Best Full-Back line of last 25 years

Here are the nominees for the full back line.  Let's have your votes and views, and the winner will be announced at the weekend.  Half backs to follow tomorrow.


RIGHT CORNER BACK

Kenneth Mortimor (Mayo) - 2 All Stars - Very fast and tight marker.  The best of his footballing clan.

Kieran McKeever (Derry) - 1 AI - 1 All Star - Old-fashioned man-marker.

Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone) - 3 AI - 1 All Star - Tigerish, abrasive but fine footballer and leader. 
 
Bobby O'Malley (Meath) - 2 AI - 3 All Stars - 1 FOTY - Strong, tough and very consistent.

Marc O'Se (Kerry) - 4 AI - 3 All Stars - 1 FOTY - Stylish, skillful and versatile.

Tom O'Sullivan (Kerry) - 5 AI - 2 All Stars - Reliable and very consistent.  Rarely got the plaudits he deserved..



FULL BACK

Francie Bellew (Armagh) - 1 AI - 1 All Star - Dismissed by some as slow, but was hardly ever bested.  Inspirational.

Graham Canty (Cork) - 1 AI - 3 All Stars - Dynamic and versatile.  Tremendous leader for his side.

Darren Fay (Meath) - 2 AI - 3 All Stars - From a long line of great Meath full backs. Fast, strong and good in the air.

Mick Lyons (Meath) - 2 AI - 2 All Stars - From another age.  Hard as nails.  Dominated the square.

Seamus Moynihan (Kerry) - 4 AI - 3 All Stars - 1 FOTY - Could play well anywhere, but won his FOTY at full back.

Barry Owens (Fermanagh) - 2 All Stars - Very athletic.  2 All Stars for Fermanagh by age of 24.  Injury ravaged. 


LEFT CORNER BACK

Karl Lacey (Donegal) - 1 AI - 4 All Stars - 1 FOTY - Equally good as a marker or footballer. Best current defender. 

Sean-Marty Lockhart (Derry) - 1 All Star - Very tight marker.  Also outstanding for Ireland in International Rules.

Anthony Lynch (Cork) - 1 AI - 2 All Stars - Strong and aggressive marker.  Finally got his AI reward.

Tomas Mannion (Galway) - 2 AI - 1 All Star - Equally good in corner or CHB.  Very strong and good in the air.

Michael McCarthy (Kerry) - 5 AI - 3 All Stars - Made his name in corner. Athletic and rangy with great awareness.

Tony Scullion (Derry) - 1 AI - 4 All Stars - Mr Consistency.  So reliable, with great ability to eliminate danger.

It didn't take long for this process to get tricky.....

I'm not, nor should anyone, quibble with the list and positioning of nominees, but the selection process is a mix of the "old and the new".

I'm clear on Bobby O'Malley for starters but to go with traditional or modern carries the rub.

A Moynihan / Lacey combo gives flair and panache whereas a Fay / Scullion pairing is the more traditional.

O'Malley at 2, the rest later.

Boxtyeater wrote:It didn't take long for this process to get tricky.....

I'm not, nor should anyone, quibble with the list and positioning of nominees, but the selection process is a mix of the "old and the new"....A Moynihan / Lacey combo gives flair and panache whereas a Fay / Scullion pairing is the more traditional.

Tricky indeed, Boxty. Moynihan and Lacey were 2 of the most difficult players to assign to a position. Graham Geraghty, Declan O'Sullivan and Sean Cavanagh were also tough, as they have all been outstanding in 3 or more positions.

I went for Moynihan at FB as that is where he won FOTY. Lacey was selected in the corner because he played most of his career there, and also because there were so many fine CHBs (as will be seen tomorrow!).

some list of players there - going to be tough to pick 3

O Malley / Moynihan / Lacey

Agree with Boxty O Malley is the easier call
Hard to leave out Darren Fay but the protocol was clear in advance and Moynihan gets my vote (his versatility shading it)

Scullion or Lacey - In my mind if LAcey stays injury free he could in time be considered
one of the greatest of any era

Consider that he had three all stars before ever playing in an All Ireland final - and through mediocrity/malaise around him suffered from a number of 2/3 game championships imagine what his haul would be if he played in a county that had contended in August between 2004-2008/ 2010

Lacey is my mind has an unmatched gift than when he gets the ball he will 100% of the time imrpove the position if thats an accurate pass or getting out of a 3 man corner he does it without fail.

the longer you think about this the harder it gets (heard that line somewhere before!!!)

like Boxty, O'Malley was the first man on my list

my choices are
O'Malley
Fay
Scullion

i know i've omitted some of the finest footballers in the country and it doesn't rest easy with me picking two Meath men but...............

OK, here's my call.

O'Malley, Fay, Lacey....

Terrible leaving out Moynihan and to  lesser extent Scullion, but given that O'Malley was a shoe-in for me, I've squirreled in 2 different styles....

There again, other nominees will have their supporters and such is the purpose of the thread.

bocerty wrote:
i know i've omitted some of the finest footballers in the country and it doesn't rest easy with me picking two Meath men but...............

That will be a recurring theme, Boc. When I was compiling the shortlists and looking at the awards they had all won, I was struck by just how many really good footballers there have been in the last 25 years. There are also plenty of good ones who aren't going to get a mention

O'Se, Moynihan, Lacey.

RMDrive wrote:O'Se, Moynihan, Lacey.

RMD, as we would expect, going for class here. Hard to imagine a better footballing full-back line.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

RMDrive wrote:O'Se, Moynihan, Lacey.

RMD, as we would expect, going for class here.  Hard to imagine a better footballing full-back line.

Genuinely when I wrote it I got a shiver up my spine thinking of the 3 lining out together. The combined intelligence would be magnificent, never mind the skills and physical attributes. We are lucky to be able to watch and admire players like these.

18 nominations across the full back line and not one Dublin player. 3 nominations from Derry and Ryan McMenamin! Bit of a joke really.

JCluxton wrote:18 nominations across the full back line and not one Dublin player.  3 nominations from Derry and Ryan McMenamin!  Bit of a joke really.

Thanks for your input.  I couldn't think of any Dublin players to consider for the full back line, but there were 2 goalkeepers, and a couple more in the half back line today.  

I'd encourage you to register (or re-activate an existing account) and take part in the debate/voting.

Ciaran Walsh at least worthy of nomination as is Paddy Moran. As for goalkeepers it would be a total farce to exclude the finest two from the last 25 years from nomination. Similarly with the half back line the exclusion of Curran and Barr would have made it a bit of a joke. Galvin should be in there too.

JCluxton wrote:Ciaran Walsh at least worthy of nomination as is Paddy Moran.  As for goalkeepers it would be a total farce to exclude the finest two from the last 25 years from nomination.  Similarly with the half back line the exclusion of Curran and Barr would have made it a bit of a joke.  Galvin should be in there too.

there are loads of players who 'should' be in there but they arent. There are some fine footballers from outside Dublin who are equally as good if not better than the names you mentioned so get over yourself.

I could think of a few from the Down/Donegal/Derry teams of the early 90s who deserve a mention but havent had one. I could also name a few from Tyrone who arent there

If all your going to do is whinge and gurn about who is there and who isnt then best just to forget about it.

Grand job so. I thought you were looking for opinions and debate. My mistake. Whole thing a bit of a joke in all fairness.

JCluxton wrote:Grand job so.  I thought you were looking for opinions and debate.  My mistake.  Whole thing a bit of a joke in all fairness.

I'll humour you, despite your negativity being neither constructive nor welcome.

You named 3 Dublin fullbacks, Keith Galvin, Ciaran Walshe and Paddy Moran, which was the was the fullback line in the 1995 AI win. Upon taking over the reigns the following season, new Dublin manager Mickey Whelan allegedly described them as 'the worst full back line ever to win an all ireland'. This did not go down well with the squad, but the statement was perhaps not without truth.

None of those Dublin players were considered for my shortlist, nor would they have been if I'd been nominating 20 players per position.

Whelan was a fine footballer and around a lot longer than one year. He has two NFLs too.

But sure I suppose Ryan McMenamin is pure class.

I was referring to Mick Galvin's non-inclusion on the half line. Not Keith - apologies for confusion. Would not tout Keith for a place.

JCluxton wrote:Whelan was a fine footballer and around a lot longer than one year.  He has two NFLs too.

But sure I suppose Ryan McMenamin is pure class.

I was referring to Mick Galvin's non-inclusion on the half line.  Not Keith - apologies for confusion.  Would not tout Keith for a place.

What Whelan are you talking about?  Mickey Whelan?  Ciaran Whelan? Jason Whelan? Marty Whelan?!  

And Mick Galvin was a corner forward, not a half back.  

And you call this thread a joke?!  

Apologies again - Ciaran Walsh obviously - not Whelan. I spose I will get a real smart ass reply now!

Mick Deegan I meant - names all over the place!

But correct on the smart ass reply fair play to me!

O'Malley, Moynihan, Mannion - Won't pick Lacey for now, see how well he does after a few seasons first, that does not mean I don't think he is a fantastic footballer.

GAA-Fan wrote:O'Malley, Moynihan, Mannion - Won't pick Lacey for now, see how well he does after a few seasons first, that does not mean I don't think he is a fantastic footballer.

Mannion is a very interesting one, and I had begun to think that no-one was going to mention him.  He was outstanding at corner back in 1998, with Joe Brolly famously quipping that the best he could say about his own performance in the '98 semi, was that he had held Mannion scoreless!  Equally good 3 years later at CHB.

Mannion was a very tough player, can't remember what game it was but remember him standing in the middle of the pitch and a player ran into him and just fell to the ground.

I'm going to agree with everyone else, and vote for Bobby O'Malley at RCB, as he was better defensively than Marc O'Se or McMenamin.  Kerry's Tom O'Sullivan was rarely beaten, but you could argue that he often got the weakest of the oppositions forwards to look after.  

At Full Back, I think that Barry Owens was the most talented of the lot, as suggested by having 2 all stars by the age of 24 (playing for Fermanagh!).  However, injuries would rule him out for me.  I'll go for Darren Fay ahead of Moynihan.  Moynihan was a brilliant footballer, but Fay was a colossus on the edge of the square.

I was going to vote for Scullion or Mannion at LCB, but I've been swayed by Omar's partisan but worthy advocation of Karl Lacey.  I just hope the opposition don't bombard him with the high ball.

At this stage, O'Malley is the front runner at No.2, but the other 2 slots are still wide open.