Only three Mayo selections

Mayo football supporters are likely to be most disenchanted by the division of the 1999 Eircell All Star football nominations.

Just three of their team - Kevin Cahill, Alan Roche and James Horan - have been forwarded for possible selection as opposed to 10 from Armagh, the other beaten All-Ireland semi-finalists, and 12 from Cork, who lost the final. All-Ireland champions Meath also have 12 candidates.

Given that the Connacht side ended the interest of the 1998 All-Ireland champions Galway, it would seem a poor return for their efforts but the abiding memory of their championship is probably the tame capitulation against Cork in the second half of that semi-final.

As with the hurling short list, the players who competed in the semi-final stage of the championship dominate the list. Armagh, therefore, have little reason for complaint, given the overwhelming negative public reaction to the quality of their semi-final against Meath.

Oisin McConville and Diarmuid Marsden, who between them brightened this year's Ulster campaign with regular flashes of brilliance, would appear to be the Northern team's best hopes of All Star representation, with defenders Andrew McCann and Kieran McGeeney also in with a shout.

But the competition for the six defensive spots is extremely tight this year, given that Meath's successful run was built upon the impenetratability of their own defensive lines. No surprise, therefore, that five of the six men who spent their Sundays breaking the will of opposing forwards are up for selection. Hank Traynor is the lone absentee from that list.

Conventional wisdom is that Meath's John McDermott is a shooin for one of the midfield spots which leaves an interesting tussle for the other slot. Anthony Tohill from Derry, the now retired Jarlath Burns from Armagh, Dublin's Ciaran Whelan and both Nicholas Murphy and Michael O'Sullivan from Cork are the interested parties here.

McDermott and Padraig Joyce of Galway are the only two All Stars from 1998 to receive nominations (a consequence of the indifferent summers of Galway and Kildare).

Meath lead the way in the forward ranks with five inclusions. Trevor Giles will unquestionably make the final grade and it is hard to see Ollie Murphy being omitted. Sixteen players, so, are in with a shout of the final four spots and although commentators have lamented the decline of the attacking game, the names are still familiar. All-Ireland winning captain Graham Geraghty is included, as is Cork captain Philip Clifford, Mayo's James Horan and Ian Robertson, who excelled in a gloomy year for Dublin. The presence of Westmeath's highly talented Des Dolan is a welcome departure from the traditional power list while Shane Mulholland is the sole recipient for Ulster finalists Down.

Because Cork won the National League as well as advancing to the All-Ireland final, the argument that league endeavour is not reflected on All Star night is redundant to some extent. But the fact that their beaten league opponents Dublin have only two players on the 1999 nominations tends to give substance to the argument.