Best team of the last 25 years

**Thomas Clarke** Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:44 pm

I'm taking it upon myself to achieve consensus on the best footballers of the last 25 years, and am therefore launching GlobalGAA's official 'Best team of the last 25 years' thread.

Running from today until Friday next week, I will be providing 6 nominees for each position, and inviting registered users to select their favourite from the list. Votes will be tallied for all positions at the end of the week, and the final selection announced.

There are a few things to bear in mind:

1) Players can only be selected in their shortlisted positions.

2) Each player will only be shortlisted once, so don't expect to see Seamus Moynihan or Karl Lacey appear in multiple defensive positions.

3) I have tried to allocate players to the positions with which they are most associated, or had the most success.

4) I've only included players who had the majority of their success from 1988 onwards. This means that people like Jack O'Shea, Pat Spillane, Eugene McKenna & Tony McManus will not be shortlisted.

5) Separate threads will appear as below, and voting for all positions will remain open until next weekend:
Sunday: Goalkeepers
Monday: Full backs
Tuesday: Half Backs
Wednesday: Midfield
Thursday: Half Forwards
Friday: Full Forwards

So, I'll kick it off shortly with the keepers, and look forward to seeing the views of our posters.

(Perhaps Bald Eagle could throw it out to twitter on a daily basis, and encourage a few new users to register and vote.)

**Boxtyeater** Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:50 pm

Excellent initiative TC.....Best of luck with this laudable venture.

John McKeon was more of a full back that a center back to avoid any confusion.

Mullinz Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:47 pm

No point in anyone picking a team. Why don't you just tell everyone what the best team is.

**Thomas Clarke** Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:53 pm

Mullinz wrote:No point in anyone picking a team. Why don't you just tell everyone what the best team is.

Everyone's opinions are welcomed. You just have to register and post on the respective threads.

**bocerty** Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:58 pm

good man Mullinz very useful input there

**Thomas Clarke** Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:29 pm

We're off to a good start in our quest, with some very interesting views being expressed on the goalkeeping and full back line positions. Currently Bobby O'Malley has made an early claim for the RCB slot, but there's still all to play for.

Hopefully get some more names (or consensus) thrown into the mix - be good to get the views of many of our regular posters, and perhaps even some newcomers. Bald Eagle seems to have taken the night off Twitter duty, but fingers crossed he'll be able to drum up some traffic on his return.

Tomorrow morning I'll announce the nominees for the half-back positions, and RHB in particular will be interesting, with 3 Footballers of the Year plus a man selected on the Munster team of the Century all nominated for No.5.

**Thomas Clarke** Tue Jun 18, 2013 9:33 pm

Well, today saw voting continue on both lines of the defence. While the right side seems to be looking increasingly like O'Malley & O'Se, the central channel and left flank are yet to be manned.

I've PM'd Beagle to sound the alert on twitter, so I can imagine hoards of new votes anytime soon. Meanwhile, would be great to get a couple of quick pics out of some more of our regular posters.

Tomorrow will see 12 midfielders suggested, but only 2 will be chosen. Interestingly, only one of the 12 is a former Footballer of the Year - without googling, can anyone work out who it is? (Clue: It's not Sean Cavanagh - he won his award in the forwards, and will be appearing up front on his shortlist.)

**Boxtyeater** Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:02 pm

Dara O'Sé ?????

**Thomas Clarke** Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:09 pm

Boxtyeater wrote:Dara O'Sé ?????

As Roy Walker would have said, 'It's good, but it's not right'.

**OMAR** Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:18 pm

Thomas Clarke wrote:
Boxtyeater wrote:Dara O'Sé ?????

As Roy Walker would have said, 'It's good, but it's not right'.

Teddy mccarthy

**Thomas Clarke** Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:23 pm

OMAR wrote:
Teddy mccarthy

[/quote]

Not quite, but on the right lines. He did win FOTY....but he's not on tomorrow's shortlist.

**OMAR** Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:30 pm

Thomas Clarke wrote:
OMAR wrote:
Teddy mccarthy

Not quite, but on the right lines. He did win FOTY....but he's not on tomorrow's shortlist.[/quote]

Shay fahy

**Thomas Clarke** Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:33 pm

OMAR wrote:
Shay fahy

Indeed. Star of the 1990 AI Final, and FOTY in the same year. No other midfielder has won the award since then.

**Thomas Clarke** Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:01 pm

Pleased to see more and more people voting and, with BE's shout-outs on twitter, I'm confident that this will continue.

Tomorrow sees us move into the half forward line, and its blend of workers, creators and scorers. We have no fewer than 7 former Footballers of the Year nominated in that line, and those 7 men have 20 All Stars between them. Think you know who they are? Well, I can tell you that none of the 7 are called Brian Dooher, Declan O'Sullivan, Greg Blaney, Larry Tompkins, Ciaran McDonald, Oisin McConville or Brian McGuigan! This promises to be the toughest selection thus far, and nominations will be posted in the morning.

In the meantime, if you haven't already thrown your tuppence worth in for No.1-9, make sure and get your votes in!

**OMAR** Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:53 pm

Thomas Clarke wrote:Pleased to see more and more people voting and, with BE's shout-outs on twitter, I'm confident that this will continue.

Tomorrow sees us move into the half forward line, and its blend of workers, creators and scorers. We have no fewer than 7 former Footballers of the Year nominated in that line, and those 7 men have 20 All Stars between them. Think you know who they are? Well, I can tell you that none of the 7 are called Brian Dooher, Declan O'Sullivan, Greg Blaney, Larry Tompkins, Ciaran McDonald, Oisin McConville or Brian McGuigan! This promises to be the toughest selection thus far, and nominations will be posted in the morning.

In the meantime, if you haven't already thrown your tuppence worth in for No.1-9, make sure and get your votes in!

Mchugh, giles,donnelan,a brogan i can think of the rest will depend on your positioning
3 from
Fitzgerarld,joyce,canavan, b brogan,

**Thomas Clarke** Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:11 pm

None of the last 4 are in my half forwards - and Joyce was never player of the year, believe it or not!

**OMAR** Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:57 pm

In that case assume you are picking players who won FOTY in FF line.

so Cavanagh is a possibilty.
The rest im struggling with as I would assume O rourke, Gooch, Linden, O Neill would all be inside.
I presume Spillane is outside timespan and Donaghy I wouldn,t rank in a top 18.

**OMAR** Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:14 pm

So assuming you include the 7 above you named plus the seven poty you still need room for geraghty and fallon which id assume are a given if the cut is 18
Which leaves you with 2 from Ross carr, paul clarke, dessie farrell, paul Galvin, diarmuid Marsden, Alan Dillon, Charlie Redmond, Joyce Mcmullan, Ger cavlan, james mchugh and Tommy Dowd.

Hard to not offend here

**Thomas Clarke** Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:17 pm

You've covered them all Omar, except one - he'll be revealed in the morning.

Sean Cavanagh is one of the most difficult players of all to place. Won his FOTY at full forward, yet only played there for half a year. Won 3 at midfield, despite playing one of those years (2005) at wing forward. He played CHF this year against Donegal. He will be on tomorrow's list, at LHF.

**Thomas Clarke** Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:45 pm

Omar's post has prompted me to clarify what I mean by Footballer of the Year.

The Texaco Footballer of the Year has run from 1958, while the GPA All Stars Footballer of the Year has run alongside it from 1995. So, since 1995 there have been 2 FOTY awards.

Usually, the recipient is the same, so no problem. However, on a few occasions there has been a discrepancy (e.g. 1998 when Ja Fallon won the GPA award, and Michael Donnellan won the Texaco award). In those instances, I've acknowledged both recipients as having been FOTY, as to do anything otherwise would seem harsh on the men who won them.

**bocerty** Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:43 pm

does this forum recognise the GPA?????

**Thomas Clarke** Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:41 pm

I've had a quick look to see which counties are the most prominent in the nominations, and it is Meath who head the list with 14 (Hint: Loyal, there is no excuse for not taking part - on the other hand, Jonsmith, if you are waiting for Larry Reilly, you may wish to start voting for some alternatives!).

Nominations by County

14 - Meath
13 - Kerry
9 - Tyrone
8 - Cork
7 - Armagh, Derry, Dublin & Galway
5 - Down
4 - Kildare
3 - Donegal & Mayo
1 - Fermanagh, Tipperary & Wicklow

I'll apologise now to my Donegal friends. I hadn't realised that I'd represented you so poorly, particularly when you won 2 AI in the period. Perhaps it is because a lot of the current side are young and haven't yet solidified their reputations in this sort of company, while several of the 1992 group just missed the cut.

I'll also apologise to Jonsmith for not nominating big Dermot McCabe, and to Boxty for overlooking several fine Leitrim men. He can, with much justification, feel free to claim Meath's finest ever player, a man who will surely be pushing for selection tomorrow.

**Thomas Clarke** Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:00 pm

Oh how quickly a week goes. Tomorrow sees the final set of nominees, and what a line it will be. Yes, the Full Forward shortlist features no fewer than TEN former Footballers of the Year, plus 4 others who made the Independent's Top 125 players of all time list. If you thought the standard in the half forwards was high, well wait until you see the inside men!

As always, voting continues on the other lines, and the vast majority of the positions are still up for grabs, so please keep voting & debating on those.

**OMAR** Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:13 pm

Thomas Clarke wrote:I've had a quick look to see which counties are the most prominent in the nominations, and it is Meath who head the list with 14 (Hint: Loyal, there is no excuse for not taking part - on the other hand, Jonsmith, if you are waiting for Larry Reilly, you may wish to start voting for some alternatives!).

Nominations by County

14 - Meath
13 - Kerry
9 - Tyrone
8 - Cork
7 - Armagh, Derry, Dublin & Galway
5 - Down
4 - Kildare
3 - Donegal & Mayo
1 - Fermanagh, Tipperary & Wicklow

I'll apologise now to my Donegal friends. I hadn't realised that I'd represented you so poorly, particularly when you won 2 AI in the period. Perhaps it is because a lot of the current side are young and haven't yet solidified their reputations in this sort of company, while several of the 1992 group just missed the cut.

I'll also apologise to Jonsmith for not nominating big Dermot McCabe, and to Boxty for overlooking several fine Leitrim men. He can, with much justification, feel free to claim Meath's finest ever player, a man who will surely be pushing for selection tomorrow

3 donegal ?
Lacey and mchugh is all I can count.
Can't argue beton this too much im a fan of mcmullan but the company is richer.
Mcgee and cassidy are double all stars - but cassisy would have needed an AI and a third All star to rank at CHB. Hopefully mcgee,s day wil come

**Thomas Clarke** Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:54 pm

Patience, Omar, for the race is not yet run.

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