All-Star Hurling Award nominations revealed

Tipp top All Star nominations list

From the Irish Times newspaper

After a campaign that they will look back on with a mixture of pride and frustration, Tipperary were handed 13 nominations for the hurling All Stars this evening. The beaten All-Ireland finalists top the list, edging champions Kilkenny (12) into second place.

Galway have six players up for consideration with Waterford represented by five men on the initial list.

Tommy Walsh, John Mullane and Lar Corbett will contest the hurler of the year award while Joe Canning, Pádraic Maher and Noel McGrath are shortlisted for the young hurler gong.

Kilkenny’s Henry Shefflin may have missed out on a nod for the ultimate accolade but will join a select band should he win a ninth All Star next month. Only DJ Carey and Pat Spillane have reached that mark.

The final team that will be named at an awards ceremony in the Citywest hotel on Friday, October 16th.

HURLING NOMINATIONS

GOALKEEPER

Brendan Cummins (Tipperary)

Clinton Hennessy (Waterford)

PJ Ryan (Kilkenny)

FULL BACKS

Ollie Canning (Galway)

Noel Connors (Waterford)

JJ Delaney (Kilkenny)

Michael Kavanagh (Kilkenny)

Pádraic Maher (Tipperary) **

Fergal Moore (Galway)

Shane O’Neill (Cork)

Paddy Stapleton (Tipperary)

Jackie Tyrell (Kilkenny)

HALF BACKS

Tony Browne (Waterford)

Declan Fanning (Tipperary)

Mark Foley (Limerick)

Stephen Hiney (Dublin)

John Lee (Galway)

Conor O’Mahony (Tipperary)

John Tennyson (Kilkenny)

Michael Walsh (Waterford)

Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny) *

CENTREFIELD

Séamus Hickey (Limerick)

Alan McCrabbe (Dublin)

Shane McGrath (Tipperary)

Gavin O’Mahony (Limerick)

Michael Rice (Kilkenny)

James Woodlock (Tipperary)

HALF FORWARDS

Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny)

Séamus Callanan (Tipperary)

Aonghus Callinan (Galway)

Lar Corbett (Tipperary) *

Pat Kerwick (Tipperary)

Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny)

John O’Brien (Tipperary)

Ben O’Connor (Cork)

Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny)

FULL FORWARDS

Joe Canning (Galway) **

Martin Comerford (Kilkenny)

Damien Hayes (Galway)

Eoin Kelly (Tipperary)

Noel McGrath (Tipperary) **

John Mullane (Waterford) *

David O’Callaghan (Dublin)

Richie Power (Kilkenny)

David Treacy (Dublin)

* Hurler of the Year

** Young Hurler of the Year

Snub to Cats as Tipperary top All Star nominations

Thursday, September 24, 2009

From the Irish Examiner newspaper

THE all-conquering Kilkenny hurling team has received fewer Vodafone All Star nominations than Tipperary, the side they beat three times this season on their way to a historic four All-Ireland titles in-a-row. Eyebrows will be raised by the fact that Kilkenny have received 12 All Star nominations in comparison with All-Ireland finalists Tipperary’s 13, despite the fact that the Cats beat the Munster county in both the league and championship deciders this season, a run of success which has contributed to Kilkenny being hailed as one of the greatest teams of all time. “I wasn’t aware the nominations were out,” said Kilkenny selector Martin Fogarty yesterday evening. “To be honest we wouldn’t put much store by those. “Obviously they’re nice awards for the players to receive, but All Stars and Man of the Match awards, they wouldn’t really mean that much.”

Eyebrows will also be raised at the disclosure that Waterford’s Eoin Kelly, the second-highest scorer in this year’s All-Ireland senior hurling championship, has been omitted from the list of nominations for 2009. The omission echoes last year’s controversy, when Kelly’s county colleague John Mullane did not make the final selection, despite notching 2-21 from play that season, though Mullane later picked up a Gaelic Players Association (GPA) award. Kelly scored 2-47 this year, one point behind top scorer Joe Canning of Galway, who is nominated for this year’s full-forward line. Two years ago Kelly was also omitted from the nominations while his county team-mate Eoin McGrath made the longlist, even though McGrath was used as an impact substitute that season. At that time Kelly said: “It just seems like it is going to be a bit of a joke, doesn’t it? “Looking at it, I just thought it was a bit silly but that’s it.”

In all there are 14 first-time nominees — including the Tipp players Pádraic Maher, Paddy Stapleton, James Woodlock, Pat Kerwick, John O’Brien and Noel McGrath; Dublin’s Stephen Hiney, Alan McCrabbe and David Treacy (David O’Callaghan was nominated last year); Kilkenny’s Michael Rice; and Limerick’s Gavin O’Mahony. The others are Waterford’s Noel Connors, and Fergal Moore and Aengus Callinan of Galway. All but three of last year’s All Stars team are nominated (the exceptions are Cats Noel Hickey and Cha Fitzpatrick as well as Eoin Kelly of Waterford).

Tommy Walsh is line for his seventh successive award, while Henry Shefflin will join his fellow county-man DJ Carey and Kerry football great Pat Spillane on nine awards if selected this year. Eoin Kelly of Tipperary is going for his sixth, having missed for the last two years. Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh of Waterford is nominated for the half-back line, having won an award at midfield in 2007 and being nominated at half-forward the previous year. Declan Fanning, who is nominated at half-back, was full-back on the 2007 All Star team. Four of Kilkenny’s All-Ireland starters miss out — Brian Hogan, Derek Lyng, Richie Hogan and Aidan Fogarty. Last year Martin Comerford was the only one of the 15 starters omitted. Twelve months ago Kilkenny had 14 players nominated while Tipperary had nine. John Mullane, Lar Corbett and Tommy Walsh have been nominated for Player of the Year, while the Young Player of the Year nominees are Joe Canning, Pádraic Maher and Noel McGrath.