The Vodafone GAA All Stars goes ahead tonight with the hurling team already selected, 6 coming from the Kilkenny Cats.
Henry Shefflin has won his 9th award, a great achievement and well deserved. I was delighted to see PJ Ryan win his first award, rarely do we witness a CATS Goalie winning this prestigious award.
Who would have thought McCrabbe would get this far?It will also be a fantastic night for Alan McCrabbe from Dublin. What were the odds of this happening at the start of the year.
Maybe next year we might have 2 Dublin all star midfielders as Shane Ryan has thrown his lot to the Hurling panel.
At the end of the day you could not blame him, he was badly treated by Gilroy this year. No time play, no impact, far cry from his all star award the year before.
Tipp received 4 awards, this is some consolation after their bitter defeat but still will not heal the hurt.
John Mullane was also a worthy winner as he single handily kept Waterford afloat and was inspired throughout the campaign.
Now to the footballersBack to the footballers which will be picked live tonight, no doubt it will take on a similar structure to the hurling with 6 players from Kerry, 4 from Cork, 1 or 2 from Tyrone and one from Dublin for old time sake.
I won 3 and to be honest I have more respect for an O’ Sullivan Cup medal (b competition) than I won with Glenflesk than any of the 3 awards I got.
I got three All Stars - but media have too much sayAn all star is a watery prize, it comes from a selection committee and is based on their opinion. This is not won, it is awarded.
A medal is won and no one can take it away from you. There is no politics with winning or losing – it is straight down the line. With all star awards, the media have too much of a say and this is wrong. Leave the all star be picked by the players.
Players player would be better To me any award selected by players is far more rewarding, purer, genuine.
Outside of the award, it is a good night out, an opportunity to meet players form both codes and have a few jars into the late night.
Only problem for most players is that club football is in full swing and some may need to hold back form the socialising again tonight so they are right for the weekends match.
For the record this is my all star team,
1. Diarmuid Murphy
2. Anthony Lynch
3. Michael Shields
4. Tom O’ Sullivan
5. Tomas O’ Se
6. Graham Canty
7. John Miskella ( would give this to mike mac of kerry but I know they wont)
8. Dermot Earley
9. Seamus Scanlon
10. Paul Galvin
11. Sean Cavanagh
12. Tadgh Kennelly
13. Stephen O’ Neill
14. Declan O’ Sullivan
15. Michael Murphy (Daniel Goulding should get this award)
That's by my reckoning cut up like this -
Kerry – 7
Cork -4
Tyrone – 2
Kildare – 1
Donegal – 1
Won't be far off I reckon, might throw a tenner on same
Talk next week
The Pony