13.
13: Right corner forward – Cian Johnson (Ferbane)One of the hardest calls with this team is the omission of Tullamore's Mike Fox. He was a revelation this year, playing the best football of his life, revelling in the new rules and so lively on and off the ball as well as getting good scores. In a different year, he would definitely make the cut but the competition for places is red hot and he just loses out to Cian Johnson of Ferbane and his club colleague Harry Plunkett. This was a year of rejuvenation for Johnson who rediscovered a lot of the form that made him such an exciting young talent. The top scorer in the championship, he was deadly accurate from play and frees, showing for the ball, taking his man on and most encouragingly, his hunger levels were back to where they were. He has to make the team and that means that Fox loses out.
14.
14: Full forward – Aaron Kellaghan (Rhode)Aaron Kellaghan showed his class for Rhode this year with a series of very good displays. His confidence was dented a bit with Offaly early in the season but he certainly got back on track for Rhode. He scored 3-1 against Ballycommon, got scores in most games and was so good on the ball. He asked serious questions of Tullamore early on in the semi-final and is a worthy selection. There is talk of Aaron Kellaghan going to Australia next year but on this form, he certainly has plenty to offer Offaly senior footballers.
15.
15: Left corner forward – Harry Plunkett (Tullamore)Harry Plunkett's value to Tullamore was shown spectacularly in the county final when his late scoring spree broke Ferbane's hearts. There was plenty of debate over him not being awarded man of the match – there is merit in the viewpoint that Tullamore would not have won without his late heroics and that this should have earned him man of the match, which went to Niall Furlong. My view was that there was almost 67 minutes played that day and Harry had been hot and cold for a lot of them, especially for 25 minutes in the second half when he wasn't really in the game but irrespective of what side of the fence you are with that debate, he is an automatic selection on this team. He is so important to Tullamore, their most accurate kicker who rarely misses from frees and gets a high percentage of his chances in open play. The bottle he showed late on commanded complete admiration and respect – it took serious nerve and ability to convert those three late two pointers, one of them from play, as the ball hadn't flowed for him before that. Apart from that, he scored regularly all year, was efficient on the ball, doing the simple thing and his late tour-de-force in the final showed the wisdom of leaving your free taker and deadliest finisher on, even if he gets more leeway than another player.