All Time 1-15

1. John O'Leary - O'Dwyers/Dublin
2. Robbie O'Malley - St. Colmcilles/Meath
3. Tony Scullion - Ballinascreen/Derry
4. Kieran McKeever - Dungiven/Derry
5. Paul Curran - Thomas Davis/Dublin
6. Henry Downey - Lavey/Derry
7. Martin O'Connell - St. Michaels/Meath
8. Jack O'Shea - Cahirciveen/Kerry
9. Mick O'Connell - Valentia Island/Kerry
10. Trevor Giles - Skyrne/Meath
11. Ciaran McDonald - Crossmolina/Mayo
12. Pat Spillane - Templenoe/Kerry
13. Colm Cooper - Dr. Crokes/Kerry
14. Matt O'Connor - Walsh Island/Offaly
15. Maurice Fitzgerald - Cahirciveen/Kerry

No place for Sean Purcell, Darren Fay, Anthony Tohill, Enda Colleran, John Joe Reilly, Mickey Linden, Colm O'Rourke, Mikey Sheehy, Larry Tompkins, Keiren McGeeney, Dara O'Se, Peter Canavan, Tommy Murphy and John Egan amongst many other greats.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:1. John O'Leary - O'Dwyers/Dublin
2. Robbie O'Malley - St. Colmcilles/Meath
3. Tony Scullion - Ballinascreen/Derry
4. Kieran McKeever - Dungiven/Derry
5. Paul Curran - Thomas Davis/Dublin
6. Henry Downey - Lavey/Derry
7. Martin O'Connell - St. Michaels/Meath
8. Jack O'Shea - Cahirciveen/Kerry
9. Mick O'Connell - Valentia Island/Kerry
10. Trevor Giles - Skyrne/Meath
11. Ciaran McDonald - Crossmolina/Mayo
12. Pat Spillane - Templenoe/Kerry
13. Colm Cooper - Dr. Crokes/Kerry
14. Matt O'Connor - Walsh Island/Offaly
15. Maurice Fitzgerald - Cahirciveen/Kerry

No place for Sean Purcell, Darren Fay, Anthony Tohill, Enda Colleran, John Joe Reilly, Mickey Linden, Colm O'Rourke, Mikey Sheehy, Larry Tompkins, Keiren McGeeney, Dara O'Se, Peter Canavan, Tommy Murphy and John Egan amongst many other greats.

You're some tool..... You are a great poster if dillusional...

1.Geraghty Galway

2.O'Malley Meath
3.Tierney Galway
4. O'Hare Down

5.O'Sé Kerry
6. O'Malley Roscommon
7.O'Connell Meath

8. Mullins Dublin
9.O'Shea Kerry

10. O'Neill Down
11. Purcell Galway
12. McGarty Leitrim

13. Sheehy Kerry
14. Connor Offaly
15. Fitzgerald Kerry

I'll argue them all Loyal, particularily 12.........Throw it up there....Mowing lawns till 7.30 but bring it on....

Setting bias to one side Boxty, how good was McGarty? Sean Og O'Ceallachain wrote of him:

'Packie could field a ball like Willie Joe Padden, solo run like Iggy Jones, terrorise a back line like Kieran Donaghy, pick off points like Gooch Cooper, kick frees like Jimmy Keaveny and motivate a team like Peter Canavan'.

Even allowing for exaggeration, that is some serious praise.

Loyal, I'm wondering why O'Connell has been included? Not that he wouldn't be worthy candidate, but he is the only one you picked that, i'm guessing, you have hardly seen play?

Fair enough to include him, but curious as to why he got in, whereas other legends from the pre-70s didn't?

Thomas Clarke wrote:Setting bias to one side Boxty, how good was McGarty? Sean Og O'Ceallachain wrote of him:

'Packie could field a ball like Willie Joe Padden, solo run like Iggy Jones, terrorise a back line like Kieran Donaghy, pick off points like Gooch Cooper, kick frees like Jimmy Keaveny and motivate a team like Peter Canavan'.

Even allowing for exaggeration, that is some serious praise.

McGarty is second only to Purcell as the greatest that I've seen. Not the biggest of men, my favourite of his vast array of skills was him superb sense of timing that enabled him to time his run for the catch to the millisecond, thereby he invariably got out in front, fielded cleanly and was gone...Boom!!!!!!
A big pity was, that in his greatest years, he was working in London and thus making the commute at weekends and I'd say had the Co.Board the vision or clout that CB's have today, they could have got him fixed up around home...

He was down for Philly's funeral (he appears regularly) and we had a couple of minutes chat...He's in top form.

What about the Gallant John Joe???

gsmithy wrote:What about the Gallant John Joe???

Whoa there Smithy...even I'm not that old as to have seen him....Boxty the elder was a big fan of his though..

Yeah, long before my time too, but listening to my Grandfather talk about him never got tiring. Patron Saint of Cavan GAA!

gsmithy wrote:Yeah, long before my time too, but listening to my Grandfather talk about him never got tiring. Patron Saint of Cavan GAA!

gsmithy - you'll enjoy it very much here cos reading Boxtys posts is the exact same as listening to your great granda ....

Thanks Boxty, shame I never got the chance to see him, and no video footage either (if only he had been a Galwayman! ).

It's a worthy debate Loyal, although one that is hard to contribute to unless you are 1) Old; or 2) Very well-read on GAA history.

Of the pre-war players, probably those that interest me most in this context would be the likes of Larry Stanley and Tommy Murphy, both of whom were considered the outstanding players of their time. Stanley, in particular, seems to have been a phenomenal athlete, and was fouled out the 1926 final by Kerry.

All have played post 1980 - Haven't seen before that so won;t make a call on who has the greatest "legend". ie I wont include Mick O Connel just because of have seen more footage of him as opposed to Tommy Murphy, Sean O Neill or Purcell


1. MArtin Furlong
2. Robbie O'Malley
3. Darren FAy
4. Tony Scullion
5. Paidi O se
6. Kieran McGeeny
7. Martin O'Connell
8. Jack O'Shea
9. Brian Mullins
10. Trevor Giles
11. Peter Canavan
12. Pat Spillane
13. Colm Cooper
14. Matt Connor
15. Maurice Fitzgerald

Ones that were hardest to leave out

Tohill / Tomas O Se / Frank Mcguigan & Seamus Moynihan

OMAR - hard to leave Graham Geraghty out too?

Jayo Cluxton wrote:OMAR - hard to leave Graham Geraghty out too?

Ah come on now Jayo, this is a serious thread.

Ah now TC - I rate GG very highly. He is one of a relatively small band of players I would pay money to see on his own. He did it at half back and half forward, captained his team to Sam and scored some of the best scores I have seen in Croker. His temperament was questionable and he certainly was the player you loved to hate - but for all that he certainly goes down as one of the best players I have seen over the last 20 years.

Can't agree with that Jayo. A pheneomenal athlete and a very good player certainly, and capable of some fabulous scores. But not, for me, next to near a side like the one OMAR picked, much less one which would go back even a couple of decades further. He was nowhere to be seen in 3 out of 4 all-ireland final appearances, and always struck me as the sort of player who was great when you were on top, but not so great when in a struggling team. For me, he wasn't close to being as important as Trevor Giles was to that Meath side.

He did, I'll admit, save his best performances for the Dubs, always turning it on against them, seemingly driven by some Ballboy-eque hatred for the Boys in Blue!

That may well be true TC. On occasion he almost beat Dublin on his own!

Jayo Cluxton wrote:OMAR - hard to leave Graham Geraghty out too?

Wouldn't have been a close contender to be honest - I think TC has articulated it very well can't fault his athletic ability and commitment and charisma but I'd rate a good few before him

In the half forward line - In addition to the 3 I picked before GG i'd have
C Mcdonald,M Donnelan ,MArtin McHugh, Greg Blaney, I'd also look at rigging the front six to accomodate Mikey Sheehy and Frank McGuigan and in the modern game the most consistently underrated player of the last 3-4 years Declan O Sullivan