Brian Fenton (Dublin)
FENTON’S RISE TO dominance has been almost unparalleled. He’s the ultimate late-developer.
To think that his midfield idol Ciaran Whelan won only six Leinsters and two All-Stars after a 13-year inter-county career. Just 16 months after making his debut, Fenton has picked up a couple of All-Irelands, two Leinsters, an All-Ireland final man-of-the-match and, most likely, two All-Stars and a Footballer of the Year.
The best athlete on the Dublin panel, and that’s saying something.
Stat: In the 24 appearances he’s made for Dublin since making his starting debut in April 2015, Fenton is yet to lose a game.
Ciaran Kilkenny (Dublin)
He has divided opinion at stages during the year for his possession-based style, but Kilkenny has been Dublin’s ‘point-guard’ for much of their attacking play.
The Castleknock man showed his versatility by becoming Dublin’s ball-carrier out of defence in James McCarthy’s absence earlier in the year, while he operated far closer goal in the replay against Mayo – one of his best displays of the season.
Arguably Kilkenny’s greatest asset: When the game is in the melting pot, he puts his hand up and demands the ball. In the last-minute of stoppage-time in the replay, Stephen Cluxton pinged a kick-out into the middle to a blue jersey who called for the ball despite having four Mayo bodies converging on him. That sums up Ciaran Kilkenny.
Stat: At just 23, Kilkenny has won five Leinster titles and three senior All-Irelands, as well as U21 and minor titles.
Lee Keegan (Mayo)
Keegan was Mayo’s most consistent player all season and had Mayo lifted Sam, he’d be the front-runner for the big award. Actually, had Keegan stayed on the field for the second-half rather than being black-carded, they might just have ended the 65-years of hurt.
No more than a handful of defenders (if even) in the country could keep Diarmuid Connolly under wraps. To do that and score a goal in an All-Ireland final, Keegan proved he is a special talent.
Stat: In the 4.5 championship games since 2013 that Keegan has marked Diarmuid Connolly, he’s outscored the Dublin player by 1-4 to 0-4.
Diarmuid Connolly (Dublin)
When you listen to Diarmuid Connolly’s description of his penalty in the All-Ireland final, you begin to understand his genius. “Just take a breath, put it in the corner and put it away,” he said after the game. “That’s all it is.”
In the most pressurised situation of his career, he dispatched the spot-kick like it was a kick-about among his friends.
Connolly enjoyed his best form for Dublin in 2016 and there’s a solid argument to be made that he’s the best footballer in the country.
Stat: Connolly and Cluxton are the only players to have played every minute of Dublin’s four All-Ireland wins since 2011.
Who do you think deserves to win Footballer of the Year?
Poll Results:
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That will be mental!
What about the Scotland fans?
Should be a great occasion and atmosphere!
Ah lads, couldnt we go to Ibrox?
No guarantee it would till be “Ibrox” by then….. might belong to the Liquidators…..
Someone threw a pound on the pitch at ibrox and police are investigating whether it was a missile or a bid to buy the club :)
Pound? Bit steep for Rangers
Two home games for Ireland!
Well I’m sure the Celtic supporters will be supporting their own Country, right?
Do you think it will be a crowd made up of Irish and Celtic supporters only? Celtic supporters will support their own country anyway.
Majority of Celtic supporters support the Republic of Ireland……..
of course they will be supporting their own country, why would celtic fans in Glasgow want to support west liverchester?
Bollocks to the notion that the majority support Ireland
Surely the majority of Celtic Supporters born and raised in Scotland would support Scotland? Irish connection aside, they are a Scottish club so logic would suggest they’ll support their National side.
Exactly why would they want to support a country full of English fans
Barstoolers must be watering at the mouth, where is Glasgow in Ireland. EMBARRASSMENT”
Majority support scotland with a bit of a gra for Ireland. A smaill minority of hardcore support Ireland.
Hung if you haven’t got a breeze what you are talking about don’t comment
Where is Liverpool, Manchester, London or Newcastle in Ireland. The last time I checked there was no ban on people supporting which ever team they want to…………
Frankie Boyle will be delighted.
Can’t wait for it#COYBIG
Session on
Yeah once the session is on and we have the ‘craic’ sure the match itself is only secondary … Je*us wept
Screw the session chris, looks like someone thinks you’re one of the players.
Jackie Macs testimonial with a game against Ireland was fantastic, even the zombies stayed in hiding and didn’t cause any trouble, Glasgow truly was Green & White that weekend
More fans in the Scotland will know the words of the irish national anthem than in the irish end
Hail hail……..
not since celtic played arsenal in a CL qualifier a few years back has there been so many EPL fans packed into the away end at celtic park
Home from Home.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that now!
Scotland could be an independent country by the time the
match comes around, if they vote ” yes ” to leaving the U.K.
In the referendum in September.
They better make sure that they have the required license needed before they sell tickets
That joke was boring last week
Apparently street sellers in Glasgow have ordered hundreds of green St Georges cross flags that play the match of the day tune when you wave them for the ole ole brigade
Surprised they’ve not taken the opportunity to play some qualifiers in the Capital. Oh well, a train journey and a trip to dark head it is!
None of the stadiums are big enough, apart from the rugby one. I doubt the Scottish FA want to be knocking on their door when they have a bigger stadium in a city which cares more about football.
Why not? They’ve played Internationals in Easter Road before. Murrayfield is a nicer ground than any other in Scotland. It’s not a secret that the SFA will be paying Celtic and Sevco handsomely for use of the grounds, which they probably wouldn’t have had to do at Murrayfield. The chances of Celtic Park being filled are near enough 0 anyway.
Cares more about football? Tell that to any Hibs, Hearts or Aberdeen fan and they’ll tell you that’s rubbish. Supporting Celtic and “The” Rangers is the easy option in Scotland, just because they’ve more fans doesn’t mean Glasgow cares more about football.
The game is in Paradise not in the egg chasers ranch, dry your eyes and move on
That will be some shit game
That will be some sing off ( oh and match of course)