FOUR PLAYERS FROM Ireland’s Grand-Slam winning side have made the six-man shortlist for the 2018 Six Nations Player of The Championship.
Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton and Jacob Stockdale have all been nominated for the award, along with Italy’s Matteo Minozzi and Guilhem Guirado of France.
Ireland claimed their Grand Slam title yesterday following a 24-15 victory over England yesterday, with Stockdale setting a new record for the most amount of tries scored in a single Six Nations campaign.
He claimed his seventh try of the championship after he chipped the ball over England’s Mike Brown and sprinted over the try-line to ground the ball just before it tumbled out of play.
Equally, Munster men Murray and Earls have also produced consistent performances on Ireland’s run to Grand Slam success.
Earls is responsible for one of the key moments in the victory over England for his ankle tap tackle on Elliot Daly, who was on the cusp of scoring a try at the start of the second half.
Meanwhile, Johnny Sexton’s stunning drop-goal at the end of the opening game against France is one of the standout memories from this Six Nations.
Voting for the Player of the Championship award is now open and will close at midnight on Tuesday 20 March.
You can vote for your favourite player here.
You can now vote for YOUR NatWest 6 Nations Player of the Championship 2018! Vote here: https://t.co/naazYCe3kN
— NatWest 6 Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 18, 2018
Congratulations to this year's six nominees!@KEITHEARLS87 @guilhem_guirado
Matteo Minozzi @ConorMurray_9 @JohnnySexton @JacobStockdale #NatWest6Nations pic.twitter.com/DIzs8bPNd6
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Good piece Ciaran, sums us Mayo’s up to a tee.
It will be an epic, be it an epic fail or victory for the Red and Green.
Donegal all the way man
This study has clearly shown, that, based on the proportion of red to green thumbs, twice as many Mayo fans read the Journal than Donegal fans….time to blow the pr budget on the advertising in Donegal….
MAYO for SAM, donegal for catch!!!
we can do this… maigh eo abu… :-D
Evokes memories of childhood back home going to those galway matchs – great article! We’re just hoping they can do it, the hype of 1996/1997 has long since passed – Kerry’s cruelty in 04 & 06 put paid to that craze! Losing is unthinkable, but a rational person would have to pick Donegal to win I suppose. But maybe, just maybe Mayo are building quietly to a cresendo this year , and maybe Donegal peaked against Cork and the hype in that county is getting to the players (Apparently thousands turning up to training sessions!?). Surely that has to weigh on these players, no matter how much they’re drilled by Jimmy. Mayo have been in this situation before, hopefully that counts for something?
Am I clutching at straws? Once bitten, twice shy but F~ck it – MAYO FOR SAM!
Here is a bag of straws! :)
Last time GB won an open in the Tennis was 1936.
Andy Murray won the open in 2012.
On Sept 23rd 1936 the AI was contested between Mayo and Laois.
On Sept 23rd 2012 the AI will be contested between Mayo and Donegal.
A certain Henry Kenny (RIP) played that day, father of an Taoiseach.
Mayo came out as winners of the AI, their first. :)
Up mayo
who ever is victorious in this one, there wont be a cow milked for a month will the celebrations that will be had and many a person will be conceived because of Sam going north or west!!
Jimmy’s winning matches, Jimmy’s winning games. Donegal for Sam, Mayo for sandwiches.
Great piece Ciaran.
Maybe the famine ends Sunday?
Up Donegal!!!!!
Brighid, see ya outside coppers at about half 4 Sunday morning… I’ll have a mayo jersey on and a big smile…. I’ll take you for a snack box then we’ll had back to mine… sound??
I don’t think there has ever been a piece written that mentions St Jarlaths and Milltown so many times without mentioning John Scan Concannon …. could you not of stuck it in some how Murf ??
From a corkman, COME ON MAYO!!!!
Lmao fartbox, thanks but no thanks! Only one man for me-a Donegal one. There will be plenty of good looking Donegal dolls about coppers I’m sure. Go on Donegal ;)
“I’ve said in this column before I believe that no All-Ireland final in the 128-year history of the GAA has thrown up a pairing as emotive and unique as this one”
I dunno about that. In 1998 Galway & Kildare hadn’t won the All-Ireland in 102 years between them, compared to a mere 81 this time. That made it fairly emotional & unique. Imagine the emotion in Kildare after waiting 70 years & beating the three previous All-Ireland winners, including Micko’s win over Kerry.
The ’89 hurling final was certainly unique & emotional. It involved Tipp ending their All-Ireland famine against a team who had grown up hurling against the backdrop of the Troubles when, as Terence McNaughten said (I’m paraphrasing), walking to training with a hurl in your hand essentially put a target on your back. Wexford and Limerick were fairly into it in 1996 but that didn’t seem like such a big deal after the dam of emotion that burst in 1995. And what about the first all Munster final in 1997? Mutual loathing, the haves vs the have-nots, the country’s first taste of the back door – the lot!
What’s the big deal this time? Mayo have lost a few big games? Well boo-hoo, at least they got there. If they played in a tougher province then they’d have been culled before they got to the big stage in a lot of those years. A ratio of 3 All-Irelands from 51 Provincial titles tells it’s own story on that front. Losing some matches hardly compares to Tyrone’s emotional state in 2005.
Still, thanks for coming
Put us in a tough province then. We’ll happily go in. Or better still put the so called weaker counties in connacht, they wouldn’t have a hope of winning it. Leinster is full of weak teams and is a 2 team challenge-same as connacht. Ulster is a one county championship most of the time, or sometimes 2-same as connacht.
Munster with just cork and Kerry is the hardest province there is. So what’s your point?
When mayo get out of connacht they have to play teams from other provinces and quite often beat them. We beat the all Ireland champions 2 years in a row, is that because we have it easy?
Tomas, the Ulster Championship is far more competitive than it’s counterparts in Connacht and Leinster. It has very rarely been won by the same county back to back. Donegal made history when we lifted it this year, our 2nd is as many years, that win broke a record. That says it all.
I think throughout this season people have written off Donegal. They all said we’d never beat Tyrone and then we did, then they said we’d never beat Down and then we did, then they said we’d never beat Kerry and then we did, then they said we’d definitely get sent home by cork and we ran rings around them in the 2nd, albeit we dropped the ball towards the end, but we’ve no fear of being underdogs. We’ve spent the entire season proving the country wrong. We like a challenge and I’ve no doubt that Jim and the boys will prove everyone wrong again on Sunday. There’s only one place Sam’s going on Sunday and that’s to the fair hills of Donegal! Dún na nGáll abú!
Yeah except you’re not underdogs this time around! Its all different now, no critics to prove wrong, the weight of expectation on your shoulders. You’d nearly prefer Dublin to have something to aim at, but its Mayo, and we’re in your position now, underdogs, hungry to prove teh pundits wrong. Its going to be interesting thats for sure!
MAYO FOR SAM!