The nominees for the GPA’s Football Team of the Year were announced yesterday afternoon and we’ve got three players – Peadar Gardiner, Ronan McGarrity and Aidan O’Shea – on the list. While the final decision on who gets onto the GPA’s team is made by GPA members themselves, the shortlist was drawn up by a troika comprising Martin McHugh (no friend of Mayo, he), Keith Barr and Paddy Heaney.
I’m not a great one for shortlists of this kind – decisions on All-Star awards and Teams of the Year and such like tend to be very subjectic and often there isn’t a whole pile of logic about who gets the gongs in any year. As a result, the make-up of the GPA’s list or the All-Star list isn’t of huge interest to me apart from where our lads are nominated. Taking the two lists together, what’s interesting is that we have five different players nominated, with none of this quintet featuring simultaneously on both lists (Aidan O’Shea is on the GPA shortlist and is also shortlisted for Young Player of the Year as part of the All-Stars but he didn’t make the All-Star list of nominees). What this means, I think, is that although the different journo types who drew up the two lists were conscious of the need to reward our Connacht championship success with a few (largely tokenistic) nominations, we shouldn’t expect any of our nominees to win an award.
I don’t think any of the five will make the cut for the All-Stars or the GPA team but I think it’d be an interesting exercise to speculate about which of them will come closest to doing so. To this end, I’ve stuck up a poll on the site (we haven’t had a poll for quite a while now so it’s definitely time for a new one) to test the waters on this point.
Just read Eriads post on County Board re fixtures. I agree with him. What clout has this board of ours, fixtures, referees etc i.e bread and butter stuff seem beyond them . In contrast the Kilkenny Co board were out of the traps like a light when there was controversy over access to the pitch for their supporters after the Hurling Final. I suppose thats the difference between winners and cliques.
Hi WJ,
Hogan Stand have given a time for the Provincial draws – 8.25pm on the 22nd, on RTE 2.
Agree about the Team Of The Year/All-Stars. We won’t get any. But after winning our province, I’m sure they felt they had to throw us some crumbs in the form of a few nominations.
I’m no great fan of the All-Stars anyway. For me, Cork were the best team in Ireland this year, bar the final of course. If they would of kicked over some of those bad wides in the 2nd half, they could well be AI champions. It’s amazing how the whole All-Star process can be judged on a few passages of play in one game in the whole year. Had Cork won that game, they would probably have 7 All-Stars to Kerry’s 2 or 3, instead it’s likely to be the other way around.
Looking forward to the start of the league already. That game under lights against Galway should be a great occasion. Flights with Ryanair (God help us…) only £20 so will definitely be heading over for that one.
I read a Trapattoni quote about Mayo football today.
Trapattoni said: ‘In football, there are players who are aesthetically pleasing, and there are winning players. Some players may be beautiful to watch, but it is not enough. You need to win. There is poetry and there are novels. Novels are different to poetry.’
I didn’t realise he was so well up on Mayo Football. He seems to have got it spot on.
Maybe Trappatoni will be at a loose end when The Second Coming is over …
Thanks for that info on the championship draw, Dan. Sounds like you’re well sorted for the Galway game. I’d say that one would be well worth coming over for – there’s usually a good atmosphere for the matches under lights and it’ll be nice to see this era get underway at McHale Park. I’d expect our lads will want to give Big Joe a nice welcome to the West as well so it’s definitely a match to pencil in.
Agree can’t see any all stars coming our way this year. The sad thing is that we have had very all stars in the last 12 years (since our 1996 /1997 All Ireland appearances).
In 1999 James Horan , then in 2004 we got 2 in James Nallen and Ciaran McDonald and then in 2006 another 2 with Alan Dillon and Conor Mortimer.
So 5 All Stars in 12 years for a footballing county like Mayo peaks volumes – The Gooch has bagged that many on his own I think !!!
And Dublin who haven’t even made it to an All Ireland final in the same period have received 12 All Stars . Don’t begrudge it to the Dubs or anything but I don’t think Dublin have been ahead of us by 12 to 5.
And I will finish my All Stars rant on this one… since Galway won a scatter of awards in 2001 after their AI win that year only 2 other Connacht players have got an All Star other than the Mayo 4 mentioned earlier – Eamon O’Hara in 2002 and Kevin Walsh in 2003 !!! Since 2002 The All Star score is Dublin 10 : All of Connacht 6 on !!!
What’s Going on ???
Interesting stats, Ma-Yoman. To answer your question about what’s going on, all I think you need to do is to dig out some figures on how many national newspapers are sold in Dublin and compare this with how many are sold west of the Shannon. It’s the journos on the national papers who pick the All-Stars and so it’s no coincidence that they’ll always find room for a Dub or two on the team every single year, regardless of how the Dubs perform.
Watch this year as some guy from Wicklow will win an All Star. Anywhere Micko is/was or paidi O Se always pick up All Stars, i.e West meath and Kildare.
I firgot Laois as well. To think that Peter Burke, Dave Brady and David heaney never won an All Star makes a laugh out of those awards.