Brogans cap special season for Dublin

AS IF their All-Ireland football victory wasn’t sweet enough already Dublin have sugared it again with six All Star awards. Not surprisingly it’s their best representation since their last All-Ireland title, in 1995, when they actually collected seven.

Then, to cap it all off, they also left the Dublin Convention Centre last night with the 2011 footballer of the year award, which went to Alan Brogan, who amazingly succeeds his younger brother Bernard, who won the 2010 honour – making it something of a home victory all round.

Both the Brogan brothers also collected All Stars – which for the first time were jointly presented by the GAA and the GPA – with Dublin’s total of six two more than beaten All-Ireland finalists Kerry, who got four, including a seventh award for Colm “The Gooch” Cooper.

Donegal won three awards in defenders Neil McGee, Karl Lacey and Kevin Cassidy while Mayo’s Andy Moran and Kildare’s Michael Foley were first time winners; it means just five counties are represented, two less than the seven counties represented on the 2010 All Star football team.

Joining the Brogans from Dublin’s All-Ireland winning team are defender Kevin Nolan, man-of-the-match in the final, midfielder Michael Dara Macauley, and forward Paul Flynn, plus goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton, who collected his fourth award.

Cluxton was always a certainty for the goalkeeping position, especially after he kicked the winning free in last month’s All-Ireland final win over Kerry, which added to his usual expertise in goal.

Alan Brogan saw off Darran O’Sullivan from Kerry and Cluxton to win the footballer of the year – and also announced on the night was 2011 hurler of the year, which went to Kilkenny midfielder Michael Fennelly, who saw off team-mate Tommy Walsh and Pádraic Maher of Tipperary.

Eight of the 15 football All Stars are first-time winners: defenders McGee from Donegal, Foley from Kildare, and Nolan from Dublin; both midfielders Bryan Sheehan from Kerry and Macauley from Dublin; and forwards Darran O’Sullivan from Kerry, Flynn from Dublin, and Moran from Mayo.

It means the midfield pairing of Sheehan and Macauley is completely new, though no less deserving. Sheehan certainly commanded the position throughout the summer after relocating from his usual forward role, while Macauley, a former basketball star, was consistently impressive, particularly in the All-Ireland final. It also means half of Dublin’s 12 nominated players end up getting an award, the players to miss out being Diarmuid Connolly, Kevin McManamon, Ger Brennan, Rory O’Carroll, Cian O’Sullivan and Denis Bastick.

Karl Lacey was awarded for his consistency and energy in the Donegal centre back position with his third award, having previously won at corner back in 2006, and 2009 – and likewise Cassidy, who previously won an All Star back in 2002.

It’s not the first time two brothers have won All Stars in the same year: indeed Marc, Tomás and Darragh Ó Sé from Kerry all won All Stars in 2007. It’s not even the first time two brothers have won football All Stars in the forward line, as Martin and James McHugh both collected All Stars for Donegal in 1992. But it does cap off a memorable season for the Brogans, not that they’ll have celebrated too wildly, as both are in action with St Oliver Plunkett’s Eoghan Ruadh this afternoon against St Vincent’s in the quarter-final of the Dublin championship.

Also announced on the night was the 2011 young footballer of the year, which went to Cillian O’Connor from Mayo. The young hurler of the year award went to Dublin’s Liam Rushe.

Each winner on the All Stars team gets €1,500 for the use of their image for promotional purposes, while the individual players of the year receive €5,000.