Players produce another surprise

GAA - Gaelic football GPA Team of the Year: The GPA football team of the year has created further controversy after just one Kerry forward was included on the selection while three Mayo forwards were honoured.

Last week's hurling selection was widely criticised for including six Cork players to just four from the All-Ireland champions, Kilkenny. Critics included the Kilkenny manager, Brian Cody.

The GPA team does include six representatives from All-Ireland champions Kerry but only one of their forwards, Kieran Donaghy, is included, in contrast to three from the team they beat 4-15 to 3-5 in September's final, Mayo. Colm Cooper did not even receive a nomination.

"I think Mayo maybe confounded some of the critics with the scoring averages they put up this year but it's down to the votes and the players," said football committee chairman John O'Mahony.

It's undisputed that the Mayo selections - Ciarán McDonald, Alan Dillon and Conor Mortimer - performed well throughout the championship but the Kerry defence eclipsed them in the most important game of the year.

The vote, arguably the most democratic system, doesn't necessarily produce a balanced line-up.

The committee select three players in each position to be voted upon by GPA members. Of approximately 900 members (as with the hurling, the GPA were unable to supply their exact membership figures) 627 replied via a postal order form.

Other members of the committee included Martin McHugh, Tony Davis and Kevin O'Brien along with journalists Paddy Heaney, Adrian Logan and Shane Scanlon.

The committee convened after the provincial championships, the All-Ireland semi-final and final in order to ensure players who performed well throughout the year were considered.

The rival All Star committee only begins its selection process after the championship.

"The criticism, maybe, of these teams (the All Stars) in the past was it was all based on All-Ireland form," said O'Mahony. "This was, we felt, the fairest way. Obviously there are some close calls. There are always players you could say should be in there. You can never say that any of the players that are there shouldn't be there. That's the nature of it."

All four candidates for player-of-the-year award - Donaghy, Darragh Ó Sé, McDonald and Armagh's Ronan Clarke - also made the team.

The six Kerry representatives are Marc Ó Sé, Tom O'Sullivan, Séamus Moynihan (at wing back), Aidan O'Mahony, Darragh Ó Sé and Donaghy.

Like Mayo, Dublin have three players - Stephen Cluxton, Bryan Cullen and Alan Brogan - included, but Munster champions Cork must be content with just one, midfielder Nicholas Murphy. Fermanagh full back Barry Owens completes the team.

It was confirmed that the closest vote was at left half forward, where McDonald saw off Kerry's Paul Galvin and Donegal's Rory Kavanagh.

The suggestion was put to O'Mahony at yesterday's announcement in Jury's hotel that Galvin's exclusion was an injustice.

"You are entitled to your opinion on that but he was one of the three nominations for the number 12 and the players decided this was it," replied O'Mahony. "I'm not privy to how the votes went. If you are looking at that you would say that's the nearest thing to a controversy on this team but the players went for it. Ciarán McDonald had a fantastic year as well."

The GPA accepted yesterday that such an awards scheme courts controversy and disagreement but they also highlighted the benefit to the winners (€2,500) while the player of the year will be handed the keys to an Opel car valued at €25,000 at the annual awards ceremony on Friday, November 10th.