Name your Top 10 Gaelic Footballers of Today

In his column in the Irish Independant today, Colm Keyes names his Top 100 Gaelic Footballers of the present day. I have shown his Top 10 below:

1. Colm Cooper (Kerry)
2. Tomas O'Se (Kerry)
3. Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone)
4. Brian Dooher (Tyrone)
5. Padraic Joyce (Galway)
6. Declan O'Sullivan (Kerry)
7. Steven McDonnell (Armagh)
8. Marc O'Se (Kerry)
9. Graham Canty (Cork)
10. Stephen Cluxton (Dublin)

Keyes uses different criteria to what I would use, opting instead for players who have achieved most throughout the course of their careers rather than their current level of ability. He also fails to distingush between the more natural Gaelic Footballers and the less natural, and picks his Top 100 on player's overall worth to their respective teams. Of course, this is all open to one's interpretation of the line "Top 10 Gaelic Footballers of Today". I appreciate where Keyes is coming from but it's not the Top 10 which I would have picked. Mine are below:

1. Colm Cooper (Kerry)
2. Padraic Joyce (Galway)
3. Marty Clarke (Down)
4. Niall McNamee (Offaly)
5. Stephen O’Neill (Tyrone)
6. Bernard Brogan (Dublin)
7. Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry)
8. James Kavanagh (Kildare)
9. Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone)
10. Benny Coulter (Down)

Everyone will inevitably produce a different list but if asked to name your Top 10 Gaelic Footballers of Today, who would you choose?

No Paul Galvin Loyal?

1. Colm Cooper (Kerry)
2. Declan O sullivan (Kerry)
3. Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone)
4. Padraic Joyce (Galway)
5. Thomas O se (kerry)
6. Stephen O Neill (Tyrone)
7. Bernard Brogan (Dublin)
8. Stephen McDonnell (Armagh)
9. Marty Clarke (Down)
10. Philip Jordan (Tyrone)

Coulter or Micheal Murphy being best runners up.

The Independent's list is a very strange one. As Loyal has summarised, it is rating the players on their achievements/performances in their whole career, hence the likes of Dooher & Joyce are in the top 5.

However, it seems to have diverted away from that criteria somewhere further down the list, and rated players on current form. For instance, Marty Clarke is rated 31st after 2 or 3 good games in this his first year, which is ahead of Eamonn O'Hara, Brian McGuigan & Dessie Dolan. Similarly, Barry Owens, arguably the best full-back of the last decade, and the only Fermanagh man ever to win 2 all-stars (an incredible achievement), is 81st, 43 places behind Donegal's Michael Murphy who, for all his talent, hasn't done a huge amount so far in his career.

That would be my biggest gripe with this list - the inconsistency. Yes, there are those that I think are over-rated (Alan Brogan 17th, Daniel Goulding 30th, Davy Harte 52nd, Tommy Griffin 67th and David Henry 75th jump to mind), and others under-rated (McGuigan 34th, O'Hara 39th, Owens 81st and Anthony Lynch 69th), but the biggest problem with this list is that it doesn't seem to know what it is ranking.

I like Keys. Perhaps it's not correct to say he went exclusively for player's career achievements over their current level ability, instead combining the two. There's always going to be flaws and question marks in any list like this.

I feel my Top 10 is comprehensive enough. Cooper is a genius, his name will be etched in the annals of GAA for the rest of eternity. Joyce, forever, rolling back the years, continues to amaze. Clarke, in his first season, perfected the quarterback role, and arguably was the driving force behind Down's aberrational season. McNamee is magnificent, almost beating Meath by himself last May, and after Gooch, the second most intelligent Gaelic Footballer on the planet. O'Neill, not the force of old, but even as his career enters the twilight stage, he is un-markable. Brogan, O'Sullivan, Kavanagh, Cavanagh and Coulter all fall into the category of footballers you'd pay to see regardless of who else is playing. They will all be remembered as very good footballers with the possibility of Cavanagh going down as a great on past performances and Brogan on future ones.

Keys summarised his criteria by saying that he was trying to assess how the players of today would rate in 25-50 years time, based on what we have seen so far. To clarify Loyal, is your list a Top 10 at the moment, or using the same criteria as Keys, i.e. which of the will be regarded as the best by generations to come?

Thomas Clarke wrote:Keys summarised his criteria by saying that he was trying to assess how the players of today would rate in 25-50 years time, based on what we have seen so far. To clarify Loyal, is your list a Top 10 at the moment, or using the same criteria as Keys, i.e. which of the will be regarded as the best by generations to come?

The best Gaelic Footballers in Ireland right now.

Gooch, Tomas O'Se, and Donaghy from Kerry are a must. Canty from Cork, and Brogan from Dublin. Kevin McGourty goes without saying.

If back to form Cavanagh from Tyrone, Galvin from Limerick and Kerry, possibly stevie Mac, although he is getting on.

Interesting that yourself an Omar both have Joyce still so high. Outstanding though he was, I wouldn't rate him in the top 10 anymore. I wouldn't have Cavanagh, O'Neill or Benny Coulter in there either.

For the top 10 at the moment (form over the last year or 2) I'd suggest...

1) Colm Cooper
2) Bernard Brogan
3) Paul Galvin
4) John Galvin
5) Justin McMahon
6) Declan O'Sullivan
7) Dermot Earley
8. Philip Jordan
9) Seanie Johnston
10) Marty Clarke

Is that the Dermot earley of Kildare?

Not in yer man's league at all, sure he gave him a lesson last year, twice.

And that was playing out of position.

patrique wrote:Is that the Dermot earley of Kildare?

Not in yer man's league at all, sure he gave him a lesson last year, twice.

And that was playing out of position.

so two good performances (in Ps eyes albeit so there could be bias) in the one year suddenly projects you into the top 10 players in the country - interesting to say the least!!!!!

patrique wrote:Is that the Dermot earley of Kildare?

Not in yer man's league at all, sure he gave him a lesson last year, twice.

And that was playing out of position.

Wasn't that a couple of days after the death of Earley's father? Perhaps his mind was on other things.

His father was buried the day of the drawn game.

Top 10 - in no particular order ...

Gooch
Bernard Brogan
Padraig Joyce
Johnny Doyle
Philip Jordan
Seanie Johnston
Benny Coulter
John Galvin
Tomas O Se
Michael Murphy

Bit of a Seanie Johnston love-in going on JC and TC!

JC - no Declan O' Sullivan?

3inarow08 wrote:Bit of a Seanie Johnston love-in going on JC and TC!

JC - no Declan O' Sullivan?

3inarow wouldn't lose to much sleep about it......

Jayo Cluxton wrote:His father was buried the day of the drawn game.

Top 10 - in no particular order ...

Gooch
Bernard Brogan
Padraig Joyce
Johnny Doyle
Philip Jordan
Seanie Johnston
Benny Coulter
John Galvin
Tomas O Se
Michael Murphy

1 Dub

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:Keys summarised his criteria by saying that he was trying to assess how the players of today would rate in 25-50 years time, based on what we have seen so far. To clarify Loyal, is your list a Top 10 at the moment, or using the same criteria as Keys, i.e. which of the will be regarded as the best by generations to come?

The best Gaelic Footballers in Ireland right now.

Looking back at it now, my Top 10 is a list of the footballers I'd pay most to go and watch (were there a price to go and see them).

mullins wrote:

3inarow08 wrote:Bit of a Seanie Johnston love-in going on JC and TC!

JC - no Declan O' Sullivan?

3inarow wouldn't lose to much sleep about it......

Love the flag Mullins!

Is it your own?

3inarow08 wrote:

mullins wrote:

3inarow08 wrote:Bit of a Seanie Johnston love-in going on JC and TC!

JC - no Declan O' Sullivan?

3inarow wouldn't lose to much sleep about it......

Love the flag Mullins!

Is it your own?

Got it made in 07 had Dublin 007 Champions on it but had to take it of,after a Semi-Disaster against the kingdom.... thats was the one that got away

I picked mostly like Loyal - players I'd pay to see on their own with a few others who have been a huge influence on their team. I tried to keep it to one per county though had to give two to Kerry. The likes of the two Stevies, Dec O, Dermot E would be just under the 10. And Seanie J? Class act - love to watch him play - a pure natural. (Why d'ya think Cavan were 'our' team last year!)