IN A YEAR of a breakthrough All-Ireland win, you expect a decent number of recruits into the ‘made men’ club, invited to polish their shoes before the time-honoured ceremony.
However, the 2024 Gaelic football All Stars team is simply jaw-dropping for the number of first-time entrants.
Only Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan has ever been a previous winner; in 2021 when the Red Hands won the All-Ireland.
The last time this happened was back in 1987, that year’s Meath and Cork All-Ireland finalists taking nine All-Stars between them, but Kerry’s Tom Spillane won his third award.
It will be left to Morgan to show the rest how to climb the steps up onto the stage of the RDS to receive their statue, before some light-hearted, family-safe ribbing from Joanne Cantwell and Marty Morrissey.
Among them are six Armagh players from Kieran McGeeney’s all-conquering side.
You have to go all the way back to Ronan Clarke in 2008 for Armagh’s last All-Star.
The All-Stars are like any other award system for those who are in the running. If they are successful, the judgement of those involved in picking the team was cast-iron.
If they don’t get the nod, well then, it’s easily brushed off. Sure it’s a team game after all. What good is personal glory if it detracts from the team?
It seems odd now that the split season is embedded that the All-Stars has retained the early November slot, over three months since the final ball was kicked in the series.
In the past it was wrapped up around seven weeks after the All Ireland final. The action was, to some extent, still fresh in the mind of the public.
Now it feels very much like something happened last year. It might have been retained in this position to somehow keep the GAA in the shop window, but it creates a jarring effect.
Armagh had 11 nominees out of the 45. But some – including this corner – would have objections over how Stefan Campbell was left off that list.
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Stefan Campbell lifts the Sam Maguire. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Several years ago, the top managers were telling GAA correspondents that they need a team to start a game and a team to finish.
Most would dismiss this as a hollow cliché intended to keep fringe players happy. The selectors should know better.
In the end up, Campbell was held in reserve by Armagh in certain games. When he came on the pitch, his direct running forced defenders to react. Call it a consequence of the lack of man on man marking in the modern game, but there wasn’t a defender who could hack Campbell coming at them.
He had a bigger influence on the season – his dash and handpass to Aaron McKay for the Armagh goal in the All-Ireland final being an obvious decisive act – than some players actually handed All-Stars.
It wasn’t as if he was scratching around for minutes all year, either. He started and finished the Ulster final that went to extra-time and was excellent across the whole game.
Staying with Armagh, there are always going to be some marginal calls.
With 16 games played this season, goalkeeper Blaine Hughes had 13 clean sheets.
The odd thing was that Down breached the Armagh defence in a torturous Ulster semi-final twice, but they recovered from that to concede one goal in the next seven games, that coming from Paul Murphy bundling home a ball floated in towards the Armagh goal in the semi-final.
Morgan had five clean sheets out of six, with the three goals conceded in their championship opener against Cavan skewing the numbers.
But bare numbers does not display the sheer breadth of what Morgan brought this year. From open play, he was among Tyrone’s best footballers. In fact, his long-range passing was above and beyond any other players’.
Cast your mind back to a foul night in the early stages of the league, when a Darren Hughes effort caught in the wind and was about to drift wide.
Instead, Morgan sprinted for the flight of the ball, caught it and advanced at pace. Once he tracked the movement in front of him, he hit a 60 metre pass to Darragh Canavan who knifed through to kick a goal.
In terms of skill execution and ambition, it was as good as anything we have seen this year. Just because it was in the league on a gusty, damp night, doesn’t take away from it.
What else stands out? Well, for the first time since 2003, there are no players from the Old Firm of Kerry and Dublin.
Kerry lead the way with 155 All Stars (from 64 players), Dublin just behind them on 141, shared among 66 players.
You might be surprised to learn that Cork are in third, with 42 players earning 66 All-Stars.
There is no Munster presence on this team, the first time that has happened since 1991.
One thing to note.
Despite the sample size being much greater in the 21st century Gaelic football, with first the qualifiers, then the Super 8’s and now the group stages of four teams of four, it’s remarkable how the number of counties represented have by and large remained the same.
It does give the chance of say, Craig Lennon of Louth to gain enough notice to win that county’s first All-Star since Paddy Keenan’s in 2010.
It will take another couple of years to see the fuller picture of additional games, but in the last two years it has had a slight effect of diluting the number of All-Ireland champions on the team.
Take the two Covid-hit years of 2020 and 2021 for example when the competition adapted a straight knock-out format. Winners Dublin took home nine in 2020, with Tyrone following it the next year with eight.
Last year, the Dubs had five winners, this year Armagh have six.
As ever, there’s a mixture of the controversial and the sound judgement. Beauty still lies in the eye of the beholder when it comes to Gaelic football.
As much as it is maligned, it’s still among the career highlights for the game’s elite.
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All-Star team is simply jaw-dropping for the number of first-time entrants
IN A YEAR of a breakthrough All-Ireland win, you expect a decent number of recruits into the ‘made men’ club, invited to polish their shoes before the time-honoured ceremony.
However, the 2024 Gaelic football All Stars team is simply jaw-dropping for the number of first-time entrants.
Only Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan has ever been a previous winner; in 2021 when the Red Hands won the All-Ireland.
The last time this happened was back in 1987, that year’s Meath and Cork All-Ireland finalists taking nine All-Stars between them, but Kerry’s Tom Spillane won his third award.
It will be left to Morgan to show the rest how to climb the steps up onto the stage of the RDS to receive their statue, before some light-hearted, family-safe ribbing from Joanne Cantwell and Marty Morrissey.
Among them are six Armagh players from Kieran McGeeney’s all-conquering side.
You have to go all the way back to Ronan Clarke in 2008 for Armagh’s last All-Star.
The All-Stars are like any other award system for those who are in the running. If they are successful, the judgement of those involved in picking the team was cast-iron.
If they don’t get the nod, well then, it’s easily brushed off. Sure it’s a team game after all. What good is personal glory if it detracts from the team?
It seems odd now that the split season is embedded that the All-Stars has retained the early November slot, over three months since the final ball was kicked in the series.
In the past it was wrapped up around seven weeks after the All Ireland final. The action was, to some extent, still fresh in the mind of the public.
Now it feels very much like something happened last year. It might have been retained in this position to somehow keep the GAA in the shop window, but it creates a jarring effect.
Armagh had 11 nominees out of the 45. But some – including this corner – would have objections over how Stefan Campbell was left off that list.
Several years ago, the top managers were telling GAA correspondents that they need a team to start a game and a team to finish.
Most would dismiss this as a hollow cliché intended to keep fringe players happy. The selectors should know better.
In the end up, Campbell was held in reserve by Armagh in certain games. When he came on the pitch, his direct running forced defenders to react. Call it a consequence of the lack of man on man marking in the modern game, but there wasn’t a defender who could hack Campbell coming at them.
He had a bigger influence on the season – his dash and handpass to Aaron McKay for the Armagh goal in the All-Ireland final being an obvious decisive act – than some players actually handed All-Stars.
It wasn’t as if he was scratching around for minutes all year, either. He started and finished the Ulster final that went to extra-time and was excellent across the whole game.
Staying with Armagh, there are always going to be some marginal calls.
With 16 games played this season, goalkeeper Blaine Hughes had 13 clean sheets.
The odd thing was that Down breached the Armagh defence in a torturous Ulster semi-final twice, but they recovered from that to concede one goal in the next seven games, that coming from Paul Murphy bundling home a ball floated in towards the Armagh goal in the semi-final.
Morgan had five clean sheets out of six, with the three goals conceded in their championship opener against Cavan skewing the numbers.
But bare numbers does not display the sheer breadth of what Morgan brought this year. From open play, he was among Tyrone’s best footballers. In fact, his long-range passing was above and beyond any other players’.
Cast your mind back to a foul night in the early stages of the league, when a Darren Hughes effort caught in the wind and was about to drift wide.
Instead, Morgan sprinted for the flight of the ball, caught it and advanced at pace. Once he tracked the movement in front of him, he hit a 60 metre pass to Darragh Canavan who knifed through to kick a goal.
In terms of skill execution and ambition, it was as good as anything we have seen this year. Just because it was in the league on a gusty, damp night, doesn’t take away from it.
What else stands out? Well, for the first time since 2003, there are no players from the Old Firm of Kerry and Dublin.
Kerry lead the way with 155 All Stars (from 64 players), Dublin just behind them on 141, shared among 66 players.
You might be surprised to learn that Cork are in third, with 42 players earning 66 All-Stars.
There is no Munster presence on this team, the first time that has happened since 1991.
One thing to note.
Despite the sample size being much greater in the 21st century Gaelic football, with first the qualifiers, then the Super 8’s and now the group stages of four teams of four, it’s remarkable how the number of counties represented have by and large remained the same.
It does give the chance of say, Craig Lennon of Louth to gain enough notice to win that county’s first All-Star since Paddy Keenan’s in 2010.
It will take another couple of years to see the fuller picture of additional games, but in the last two years it has had a slight effect of diluting the number of All-Ireland champions on the team.
Take the two Covid-hit years of 2020 and 2021 for example when the competition adapted a straight knock-out format. Winners Dublin took home nine in 2020, with Tyrone following it the next year with eight.
Last year, the Dubs had five winners, this year Armagh have six.
As ever, there’s a mixture of the controversial and the sound judgement. Beauty still lies in the eye of the beholder when it comes to Gaelic football.
As much as it is maligned, it’s still among the career highlights for the game’s elite.
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