Hurling All Stars Joke

[bracknaghboy]

Really this whole thing should be scrapped.....a look at this years nominations are further proof that has turned into a complete farce:

The GAA All Stars, sponsored by Vodafone, Hurling Nominations for 2010 are:

Goalkeepers:
Brendan Cummins (Tipperary)
Donal Óg Cusack (Cork)
Clinton Hennessy (Waterford)


Full backs:
Jackie Tyrell (Kilkenny)
Noel Connors (Waterford)
Ollie Canning (Galway)
Paddy Stapleton (Tipperary)
Paul Curran (Tipperary)
John Dalton (Kilkenny)
Shane Kavanagh (Galway)
Shane O'Neill (Cork)
Michael Cahill (Tipperary)


Half backs:Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny)
JJ Delaney (Kilkenny)
Michael Walsh (Waterford)
Tony Browne (Waterford)
Pádraic Maher (Tipperary)
Tony Óg Regan (Galway)
Ronan Curran (Cork)
Declan Fanning (Tipperary)
John Gardiner (Cork)


Midfield:
Michael Fennelly (Kilkenny)
Shane McGrath (Tipperary)
Brendan Maher (Tipperary
Ger Farragher (Galway)
Shane O'Sullivan (Waterford)
Michael Rice (Kilkenny)


Half forwards:
Noel McGrath (Tipperary)
Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny)
Gearoid Ryan (Tipperary)
Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny)
Niall McCarthy (Cork)
Damien Hayes (Galway)
TJ Reid (Kilkenny)
Lar Corbett (Tipperary)
Patrick Maher


Full forwards:
John Mullane (Waterford)
Eoin Kelly (Tipperary)
Richie Power (Kilkenny)
Shane Dooley (Offaly)
Patrick Horgan (Cork)
Joe Canning (Galway)
Liam Watson (Antrim)
Aidan Fogarty (Kilkenny)
John O'Brien (Tipperary)


Breakdown of nominations by counties is as follows:
Tipperary 14
Kilkenny 11
Cork 6
Galway 6
Waterford 6
Antrim 1
Offaly 1

Ollie Canning!! Is this a mis-print? The guy was destroyed in both Offlay games and the wexford match.
Joe Canning!! As above. He was dreadful al year surely Joe Bergin had a far better year than him?
Liam Watson!! Had a fantastic game against Cork but was on and off the panel for most of the year and hardly deserved a nomination?? Again Joe Bergin had a much better year

[leinsterman]

they have been a joke for the last 17 year's its a wonder they haven't got 3 or 4 from Dublin on it.
yes Joe Bergin and Dave Kenny can feel hard done bye not to get a nominations.

[Foreign Paddy]

Offaly have always got a raw deal in the All-Stars, 3 obvious occasions are 1981, Pat Delaney, Hurler of the Year but not worthy of an All-Star, make that one out. 1994 Brian Whealan, again Hurler of the Year but again not worthy of an All-Star. 1997 Vinny Claffey, had great championship but gave it to Mike Frank, even though he had won young player of the year and was goin on to win many more All-Stars, Vinny was at the end of his career and never had another chance to win one, other corner went to Joe Brolly I think, this was worse then giving one to MF. Also note that in the history of the hurling All-Stars the Hurler of the Year hasn't got an All-Star on ONLY TWO occasions, strange that both were Offaly men.

[naasmanxrhode]

Look at the football nomination, Eamonn Callaghan nominated as a half back, but played the whole year wearing number 15, deserves a nomination but as a forward, a joke.

[backofthenet]

Joe Bergin...lads are ye serious?? Okay there are some on the list that are doubtful at best, ollie canning is certainly one but he is retiring and i think there is a general concensus out there that he was one of the best corner backs over the last decade or so.

On Joe Canning, as bad a year he had in the championship he still done more to warrant inclusion than Joe Bergin.

Dave Kenny...is this the same Dave Kenny that got destroyed against Galway the second day??!!!

If you were going to pick Offaly players that warranted includsion they are Shane Dooley and possibly James Rigney

[bracknaghboy]

ollie canning is certainly one but he is retiring and i think there is a general concensus out there that he was one of the best corner backs over the last decade or so.

O right and this is good enough reason to give him an All-Star in 2010 is it??? This is the type odf attitude that has these "All Stars" the way they are!

[leinsterman]

Joe Bergin...lads are ye serious?? Okay there are some on the list that are doubtful at best, ollie canning is certainly one but he is retiring and i think there is a general concensus out there that he was one of the best corner backs over the last decade or so.

On Joe Canning, as bad a year he had in the championship he still done more to warrant inclusion than Joe Bergin.

Dave Kenny...is this the same Dave Kenny that got destroyed against Galway the second day??!!!

If you were going to pick Offaly players that warranted includsion they are Shane Dooley and possibly James Rigney

Joe Bergin had a good championship he got 2-10 from play in the five matche's a lot more than Eoin larkin or Bonnar maher got for tipp
Bergin was the top scorer from play this year for offaly Shane Dooley had a good year but alot of his scores came from frees.

Noel hickey was also left out hadn't got a great final but Shane Kavanagh was brutal again offaly the two days and the leinster final
Michael Rice picked as well and didn't get his place for the final or didn't play again Dublin they are a joke

[Bord na Mona man]

I wouldn't get too worried about it.
There is a consistent formula for nomination and awards. Once you don't make the Quarter finals, you are unlikely to get more than 1 or 2 nominations.

A bounce of ball in the AI final can be the difference between a team getting 4 awards as runners up, or 7 awards as winners. That is the fickleness of the system.

Offaly, despite success in the past, are not a high profile county in terms of media or public interest. With so few household names, a player would need to doing something special to announce himself in a particular year.

The likes of the Cannings can trade off a few years of big time exposure. Whether they deserve nominations this year is debatable. If either of them were in their debut season, they would be less likely to be noticed purely based on what they produced this year.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Given where Offaly finished this year (outside the quarter finals) and our profile over the last few years it would take something special for Dooley to take home an award.

Yet... Lar Corbett's jig out to the half forward line seems to indicate that the All-Star selectors are trying to make room for somebody inside and as I look at the full forward list John Mullane and Richie Power are the only two that would have a right to consider themselves definitely ahead of Dooley. Eoin Kelly could very easily get one given his status and the year thats in it but am I wrong in thinking that Dooley has a decent chance?

[Phoenix]

Lets not forget that Offaly is still (as far as I know) the only county with All-Stars in every position, football and hurling. So we can hardly complain too much about the All-Star system. The All-Stars started (as far as I remember) in 1971, the year of Offaly's first senior All-Ireland, and Eugene Mulligan was uncontested at right half back that year.

I wonder will Cork be able to claim the full set of football and hurling positions if they get a raft of football All-Stars over the next few years?

As far as this year is concerned Shane Dooley has been immense and I'd love to see him get an award although I'd bet against it. Shane can be frustrating to watch when he waits behind his man for the break but he is deadly when he gets the chance. Some talent! Great club footballer too!!

For the future the likes of James Rigney, David Kenny, Stephen Egan and Joe Bergin might well put themselves in the frame over the next few years if Offaly have good championship runs.

[leinsterman]

Lets not forget that Offaly is still (as far as I know) the only county with All-Stars in every position, football and hurling. So we can hardly complain too much about the All-Star system. The All-Stars started (as far as I remember) in 1971, the year of Offaly's first senior All-Ireland, and Eugene Mulligan was uncontested at right half back that year.

I wonder will Cork be able to claim the full set of football and hurling positions if they get a raft of football All-Stars over the next few years?

As far as this year is concerned Shane Dooley has been immense and I'd love to see him get an award although I'd bet against it. Shane can be frustrating to watch when he waits behind his man for the break but he is deadly when he gets the chance. Some talent! Great club footballer too!!

For the future the likes of James Rigney, David Kenny, Stephen Egan and Joe Bergin might well put themselves in the frame over the next few years if Offaly have good championship runs.

i think galway have also done it in 2005 Ger Farragher was the one that got in for them in the forwards.
offaly were the first to do it with john troys all start at centre forward in 1999.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I smiled when I read that they only discovered the All-stars were a farce in Birr in 1993 (no offence, Leinsterman)! Shure we knew in Lusmagh long, long before that what a joke the whole thing was.

That Jim Troy never got an All-star beggared belief. Then again, All-star goalkeeper is awarded on the basis of spectacular diving around the square, as opposed to one’s command of the same square, which is the basic housekeeping of goalkeeping.

Jim should have got 3 or 4 awards during his time. He certainly should have got 1985, as well as the years Ken Hogan and John Commins won the award (neither of whom would keep out sheep – the best save Commins made was when Liam Fennelly threw the ball into his chest when the goalkeeper’s head was facing behind the goal), while Tommy Quaid got an award for his service to hurling in 1992. Then there were journalists who decried the scandal noted above – but who were the electorate?

The worst of all was the rule that you couldn’t get an All-Star if you were sent off during the year. Worse again was the odd rule that if you were sent off between being named for an award, and the All-star banquet then you weren’t allowed attend the banquet, as happened at Fleury who controversially was sent his award in the post on year in the early 80s after being put off in a NHL match.

As for Offaly and the All-stars, where do you start. The only All-Ireland finalists to be given only one award in 2000. For comparison, Antrim got 2 in 1989. I never got too hung up on the Whelahan one though – he was up against Dave Clarke who was Limerick’s best hurler that year. T’was Clarke got them to the All-Ireland, not Carey soloing up blind alleys or Kirby doing it all himself. That Limerick got as many awards as All-Ireland champions Offaly says more about Limerick’s relations with the media than anything else – they do all their business in the papers.

As for this year’s nominations, I heard the breakdown by county on the radio yesterday morning which read that Offaly got one nomination and Galway got 6. Would anyone have thought the breakdown would be 6 – 1 in Galway’s favour at the end of June? Now the Offaly one could have been either Demosey, Rigney, Kenny, Rory, Bergin or Dooley. I genuinely couldn’t have come up with 6 for Galway – Hayes and Burke was as far as I got – and Burke (Galway’s best midfielder this year) didn’t even get a nomination. Congratulations to Shane who can be fitted for his suit now. He put in alot of work and is Offaly’s most improved hurler this year.

Elsewhere, Gary Maguire should have got a nomination for keeping Kilkenny’s goal tally down to four in June, while Keith Rossiter should have got one for keeping the ball out of Prince Joe’s reach in May. Finally, as I end my rant, the best right half back in Ireland this year was John Gardiner. We’ll see if this is reflected in the awards.

[leinsterman]

I smiled when I read that they only discovered the All-stars were a farce in Birr in 1993 (no offence, Leinsterman)! Shure we knew in Lusmagh long, long before that what a joke the whole thing was.

That Jim Troy never got an All-star beggared belief. Then again, All-star goalkeeper is awarded on the basis of spectacular diving around the square, as opposed to one’s command of the same square, which is the basic housekeeping of goalkeeping.

Jim should have got 3 or 4 awards during his time. He certainly should have got 1985, as well as the years Ken Hogan and John Commins won the award (neither of whom would keep out sheep – the best save Commins made was when Liam Fennelly threw the ball into his chest when the goalkeeper’s head was facing behind the goal), while Tommy Quaid got an award for his service to hurling in 1992. Then there were journalists who decried the scandal noted above – but who were the electorate?

The worst of all was the rule that you couldn’t get an All-Star if you were sent off during the year. Worse again was the odd rule that if you were sent off between being named for an award, and the All-star banquet then you weren’t allowed attend the banquet, as happened at Fleury who controversially was sent his award in the post on year in the early 80s after being put off in a NHL match.

As for Offaly and the All-stars, where do you start. The only All-Ireland finalists to be given only one award in 2000. For comparison, Antrim got 2 in 1989. I never got too hung up on the Whelahan one though – he was up against Dave Clarke who was Limerick’s best hurler that year. T’was Clarke got them to the All-Ireland, not Carey soloing up blind alleys or Kirby doing it all himself. That Limerick got as many awards as All-Ireland champions Offaly says more about Limerick’s relations with the media than anything else – they do all their business in the papers.

As for this year’s nominations, I heard the breakdown by county on the radio yesterday morning which read that Offaly got one nomination and Galway got 6. Would anyone have thought the breakdown would be 6 – 1 in Galway’s favour at the end of June? Now the Offaly one could have been either Demosey, Rigney, Kenny, Rory, Bergin or Dooley. I genuinely couldn’t have come up with 6 for Galway – Hayes and Burke was as far as I got – and Burke (Galway’s best midfielder this year) didn’t even get a nomination. Congratulations to Shane who can be fitted for his suit now. He put in alot of work and is Offaly’s most improved hurler this year.

Elsewhere, Gary Maguire should have got a nomination for keeping Kilkenny’s goal tally down to four in June, while Keith Rossiter should have got one for keeping the ball out of Prince Joe’s reach in May. Finally, as I end my rant, the best right half back in Ireland this year was John Gardiner. We’ll see if this is reflected in the awards.

Brian Whelahan was man of the match in the 94 final plus i think he got man of the match in leinster semil again kk that year. as for Dave Clarke joe dooley got 1-2 of him
in the 94 final, as for the keeper Joe Quaid let in the most goal's in the 94 championship Jim troy was unlucky not to win one.
and johnny pilkington should have got more than one allstar in the time he was hurling.

their was a story told to me after the offaly all ireland win and the allstars were gave out in 1981 Pat Delaney was out testing some cattle
and the man of the house said well pat you didn't get a allstar pat said they can keep their allstars i have my all ireland medal thats what matter's.

[durra1]

For those who missed it , Delamere flew the flag at the Allstars for us ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQlI5zaHtKc

[Bord na Mona man]

For those who missed it , Delamere flew the flag at the Allstars for us ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQlI5zaHtKc

He may have started to lose the run of himself as the piece went on.
Did anyone spot him at the Down match btw? I don't think I've ever seen him at a game.