NOMINATIONS FOR the GPA Opel football team of the year have been announced. Like the All Stars list released last month, it is dominated by players from Cork and Kerry. The All-Ireland champions have 11 nominees and finalists Cork nine, and, in all, 12 counties are represented.
There are 10 differences of opinion between the awards schemes, most strikingly in the shortlist for footballer of the year: Cork captain Graham Canty has been omitted, with just two nominations, Kerry’s Paul Galvin and Tomás Ó Sé, put forward by the selection committee.
Canty is on the equivalent All Stars list and was a front runner for the award until the final. Although Cork struggled on the day and Canty’s counter-attacking was curtailed, the Cork captain got on a lot of ball and will be disappointed not to have received even a nomination.
The shortlist isn’t, however, a calculated snub, as the scheme doesn’t stipulate a fixed number of nominations for player of the year. Twelve months ago there were four players nominated, including Ó Sé.
The players nominated for All Stars who are overlooked for the GPA scheme are: Anthony Lynch (Cork), Johnny McCarthy (Limerick), Andy Moran (Mayo), Jonny Davey (Sligo), Davey Harte (Tyrone), John Galvin (Limerick), Alan O’Connor (Cork), Trevor Mortimer (Mayo), Aidan O’Shea (Mayo) and Alan Smith (Kildare).
Beneficiaries are: Colm Brady (Antrim), Gerard O’Kane (Derry), Peadar Gardiner (Mayo), Michael Conway (Kildare), James Loughrey (Antrim), Nigel Crawford (Meath), Paul Kerrigan (Cork), Eoin Bradley (Derry) and David Kelly (Sligo).
There won’t be huge issues with the differences in opinion, with Loughrey and Crawford unlucky to lose out in the All Stars. But similarly, Jonathan Davey can feel hard done by with yesterday’s announcement.
Meanwhile, it has been announced the GAA’s 2010 championship draws will now be televised.
Initial indications had been that the association and RTÉ had experienced difficulty in finding suitable dates for the broadcast and the draw had been pencilled in for this evening in Croke Park.
Both organisations had been constrained by the GAA’s special congress last weekend, which finalised the format for next year’s hurling championship.
Yesterday, however, the GAA and RTÉ announced the draws would be broadcast on Thursday week, October 22nd, at 8.25pm on RTÉ Two and streamed live on www.rte.ie.
GPA OPEL TEAM OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS
Goalkeeper
Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), Diarmuid Murphy (Kerry), Alan Quirke (Cork).
Right corner back
Colm Brady (Antrim), Karl Lacey (Donegal), Marc Ó Sé (Kerry).
Full back
Tommy Griffin (Kerry), Justin McMahon (Tyrone), Michael Shields (Cork).
Left corner back
Ciarán Hyland (Wicklow), Tom O’Sullivan (Kerry), Gerard O’Kane (Derry).
Right wing back
Peadar Gardiner (Mayo), James Loughrey (Antrim), Tomás Ó Sé (Kerry).
Centre back
Graham Canty (Cork), Michael McCarthy (Kerry), Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone).
Left wing back
Barry Cahill (Dublin), Michael Conway (Kildare), John Miskella (Cork).
Centrefield
Dermot Earley (Kildare), Kevin Hughes (Tyrone), Nigel Crawford (Meath), Ronan McGarrity (Mayo), Nicholas Murphy (Cork), Seamus Scanlon (Kerry).
Right wing forward
Alan Brogan (Dublin), Paul Galvin (Kerry), Paul Kerrigan (Cork).
Centre forward
Tadhg Kennelly (Kerry), Pearse O’Neill (Cork), Joe Sheridan (Meath).
Left wing forward
Leighton Glynn (Wicklow), Paddy Kelly (Cork), James Kavanagh (Kildare).
Right corner forward
Eoin Bradley (Derry), Daniel Goulding (Cork), Stephen O’Neill (Tyrone).
Full forward
Michael Murphy (Donegal), Aidan O’Shea (Mayo), Declan O’Sullivan (Kerry).
Left corner forward
Bernard Brogan (Dublin), David Kelly (Sligo), Tommy Walsh (Kerry).
Player of the Year
Paul Galvin (Kerry) and Tomás Ó Sé (Kerry).
