All-Stars remain coveted awards

KILLINAN END

You know the end of the year is beckoning when the All Star awards come into view.

For many they have a passing tangential relevance most of the time but for us, this year at least, we can look forward with more than a passing interest. If we are to be among the winners then the biggest hit will surely be taken by All-Ireland hurling champions of 2024 who failed to make it out of Munster. Presumably the great Limerick team of recent years will also be a faller. The irony is that both did lots of good hurling, Clare overturning a twelve-point Cork lead in the second half, and indeed beating Limerick. And let us not forget that the defending Munster champions missed out on a scarcely credible seven in a row only by the monstrously inappropriate penalty shootout.

A puck of a ball here or there might have made such a difference to their trophy cabinets in the autumn. You would imagine however that even though they reached the Munster Final and All-Ireland quarters, the men in green will suffer disproportionately for their loss to Dublin. Not only was this a shocker at the time, but it was not exactly glossed over by Dublin's subsequent semi-final mauling against Cork.

There is also the question of All-Star selectors and what motivates them. In his seminal biography of Christy Ring, Val Dorgan recounted Ring suggesting that all journalists should watch a match separately rather than as a collective in the press box. The implication being that there was group-think going on long before such elegant jargon was even invented. The Cloyne Wizard’s view was that very different accounts might emerge if people were not naturally open to suggestion or leading questions or opinions.

To be fair, in any walk of life there's little doubt that we all tend to succumb to group-think. It's also sad to say that those who don't are probably often dismissed as curmudgeons and troublemakers. But with that notion of group-think in mind you would wonder what All Star hurling team would have been selected at half-time in the All-Ireland hurling final. And in what ways would it differ from that selected on the Sunday Game Team of the Year picked with the lessons and images of the match still fresh in the minds. In that context presumably Cork would be the big losers even though their exploits in Munster will surely see them recognised by the All-Star selectors to some extent at least.

Leinster is a tricky conundrum in respect of All Star awards. Cathal Mannion impressed individually in a Galway team that seems to be going around in circles. Yet a lot of his good hurling was done in environments far removed from the intensity of, say, Cusack Park on the evening of Tipp’s year-defining win over Clare. That was a game of the old school. Everything was on the line - not just championship progress, but all measure of Tipperary, its players, and its management.

Progress was apparent and definite already but ultimately everything revolved around this game. Clare, as ever in Cusack Park were baying for blood, and every fibre of Tipp’s resolve was tested to the extreme. To what extent would Cathal Mannion’s good form in the east have survived such a cauldron? Another great imponderable of course, and to be fair we are talking about a very fine hurler and the man who saved Galway from being absolutely submerged by their own mediocrity in this championship.

Tipp deserves a healthy helping of the loot next weekend. Darragh McCarthy scored 1-13 in the All-Ireland Final and in the past players have gotten Hurler of the Year for less. However, the brilliant form of Mossy Keoghan will surely, along with Mannion, take up a couple of the forward positions. Shane Barrett, as the last Cork man standing after the second-half tsunami in Croke Park is surely in with a shout. Don't be surprised if the national media's mid-summer love affair with the Cork forwards yields more awards. But it would be disappointing if Tipp’s forwards don't claim three awards.

Defensively we should have a very strong case for four. Ronan Maher is surely nailed on after the All-Ireland series. Eoghan Connolly emerged as one of the finest hurlers in Ireland during this campaign. The tidiness of his hurling especially against Kilkenny when he scored several points under pressure with absolute economy of effort compares favourably with anything we've seen in Blue and Gold. For a robust defender to have the tidiness of wrist action of a Jason Forde is quite something.

All-Star awards are funny, not always reflecting a player’s ultimate reputation. Some when they get into the zone can’t stop winning them. Others, the cut of whose jib doesn’t appeal to the selectors not so. Kilkenny’s Richie Power, though injury-prone, won eight All-Irelands. You’d have many on Nore-side argue that he was the best of all their many great forwards in the 21st century. But he won just two All-Star awards. They do not make up for missing an All-Ireland medal but they are to be coveted if received.