All Star Football nominations: All-Ireland champions Kerry lead the way in this year's Vodafone football All Stars nominations list with nine players. Overall there are 13 counties represented on the list from which this year's final All Stars selection will be made at the end of next month.
Dublin are the next most recognised county with eight and All-Ireland finalists Mayo come in with six names.
Munster and Ulster champions Cork and Armagh are next with five representatives. Longford's good run in the qualifiers is reflected in the choice of two of their players, Paul Barden and Brian Kavanagh.
Just three of last year's All Stars team are in a position to retain the accolade: Kerry's Colm Cooper and Armagh pair, Paul McGrane and Steven McDonnell.
None of last year's All-Ireland champions have been included, a reflection of the troubled and injury-blighted season that Tyrone endured in 2006.
Having supplied eight of the 2005 award winners, Mickey Harte's team were never in a position to challenge meaningfully this time around.
It is still unusual that three of Kerry's 2005 All Stars, goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy, full back Michael McCarthy (who has just announced his retirement) and wing back Tomás Ó Sé (whose brothers Marc and Darragh are both included) failed to make the long list even though the county regained the All-Ireland.
The county breakdown is Kerry (nine), Dublin (eight), Mayo (six), Armagh (five), Cork (five), Donegal (two), Laois (two), Offaly (two), Longford (two), Westmeath (one), Fermanagh (one), Galway (one), Derry (one).
Thirteen of the 45 nominations have already won awards: Stephen Cluxton, Tom O'Sullivan, Barry Owens, Francie Bellew, Joe Higgins, Séamus Moynihan, Darragh Ó Sé, Ciarán Whelan, Paul McGrane, Ciarán McDonald, Paul Galvin, Colm Cooper and Steven McDonnell.
For the first time the All Stars has competition from another awards scheme, the players' team of the year, as organised by the GPA and nominated by two panels of experts to cover both football and hurling.
Those nominations were released just recently and there will be interest in the areas where the respective selections differ.
For the most part there is little difference of opinion with only three of the listed 45 nominations differing between the two schemes.
All the nominees for goalkeeper, full back line and centrefield are the same.
The three changes see Ciarán McKeever of Armagh, Mayo's Ger Brady and Rory Kavanagh from Donegal lose out in the half-back and half-forward lines.
Into McKeever's place comes Galway centre back Diarmuid Blake, who had an excellent league campaign but whose championship was not as impressive as McKeever's - a rare instance of spring form outweighing summer's.
Brady is a case at the other end of the spectrum with his fine form early in the league losing out to Jason Sherlock's more convincing championship displays.
Finally Kavanagh is replaced indirectly by Kerry's Colm Cooper, who was controversially omitted from the players' nominations after a season that if quiet by his own standards was well worthy of inclusion in the top nine full forwards.
The systems of selection vary slightly in that the players' scheme provides three nominations for every position whereas the All Stars is more flexible.
The final selection will be made on November 22nd with the awards banquet taking place two days later.
This year's hurling nominations will be announced later on today.
