2014 All Stars 7-15 2015 All Stars 9-9
A late Richie Hogan led revival rescued a draw for the 2015 selection at Sunday’s Opel GAA/GPA All Star hurling exhibition in Austin, Texas.
The 2014 Hurler of the Year accounted for a quarter of the 16 goals on show as the All Star sides of 2014 and 2015 displayed the very best of hurling to a crowd of 500 at St Edward’s University sports grounds.
The 2014 side had led for the guts of the game, 11 ahead at one stage in the second half as Offaly’s Brian Carroll ran riot - he finished up with 2-5 to his name.
Yet he was pipped to the top scorer bragging rights by Hogan who netted three second half goals, one of which a penalty. The 2015 team’s other two scoring culprits were less expected, Kilkenny full back Joey Holden scored two goals, as did corner back Paul Murphy. Down the other end the defenders with the scoring itch were Limerick’s Wayne McNamara and Seamus Hickey, and Wexford’s Lee Chin - all of which raised green flags. While McNamara’s first half point from distance, after a fine piece of fielding, was one of the game’s highlights.
His fellow county man Shane Dowling also caught the eye with some silky touches, while others to showpiece the game’s skill set in seamless fashion were Liam Rushe at centre back with some excellent fetches, and of course Carroll and Hogan with a variety of classy scores. Another to catch the eye was Kerry livewire John Griffin.
At half-time there were four between them - the 2014 side leading 1-13 to 2-6 but it took 10 minutes of the second half before the first score was registered - with goalkeepers Eoin Murphy and Colm Callanan both in top form, aided by their goalposts.
But with that Holden effort, a well taken goal, the flood gates opened. Patrick Maher, and Carroll on two occasions scored goals for the 2014 side - but that lead slipped to three after a Hogan penalty with less than five minutes left, and the same man would scramble in another late effort seconds before the end to earn a share of the bragging rights.
2014 All Stars: E Murphy (Kilkenny), W McNamara (Limerick) (1-1), JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), S Hickey (Kilkenny) (1-o), L Chin (Wexford) (1-1), L Rushe (Dublin), K Bergin (Tipperary) (0-1), D Hannon (Limerick) (0-1), P Horgan (Cork) (1-3), P Maher (Tipperary) (1-1), B Carroll (Offaly) (2-5), S Dowling (Limerick) (0-1), D O'Callaghan (Dublin), C McDonald (Wexford) (0-1).
2015 All Stars: C Callanan (Galway), P Murphy (Kilkenny) (2-2), J Holden (Kilkenny) (2-0), N Connors (Waterford), C Buckley (Kilkenny), J Griffin (Kerry), N McManus (Antrim) (0-1), David Burke (Galway) (1-2), M Fennelly (Kilkenny), Ger Aylward (Kilkenny) (0-3), R Hogan (Kilkenny) (4-0), S Fives (Waterford), C Fennelly (Kilkenny), M Shanahan (Waterford) (0-1)
