Cork make their case for the defence

Hurling All Stars: Nominations: Cork's watertight defence proved all but unbreakable at the Vodafone GAA All Star hurling nominations meeting this week. Five of John Allen's first-choice defence made it on to the shortlist for the award ceremony which will take place on November 25th.

Ronan Curran, an automatic All Star choice last year, loses out. Although Curran had a storming impact in the All-Ireland final triumph over Galway, his sub-par performance against Clare obviously mitigated against him, the low point of a fairly uneven season for the centre back.

Eleven of the All-Ireland championship-winning team have been nominated including the O'Connor brothers from Newtownshandrum, Ben and Jerry. They are one of three sets of brothers to receive nominations, with the Healys of Galway and the Kellys of Tipperary also featuring.

Losing finalists Galway received the same number of nominations as the All-Ireland champions. While Portumna's Ollie Canning is no stranger to All-Star recognition, Galway's youth has been reflected in the recognition of up-and-coming players like David Collins, Niall Healy and Ger Farragher, the top scorer of this year's championship.

Clare's resilient season - they reached the National League final and recovered from a bleak Munster championship semi-final exit to Tipperary to play Cork in a classic All-Ireland semi-final - is rewarded with nominations for almost half of Anthony Daly's team.

That taut and epic semi-final will always be remembered for the vintage and indomitable display given by Brian Lohan at fullback and it is no surprise that he heads the Clare defensive representation along with the former hurler of the year Seán McMahon and his half-back colleague Gerry Quinn.

Both All-Ireland final midfield pairings feature, with outside competition coming from Tipperary's Paul Kelly and Clare veteran Colin Lynch.

One of the notable aspects of the forward nominations is that Kilkenny, imperious in the league and whose attacking prowess has been a source of dismay among other counties, have claimed just three spots.

The irrepressible Henry Shefflin is named along with Tommy Walsh, both of whom were selected on last year's All Star team. Eoin Larkin, who had a fine and exciting debut year, is also in contention for a spot.

Galway received the most forward nominations with five, a nod to their blistering display of attacking hurling against Kilkenny in the other thrilling All-Ireland semi-final. Richie Murray loses out.

The torment that the lanky, old-fashioned full forward Micheál Webster caused both Brian Lohan and reigning All Star fullback Diarmuid O'Sullivan is recognised with his inclusion. His attacking colleague Eoin Kelly was selected on the All Star team last year and returns in this year's nominations.

Cork's Brian Corcoran again features on the list. He won his first award in 1992 at right corner back and then went on to take honours at centre back and at full forward last year.

Eight of the players who featured on last year's All Star team have been nominated this time around and a total of eight counties are represented, with Galway the only county outside Munster and Leinster.

This year's team will be announced live at a ceremony in the Citywest hotel on November 25th.

GOALKEEPERS

David Fitzgerald (Clare)

Donal Óg Cusack (Cork)

Damien Fitzhenry (Wexford)

DEFENDERS

Pat Mulcahy (Cork)

Diarmuid O'Sullivan (Cork)

Brian Murphy (Cork)

John Gardiner (Cork)

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (Cork)

Ollie Canning (Galway)

Derek Hardiman (Galway)

David Collins (Galway)

Tony Regan (Galway)

Richie Mullally (Kilkenny)

Noel Hickey (Kilkenny)

Brian Lohan (Clare)

Sean McMahon (Clare)

Gerry Quinn (Clare)

Diarmuid Fitzgerald (Tipperary)

Peter Lawlor (Limerick)

Tony Browne (Waterford)

Darragh Ryan (Wexford)

MIDFIELD

Jerry O'Connor (Cork)

Tom Kenny (Cork)

David Tierney (Galway)

Fergal Healy (Galway)

Paul Kelly (Tipperary)

Colin Lynch (Clare)

FORWARDS

Ben O'Connor (Cork)

Brian Corcoran (Cork)

Joe Deane (Cork)

Ger Farragher (Galway)

Damien Hayes (Galway)

Alan Kerins (Galway)

Niall Healy (Galway)

David Forde (Galway)

Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny)

Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny)

Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny)

Eoin Kelly (Tipperary)

Micheál Webster (Tipperary)

Eoin Kelly (Waterford)

Seamus Prendergast (Waterford)

Des Mythen (Wexford)

Diarmuid McMahon (Clare)

Tony Carmody (Clare)