All-Stars announcement awaited with keen interest as Tipperary take centre stage

The All-Stars awards, despite their critics and the controversies that sometimes accompany them, are still prestigious prizes. Being selected on the team of the year is a huge acknowledgment, a recognition of star quality. Indeed, just being among the nominees is high praise in itself, even if you don’t make the final fifteen.

Tipperary will be centre stage at this year’s awards ceremony on Friday night. We haven’t had an All-Star since 2019 but this time we top the list of nominees, with 13 in contention. The individual awards for Hurler of the Year and Young Hurler of the Year have also strong Tipperary interest.

There’s a long history of GAA awards going back to the middle of the last century, but the All-Stars scheme was first formalised in 1971. It was a fortunate year for Tipperary, who won that All-Ireland - a last fling before the famine. We had four All-Stars on the initial selection: Tadhg O’Connor and Mick Roche in defence and Francis Loughnane and ‘Babs’ Keating in the forwards.

Seven counties were represented on that 1971 selection; last year just three counties featured, Clare, Cork and Limerick. The process has changed considerably over the years. League form used to be a major consideration but now it’s decided on the latter stages of the championship. Very few outside the semi-finalists get recognised nowadays.

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That’s a far cry from the case of John Leahy back in 1994. Tipperary won the league that year, beating Galway in the final. One newspaper labelled it ‘Leahy’s final’, such was his impact. Unfortunately, he subsequently suffered an ankle injury playing with the county’s footballers and missed our championship defeat to Clare.

It didn’t prevent him from collecting the second of his three All-Stars awards. He stands alone, I think, as the only player to have received an All-Star statuette without pucking a championship ball.

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Incidentally, that same 1994 All-Stars selection was controversial for something unrelated to John Leahy. Offaly’s Brian Whelehan won the Texaco Hurler of the Year award but failed to win an All-Stars place. It’s the biggest standout anomaly since the scheme was introduced and resulted, it appears, from a flaw in the system. Whelehan was nominated for two positions so in the secret ballot his vote was split and he lost out.

Anyway, the hurling selection this year will be announced on Thursday ahead of the banquet on Friday; the football fifteen will be announced on the night. There will be heightened Tipperary interest to see how many of our summertime heroes make the team.

Rhys Shelly is favourite to take the goalie spot. He took over from Barry Hogan after the Cork defeat and his impact on Tipperary’s ultimate success was huge. In particular, his restarts were a critical launch pad for so many scores. On top of that you had the penalty save in the final and he became the first goalie to score from play in an All-Ireland decider.

Vying with Shelly are Patrick Collins and Nickie Quaid but neither had an outstanding season. Quaid was only back from injury and Collins had a poor final especially. Shelly seems to be a shoo-in there.

All Tipperary’s six defenders from the All-Ireland final are nominated, so it will be interesting to see how many get the nod. Robert Doyle and Ronan Maher are strongly fancied and you could make a case for any of the other four.

Perhaps, Eoghan Connolly’s case is the strongest. Apart from his general defending, he scored 0-14 (0-6 from play) over seven championship games (he didn’t play against Laois). It’s a huge contribution for a defender. If he’d goaled that first-half effort in the final, his case would be irresistible.

Willie Connors is nominated for midfield but the competition there is tough. Darragh Fitzgibbon and Cathal Mannion are probably favourites here but you could make a case for any of the others also; Tim O’Mahony, Cian Kenny and Adam English.

Tipperary have five nominees for attack, where John McGrath and Jake Morris are front runners and surely guaranteed selection. Both are also in the running for Player of the Year.

Of the others, I have a particular regard for Jason Forde who, like John McGrath, was one of the comeback heroes this year. His rejuvenation was central to eventual success. He scored 3-45 over the campaign, including 3-15 from open play. Anytime Darragh McCarthy was unavailable he manned-up on the frees, hitting some crucial ones, for example, late in the semi-final against Kilkenny. It’s his third time being nominated but he has yet to win one.

For Andrew Ormond, it’s his first nomination after a breakthrough year with the seniors. He came on as a replacement in the second round against Cork but it was the following round in Ennis where he really made his mark. He made a very telling 2-1 contribution that day and he pushed on in subsequent games to play a significant part in the All-Ireland win. He scored 2-14 over the series.

The Player of the Year contest is a fascinating one. Before the All-Ireland final, Cork’s Brian Hayes was hotly tipped to win the award but everything changed that day in Croke Park. John McGrath and Jake Morris are now strong contenders.

John McGrath’s scoring exploits were central to Tipperary’s success. He clocked up 7-16 over the eight games, which is impressive shooting. Significantly he did most damage on crunch days such as 2-1 against Limerick, 2-3 against Clare, 1-2 against Kilkenny and 2-2 against Cork in the final.

For his part, Jake Morris didn’t hit the net but he did hit an impressive 0-24 over seven games (he didn’t play against Laois). Just as important, however, was how his game has developed. As an underager, goals were his currency but he has since matured into a robust, physical player who puts in a heavy shift in the less glamorous aspects of the sport. In the Clare game, for example, he was back in his own goal area near the end making crucial interceptions and blocks as the home team chased a leveller. The final whistle blew after he cleared from his own endline.

In a contest between the pair, it’s a clash of John McGrath’s goals versus Jake Morris’s grafting. I’d hate to be making the decision. One health warning; in 2016 Paudie Maher and Seamus Callanan were nominated alongside Austin Gleeson. The Tipp vote was split and Gleeson got the gong. I hope there’s not a repeat. It’s a players’ vote that decides both the Hurler of the Year and the Young Hurler of the Year.

Incidentally, there was a very strong case to be made for Ronan Maher as a contender here. His impact was massive, going hip-to-hip with all the heavy hitters, from Peter Duggan to TJ Reid and on to Brian Hayes.

The contest for Young Player of the Year is equally intriguing. The Tipp pair, Robert Doyle and Darragh McCarthy, vie with Limerick’s Adam English. McCarthy’s year was eventful, effectively missing the Cork and Clare games and being sent off twice, but then turning in an incredible final display. The Toomevara player lit up the season.

Robert Doyle’s input was unbroken, taking on some of the most lethal forwards from Tony Kelly to Alan Connolly. His late save from John Donnelly in the Kilkenny game was season-defining.

Anyway, we await the announcements with interest.

Finally, an item to watch out for. Well-known and highly regarded mural artist, Neil O’Dwyer, has donated a painting of the All-Ireland final in aid of the Dillon Quirke Foundation. Neil is a former Clonoulty player, though coming from sound Knockavilla stock.

His painting is an incredibly detailed depiction of the All-Ireland final, capturing the frenzied excitement of the event. It measures 47 inches by 32 inches and is signed by all players and management. It will be auctioned online, where I suspect it will attract much interest.