).
There's nothing to really warrant "rewarding the team" in this year's performances from Sligo, but Johnny's performances really were first class this year, and he certainly deserves a nomination in recognition of this.

Valid points being made all round here, John Galvin also deserves his nomination. Here's my selection:

Cluxton
O'Se, Shields, O'Sullivan.
O'Se, Canty, Miskella.
Earley, Murphy.
Galvin, O'Neill, Glynn.
Brogan, O'Sullivan, Murphy.

FOTY: Tomas O'Se.
YPOY: Murphy.

i think it stands to reason that most all star awards will go to the champions followed by runners up, semi finalists etc especially now with the back door. Surely it makes sense that kerry will have the most as they were the best team and therefor clearly were the team with the most standout individual players as well. The further you go in the championship the more chance the selectors get to see the players in action.

samin10 wrote:i think it stands to reason that most all star awards will go to the champions followed by runners up, semi finalists etc especially now with the back door. Surely it makes sense that kerry will have the most as they were the best team and therefor clearly were the team with the most standout individual players as well. The further you go in the championship the more chance the selectors get to see the players in action.

I agree that this is the criterion used Samin but 'tis not totally correct either.
Two nominees stand out for me as having tremendous years (Galvin and Davey) throughout the Spring and early/mid Summer but because of their counties failure to progress to the marquee matches their nominations are but mere sops to their counties.

And that is wrong. Of the nominees at M/F apart from Earley, I'd prefer the 100% that Galvin gives every day to the odd inspirational burst of effort that the others put in sporadically. The same applies to Johnny Davey.
Will they get awards?...unlikely.

The proper system should work as follows:
Points awarded out of 10 for all NFL and Champo matches divided by games played gives you the result.

Simple as that but never a runner because a couple of good games under TV is what suits the masses/selectors.
A flawed concept......

Boxtyeater wrote:

samin10 wrote:i think it stands to reason that most all star awards will go to the champions followed by runners up, semi finalists etc especially now with the back door. Surely it makes sense that kerry will have the most as they were the best team and therefor clearly were the team with the most standout individual players as well. The further you go in the championship the more chance the selectors get to see the players in action.

I agree that this is the criterion used Samin but 'tis not totally correct either.
Two nominees stand out for me as having tremendous years (Galvin and Davey) throughout the Spring and early/mid Summer but because of their counties failure to progress to the marquee matches their nominations are but mere sops to their counties.

And that is wrong. Of the nominees at M/F apart from Earley, I'd prefer the 100% that Galvin gives every day to the odd inspirational burst of effort that the others put in sporadically. The same applies to Johnny Davey.
Will they get awards?...unlikely.

The proper system should work as follows:
Points awarded out of 10 for all NFL and Champo matches divided by games played gives you the result.

Simple as that but never a runner because a couple of good games under TV is what suits the masses/selectors.
A flawed concept......

dont know if that system would work either, surely a 9 out of 10 in a division 1 match should mean more than a player getting the same rating for a division 4 game. Not to mention loads of big names are rested during league matches for counties to blood players. i think the whole thing is flawed and it certainly should be up to journalists to decide. player votes or something.

[quote="samin10"][quote="Boxtyeater"]

samin10 wrote:dont know if that system would work either, surely a 9 out of 10 in a division 1 match should mean more than a player getting the same rating for a division 4 game. Not to mention loads of big names are rested during league matches for counties to blood players. i think the whole thing is flawed and it certainly should be up to journalists to decide. player votes or something.

And therin lies the nub of the whole thing........'Tis a flawed concept. Legends "winter well"
I totally disagree with what I'm getting from your post and I'm not attacking either you or your post...
Some lads "winter well" and more ordinary chaps put their shoulder to the wheel from Jan 1. with little prospect of a big day at HQ but their ambition, desire and passion keep them and their counties going....
These are the true All-Stars...

Connaughton (WH)

Lacey (DL)
McKeon (LM)
Keane (WH)

Glynn (WW)
Lucey (LK)
Davey (SO)

Galvin (LK)
McGrath (FM)

Freeman (MN)
Barden (LD)
Barry (WX)

Johnstone (CN)
Carpenter (CW)
Marron (SO)

samin10 wrote:
surely a 9 out of 10 in a division 1 match should mean more than a player getting the same rating for a division 4 game.

You can't dictate who you play against, only how you play. Surely it's unfair to discriminate against a player based on what county they were born in, and what opportunities that county affords you?

Declan Browne soldiered away for Tipperary for many years, and was one of the better forwards in recent times. But are we now going to saw that average performances from the likes of Conor Mortimer in Division 1 games are on a par with Browne dragging Tipp to a win in Div 3/4, purely because of the variances between the opposition mean that Browne's performances are devalued?

If a player is good they deserve recognition for it. In this year's case it wasn't Johnny Davey's fault that he was up against weaker teams for the NFL. He just played as best he could, regardless of the opposition, and against Galway and Kerry proved that he could do it against the top teams.

Stephen O Neill gets an All Star ahead of Michael Murphy- Disgrace.

Lacey was a cert for one, and it seems like they only wanted to give Donegal the one. It's like they thought Murphy getting the young player award would be good enough for him, and made room for another player to get the all star, seen that happen a few times. On performance alone, Murphy deserved one.

The usual cock-up again.
In the lucky category: Diarmuid Murphy, Seamos Scanlon, Daniel Goulding and Tadgh Kennelly.
In the blessed category: Stephen O'Neill.

Unlucky category: Stephen Cluxton, Nicholas Murphy, Leighton Glynn and Bernard Brogan.
Robbed category: Michael Murphy.

The Anglo Irish Bank award for blatent thievery goes to Joe Sheridan.*


*For poor oul' Loyal's sake.......

I'll tell you what though folks, 12/15 All Stars go to the counties that contested the A/I final.
What about the other teams that reached the last 8? 3 between them and no Connaught All Star. Well I suppose it was inevitable considering Mayo's collapse, but the whole thing is corrupt.

Get in there Loyal and crack some heads....I'm assuming it's you thats mentioned on the 9 o'clock news...disturbances near the CityWest or is Jim McDaid out on the motorway again..

Marked by Brady of Antrim Murphy scored a point from play. O'Neill never scored at all.

On that basis all star to.............Brady?


Seanie Johnston got one point, Gooch didn't score against Brady as well.

Even more proof as if it was needed that the All Stars are a joke!
In the deserving category: Karl Lacey, Dermot Earley, Tomas O'Se, Graham Canty, Paul Galvin
In the dubious category: Stephen O'Neill, Diarmuid Murphy, Tadgh Kennelly.
Unlucky category: Nicholas Murphy, Leighton Glynn, Anthony Lynch and Barry Cahill.
Robbed category: Michael Murphy, Alan Quirke.

Shambles as usual.

Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year were both deserved in my opinion.
I am no fan of Galvin but when the chips were down with Kerry for a long time this year, him and O'Se stood up and were counted. Galvin just shaded it for me because after last years debacle, he came back this year and proved that underneath all the bulls**t and indiscipline and bad attitude, there is a seriously talented footballer.

Murphy will feel aggrieved for not getting the All Star considering the Gooch played 2 more games than him this year and only just pipped him to the post of top scorer this year.

Back from a party red onions chesse and spellcheck on for moss.
Don't think i have to translate for anyone else.
Allstars are picked- country divided as per every year.
Of the 15 all played all desvered maybe not in your opinion but then who gives a boc on the consevatory.
Most important comp is now just starting and guess what how many all stars are playing (football not rugby).
Look at it more hurlers in november than footballers just for moss and all those small minded english teachers