LYNCH AND FENTON TWO OF THE BEST
Kilkenny and Tipp lose their grip on hurling’s top awards as the new boys take centre stage
LIMERICK’S wonderful year was capped off last night as their midfield dynamo Cian Lynch was named Hurler of the Year, winning a vote of his inter-county peers ahead of Galway duo Padraic Mannion and Joe Canning. Lynch was one of six of the All-Ireland winning side named on the All-Star selection at the annual banquet in Dublin’s Convention Centre. An electric presence in the middle third all summer for the Treaty County, the gifted Patrickswell native expressed disbelief that he won the top accolade. ‘You see the lads down through the years who got the award. Austin Gleeson, Tony Kelly, Joe Canning last year. I never believed that I’d be able to get one of those,’ Lynch said. ‘Hurling is a team sport but there are individual accolades that players can get, and if you get them or when you get them you have to appreciate them and cherish them. To get the
ATTEMPTING to find just 15 players who defined such an extraordinary summer might have seemed like a thankless task but the PWC All-Star selection announced in Dublin’s Convention Centre last night was a pretty accurate reflection of the most thrilling hurling Championship in history.
The season belonged to a young Limerick team that ended 45 years of heartbreak and the achievement was recognised in six of their players getting awards, including Cian Lynch who was also named Hurler of the Year. Galway collected three for their valiant effort to retain the title, the same number that Cork received for emerging top of the heap in a magical Munster Championship.
There was a sense from the team that hurling is embracing a new era and moving away from the once allpowerful Kilkenny-Tipperary axis. Eoin Murphy was the only player selected from those two traditional powerhouses while nine of the players were first-time award winners.
In a summer where the provincial round-robin format created a glut of extra top-level games, there was remarkably little debate among the selection committee — comprised of national GAA journalists — as to the make-up of the final picks.
Many of the players were unanimous choices. Indeed, there were only a couple of tight calls. Limerick’s Dan Morrissey edged out his team-mate Diarmuid Byrnes in the half-back line while five of the six attacking places were filled automatically.
The final position in attack came down to a three-way battle between Cork’s Patrick Horgan, Kilkenny’s TJ Reid and Limerick’s Tom Morrissey. It was the dynamic young Shannonside attacker who was ahead in the early voting but the gong eventually went to the Rebel marksman for his third All-Star award.
Reid can probably consider himself unfortunate given how he dragged the Cats through a number of games this summer, but Kilkenny, at least, had the consolation of having one All-Star in Murphy. Wexford didn’t even have that, the only one of the six teams that made it to the All-Ireland series not to be recognised last night.
The heroics of John Kiely’s Limerick side in bringing Liam MacCarthy back to the Treaty County saw their captain Declan Hannon joined by Sean Finn, Richie English, Dan Morrissey, Lynch and Graeme Mulcahy. What was unusual about the selection is that Mulcahy is the only forward from the All-Ireland champions on the team, although there can be few complaints about the other five attackers.
Lynch’s dynamism was often the spark of this Limerick team and the skilful Patrickswell native lit up the entire Championship. Even though Padraic Mannion was a model of consistency at wing-back for Galway, there were few grumbles about Lynch being named the best hurler of this year.
Lynch was joined in midfield by Leeside dynamo Darragh Fitzgibbon while Limerick’s other four awards went to defence. Dan Morrissey made more of an impression than Byrnes to get one of the wing-back places while Finn and English, two of the unsung heroes, were water-tight in the fullback line.
There was consternation in the Banner County when the nominations were released that there was no place for defender Jack Browne, who had put in a fine body of work all summer long. There will be many in Clare this morning who firmly believe that Browne merited a place in the fullback line.
As it is, a season that had promised so much for Clare ended with them picking up two awards last night. Both had been nailedon as it was impossible to overlook the merits of Peter Duggan, who sat on top of the scoring charts this past summer, or John Conlon, who was front-runner for Hurler of the Year in the early part of the Championship. Even though Conlon was an integral part of the 2013 All-Ireland winning team, this was the Clonlara native’s first award, as it was for Duggan.
Galway who came within a point of curtailing Limerick’s fairy-tale had to made do with three places.
Daithí Burke was imperious once again at the edge of the square and was named All-Star full-back for the fourth successive year. Given the powerful Turloughmore man will only turn 26 this month, should he stay injuryfree, he may even chase down Tommy Walsh’s record of nine successive AllStars. Burke was joined by Mannion and Joe Canning, the Hurler of the Year nominees who lost out to Lynch.
The Galway trio all collected awards for the second successive season but in all, just four of last year’s team received a statuette in the Convention Centre. The other was Horgan who was joined in the forward line by his captain, Seamus Harnedy.
Meanwhile, Carlow and Westmeath, the Joe McDonagh cup finalists, dominated the inaugural Joe McDonagh Champion 15.
Carlow, the eventual winners, had six places with the midlanders getting five. By virtue of winning the Joe McDonagh Cup, Carlow had gained a seat at hurling’s top table next season for a Championship season that has a lot to live up to.