A season that turned the hurling world on its head is ending with Clare predictably topping the list of All Star nominees, all but two of their starting line-up from last Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay making the cut.
Their haul of 13 nominees equals the record total for the county, having gathered up the same amount in 1997. Back then it translated into five awards when the night of the gala dinner arrived.
Dublin and Cork come next with nine nominations apiece, followed by Limerick with seven, Kilkenny four, Waterford two and Wexford one. Tipperary’s disappointing summer is reflected in the fact they haven’t earned a nomination for the first time in over 30 years.
Of those Clare players nominated, last year's All Star wing back Brendan Bugler is the sole holder of an award.
Nominated before
Indeed only Bugler and wing forward John Conlon have ever been nominated before. All six of their starting forwards from last Saturday are nominated, including Man of the Match Shane O'Donnell, who had only started against Waterford and Laois all summer before his star turn in the replay.
Clare also supply both midfielders, two of the half-back line, two of the full-back line and a goalkeeper.
Only corner back Cian Dillon and wing back Patrick O’Connor miss out. Darach Honan, who started the majority of Clare’s matches before losing his place to O’Donnell for the replay doesn’t make it either.
Beaten finalists Cork will be happy enough with their nine nominations. Anthony Nash was always certain of a spot among the goalkeepers and the experienced trio of Shane O’Neill, Conor O’Sullivan and Brian Murphy were certainly their best defenders all year.
Daniel Kearney was a cert for midfield, although Lorcán McLoughlin can possibly feel a touch hard done by. Four of their forwards are included – Séamus Harnedy, Patrick Horgan and Pa Cronin who were all expected to be nominated, and Conor Lehane, less so.
Dublin’s Gary Maguire and Liam Rushe both picked up their first awards in 2010 and they are nominated again. Full back Peter Kelly has a decent chance of picking up his first award and there are nods for Mick Carton and Joey Boland.
In the half-forward line both Conal Keaney and Danny Sutcliffe are shortlisted, albeit no other line on the pitch will be as keenly contested.
Outstanding
While Keaney and Sutcliffe were both outstanding as Dublin fought their way to the All Ireland semi-final, Harnedy's claims are strong and that's before you get to the Clare trio of Tony Kelly, John Conlon and Colin Ryan.
For Limerick, a return of seven nominations for their first Munster title in 17 years may seem slight at first glance. But when you consider they only played three matches in the championship, it’s clear the selectors had limited evidence to judge them on.
Nonetheless, only two of their forwards make the cut – James Ryan in the half forwards and Graeme Mulcahy among the inside forwards.
The Limerick backs fared better, their four nominees equalled only by Clare. Richie McCarthy, Tom Condon, Wayne McNamara and Gavin O’Mahony all deserved inclusions, as did midfielder Paul Browne.
Despite departing before the All-Ireland semi-final stage for the first time since 1996, Kilkenny still merited four nominations. Paul Murphy and Kieran Joyce make the cut in defence, with Richie Hogan and Eoin Larkin the standard bearers in attack.
Interestingly, the list of nominations is without the names of Henry Shefflin and Tommy Walsh for the first time in either of their careers.
Shefflin has been a nominee every year since his debut in 1999, ditto with Walsh every year since 2003.
The list is rounded out by two old reliables from Waterford in Michael Brick Walsh and Kevin Moran, as well as Wexford’s teak tough defender Tomás Waters.
The final selection will be made on Wednesday, November 6th before the final 15 are presented with their awards two days later at the All-Star banquet at Croke Park.
