RARELY HAS an All Star hurling selection been so utterly dominated by the one team, but then rarely has one team been as dominant as Kilkenny were in the championship of 2008. Nine Kilkenny players, including for the eighth time the indefatigable Henry Shefflin, were last night rewarded for their masterly season which saw them win the county's first three-in-a-row All-Ireland in 95 years in the most convincing fashion possible.

Unlike the football selection there could be little or no arguing this time, and it would have been no great surprise had Kilkenny picked up a couple of more. In the end, just four other counties got a look in, with Tipperary claiming three awards, and Cork, Galway and Waterford each claiming one.

As if to complete their dominance, the Hurler of the Year award then went to Eoin Larkin, who was the only one of the nine Kilkenny players winning his first All Star. Shefflin's eighth award leaves him just one short of the All Star record of nine jointly held by former team-mate DJ Carey and Kerry footballer Pat Spillane.

The Kilkenny dominance was increasingly underlined as the selection was announced at last night's banquet at Dublin's Citywest hotel; they claimed all three fullback line positions - with Michael Kavanagh winning his fourth award, Noel Hickey his third, and Jackie Tyrrell his second.

They claimed two of the halfback positions - with Tommy Walsh winning his sixth successive award, and JJ Delaney his fourth - while All-Ireland winning captain James Fitzpatrick picked up his third successive award at midfield.

They then claimed three of the six forward positions, when they so easily could have claimed at least one more. Shefflin was named at centre forward and Larkin at left half forward, while Eddie Brennan won his fourth award at right full forward.

Richie Power and Aidan Fogarty thus missed out when in any other year they could have got in, but still, Kilkenny's final haul of nine players was only twice equalled in the county's history - in 2000 and 1983.

The final tally of five All Star counties is, in fact, one more than last year, when only four got a look in, although the bigger talking point will undoubtedly be the single award for beaten All-Ireland finalists Waterford through full forward Eoin Kelly.

While this looked likely given Waterford received only five nominations to begin with, reflecting both the scale of their defeat in the final and their form earlier in the summer, John Mullane will feel a little unlucky to miss out given his equally pivotal role in the team during the championship progress, which saw him collect 2-21 in the process.

Kelly, at least, was a definite given his quite remarkable scoring consistency which saw him easily end up the championship top scorer with his 7-43.

Galway had received just one nomination in forward Joe Canning, and he justifiably made the selection at left full forward despite it being his first season as a senior - where he ended up the second-highest scorer in the championship and with the top match scoring average of 0-13. To top off his night, Canning was also named the Young Hurler of the Year.

While Cork received seven nominations, Ben O'Connor is their sole award winner at right half forward, and again it was well deserved. O'Connor hit 1-32 over the summer and typified Cork's spirit in the back-to-the-wall moments against Galway and Clare.

So to Tipperary, who complete the line-up with a slightly unexpected three awards: goalkeeper Brendan Cummins, centre back Conor O'Mahony and midfielder Shane McGrath. Cummins claims his fourth award, whole O'Mahony and McGrath are first-time winners. But it was just reward for the Munster and National League champions who had gone into last night's banquet with the second-highest tally of nine nominations.

With the football All Stars already announced, the only other business to be decided last night were the remaining Player of the Year awards.

As expected, the Footballer of the Year award went to Seán Cavanagh of Tyrone, capping off a remarkable two months where he collected two Player of the Month awards, his third All-Ireland medal with Tyrone, his fourth All Star, and the captaincy of the Irish team for the International Rules series with Australia later this month.

The final award of the night went to Kerry forward Tommy Walsh who claimed the Young Footballer of the Year.