LAST UPDATE | 5 Jul 2020
A SNAPSHOT OF the year 2000 in hurling.
Brian Cody won his first All-Ireland as Kilkenny manager. Offalyโs Johnny Dooley finished top of the scoring charts. Joe Deane scored 10 points as Cork retained their Munster title. DJ Carey was named Hurler of the Year. Noel Hickey claimed Young Hurler of the Year.
Brendan Cummins and Henry Shefflin picked up their first All-Star awards. Charlie Carter and Joe Rabbitte collected their last ones. And Brian Whelahan became the only hurler of the modern era named on the Hurling Team of the Millennium.
Footballโs Team of the Millennium was selected the previous year but sparked nowhere near the same controversy as the small ball codeโs version.
The millennium selections are not to be mistaken with the Football and Hurling Teams of the Century, which were chosen in 1984 to mark the GAAโs centenary year.
There were two changes between footballโs century side and the millennium team selected 16 years later. Kerryโs Joe Keohane and Laois man Tommy Murphy replaced Paddy OโBrien of Meath and Louthโs Stephen White.
On the hurling front, Offaly star Whelahan came in for Tipperaryโs Jimmy Finn on the half-back line and Corkโs Ray Cummins edged out Wexford legend Nicky Rackard at full-forward.
The hurling selection committee drew severe criticism for the omissions of Rackard and Kilkenny forward Carey, who was at the height of his powers in 2000.
The team was announced by GAA president Seรกn McCague on 24 July 2000 at a function in Croke Park. It was sponsored by An Post, who issued special commemorative stamps of the millennium team members.
The committee comprised of five past presidents from established hurling counties โ Joe McDonagh (Galway), Con Murphy (Cork), Paddy Buggy (Kilkenny), Pat Fanning (Waterford) and Sรฉamus ร Riain (Tipperary), director-general Liam Mulvihill (Longford), and four GAA journalists: Paddy Downey (Cork), Seรกn รg ร Ceallachรกin (Dublin), Mick Dunne (Laois) and Jim OโSullivan (Kilkenny).
Bobby Rackard was retained at corner-back but Nickyโs absence really irked the Wexford public and still does to this day.
Speaking about the matter on Off The Ball in April, former Wexford manager Liam Griffin called it a โGAA three-card trick.โ
โThey took two people off the Team of the Century who had never played a game (since 1984). Can you imagine the insult that was when Nicky Rackard was taken off?โ he asked.
โNow you can say what you like about Christy Ring and he was an absolutely magnificent hurler, Iโm not taking from him or any of the great Kilkenny players, Lory Meagher or anyone else.
โBut where Nicky Rackard had come from it was an absolute aberration to think they could take him off that. I remember being incensed when I saw it to be honest. But sure lookit, thatโs the way it works, thatโs what happened and we move on.
โBut we know where he is, we know where he came from, we know what he did and thatโs all that matters to me and the people of Wexford I imagine.โ
An outraged Wexford hurling supporter was quoted in the Irish Independent the day after the team was announced as saying, โItโs very obvious how Nicky Rackard lost his place.
โHe was up against the Cork vote. What chance had he? These boys look after their own.โ
Rackard was replaced by Rebels great Cummins, in his own right a phenomenal hurler and a four-time Celtic Cross winner, but his career was already finished when the Wexford man was originally chosen in โ84.
Careyโs omission stunned hurling enthusiasts who had marvelled at his brilliance since he burst onto the scene in 1989.
By that stage he held the record for the most hurling All-Stars, seven, had over 30 championship goals to his name and was hotly tipped to seal one of the half-forward spots when he was nominated.
It sparked such an outrage that there were even rumblings about it in Kerry. A piece in the Kerryman article following the All-Ireland final that September labelled his absence โa pure disgraceโ.
Funnily enough, it didnโt generate the same disappointment in Kilkenny for the simple reason that another Cats hero Jim Langton was chosen ahead of Carey.
Carey himself recently admitted he was disappointed but accepted he was up against stern competition.
โItโs like everything else, whether looking to be selected as an All-Star or waiting on a Friday night at a training session to see if youโre playing, there might be no chance youโre on it, but youโre still hoping up to the last second that youโre going to be on that team,โ Carey said last month on Brian Carrollโs podcast A Hurlerโs Life.
โThat was probably the way at the time as well that of course if youโre in for something, even if thereโs no chance youโll be on it, you want to be on it. Naturally, if youโre not disappointed over something youโre passionate about well then youโre not really that passionate about it.
โBut you also have to accept that I never put myself up on much of a pedestal. I played the game as good as I could, I enjoyed it, I got an awful lot out of it and whatever else comes from that is brilliant.
โBut when you come to a Team of the Millennium, youโre coming up against fair opposition. I have a granduncle on it, his name was Paddy Phelan and he played in the โ30s. I think he won four All-Irelands between 1930 and 1940.
โNow, whoever picked that team needed to be 80 years of age to remember Paddy Phelan playing. Not alone, Lory Meagher playing. So youโre going back an awful long time when youโre picking teams.
โLook, if youโre to pick a current team, even if youโre to pick your own county itโs a very, very difficult job when you actually knuckle down to it.โ
The interesting subplot to this story is that near the tail end of the โ90s, there was a narrative around Carey that sure, he was a great player, but he didnโt do it on the biggest days.
Before the 1997 All-Ireland semi-final between Clare and Kilkenny, Banner boss Ger Loughnane started the mind games in an interview.
He was asked for his thoughts on Carey, who ripped Galway apart and scored 2-8 in the quarter-final.
โDJ will prove himself to be an outstanding player when he plays really well against one of the best players in the country in a big match,โ Loughnane began.
โNext Sunday, he will be playing in a really big match against Brian Lohan, and if he plays really well against Brian, he will prove himself to be a really great player.
โBut I wonโt regard him as a great player until he does it against somebody like Brian on the big day.โ
Then Kilkenny boss Nickey Brennan reportedly taped the interview and played it on the team bus on the way to the game. Carey put 1-6 past Clare but the Banner progressed by four points and went on to claim All-Ireland glory.
Carey finally put those doubts to bed in the 2000 All-Ireland final, two months after the millennium side was selected. Kilkenny trounced Offaly 5-15 to 1-14 and Carey bagged 2-4 in what became known as โThe DJ final.โ
Hurler of the Year and another All-Star followed that winter for the Young Irelands star.
Even Loughnane was impressed.
โEverybody knew DJ was a special talent,โ he later said. โThe perception though was that he had never delivered on the big day, which is the ultimate test of greatness.
โI have no doubt that perception cost him his place on the Team of the Millennium. In the final he took control from the start and scored a goal early on which meant Offaly were reeling.
โHe was unmarkable that day and proved to everybody that on the biggest occasion he was a class apart. That is why that final has special significance for hurling fans and hurling historians alike.โ
Careyโs omission from the millennium team was also viewed as a real slap in the face for the modern game. This was because Birr clubman Whelahan was the only player selected from the โ90s, known as hurlingโs revolution years, when a bunch of non-traditional counties broke through and enjoyed tremendous success.
Cummins was the only other player to have featured in the โ80s and even then his career drew to a close in โ82.
There were no places for the Clare side that lifted two All-Irelands in the โ90s, despite Lohan being tipped to replace Wexfordโs Nick OโDonnell.
Many felt the selection suggested that the selectors didnโt really rate Whelahanโs contemporaries. Others believed it hinted at a bias towardโs hurlingโs traditional big three of Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary.
Half of the All-Irelands won in the โ80s and โ90s were delivered by counties outside the big three, yet Whelahan was the only player from the era chosen. Offaly picked up four All-Irelands during that period, Galway won three, Clare two and Wexford one.
In comparison, the 1930s featured particularly well as Kilkennyโs Lory Meagher, Paddy Phelan and Jimmy Langton, Waterfordโs John Keane and Limerickโs Mick Mackey all made the cut.
An RTร online article called the team โa damning verdict on the state of the game outside of itโs traditional strongholds.โ
Galway were particularly annoyed they had no player chosen. The selection committee were accused of belittling the county by not recognising any of its heroes. Tony Keady, John Connolly and Joe Cooney were the three men they felt had legitimate claims to be included.
The Tribesmen did technically feature though as Tipperary goalkeeper Tony Reddin was from Galway and made his championship debut for his native county in 1941.
He was second choice goalkeeper behind Seanie Duggan until 1947. By the time he had failed to add to his solitary championship appearance. As his 30th birthday approached, he came to the realisation that he might never be the number one netminder in Galway.
So he transferred clubs from Mullagh to Lorrha in Tipperary. After some impressive performances in the club championship, Reddin went straight into the Premierโs starting team the following season.
The Bord na Mรณna employee played for Tipperary until 1957, winning three All-Irelands, three Munster crowns and five National Hurling League medals.
Heโs the closest Galway got to a position on the team.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
What a great match played in intercounty ferocityโฆvery professional display fron the gunnersโฆandthey had to go very deep
@Aidan Ryan: Unbelievable ferocity and quality is right. Some scoring for 60mins of action. Way better than that opening World Cup game too!
Ballygunner just a better teamโฆ๏ธโ ๏ธ
Crazy tactics by NAP in second half. Stopped playing through full-back line & goalie rained stupid high balls down on the half-forward line. They were tailor-made for Ballygunner backs to defend, and they cleaned up & our scoring threat dried up.
Very good quality game, ballygunner deserved it in the end. Nap faded out of it, looks like poor Mike Caseys knee is gone again