STOKING THE FIRE

THROWBACK STARS OF THE ENGINE ROOM TOP THE LIST BUT MIDFIELD MAESTROS ARE STILL ELEVATING THE GAME TO NEW HEIGHTS

TO understand how midfield play has become so much more fluid and interchangeable, it’s not just worth looking at some of the names on this list like Tony Kelly and Tommy Dune who could just as easily be slotted into attack, but even one name that doesn’t make the cut.

Since scooping the 2018 Hurler of the Year award in a brilliantly creative role at midfield, Cian Lynch has hardly lined out there since, redeployed by John Kiely to centreforward for the most part but still serving to push the envelope of orthodox positional play by popping up anywhere in that modern middle third to conduct the Limerick orchestra. And by career’s end, it will be no surprise to see him listed here.

Cork’s Tom Cashman split his time as a classy ball-player between midfield and half-back and could just as easily be accommodated here while George O’Connor was a warrior presence who helped Wexford reach the Promised Land in 1996.

That the top three are a throwback to the past is down, in part, to the way that traditional midfield play has been diluted to an extent by the disappearance of ground hurling and overhead striking, and the capacity of teams to go short and over the midfield or bypass it completely from the puckout.

No matter, the genius of Ballyea wizard Kelly shows that even as the demands of any position changes, players find a way to elevate the game to new heights.

10 JOACHIM KELLY OFFALY 1974-1993

Could be seen last year squeezing into an Offaly jersey and taking part in a press-up challenge as part of a fundraiser for frontline workers, displaying the competitive zeal that underpinned Offaly for two decades and looking fit and competitive enough to maybe still do a job outfield. A true midfield powerhouse in the traditional sense, Kelly (left) was a fearless and indomitable player, the ultimate big-game type who rolled up his sleeves the tougher things got. His career stats with Offaly are mind-boggling in terms of their consistency and longevity: in an era of knockout he made 43 Championship and 120 National League starts from 1974 to 1993. There were also a smattering of appearances as substitute.

In Offaly, the debate is whether Johnny Pilkington deserves the nod here, such a naturally classy ball striker who made the Offaly machine hum when winning All-Irelands. And similarly with Birr. For his durability over the decades though – he started playing adult hurling at 15 and was still playing junior in the noughties – Kelly’s career has defied the ages.

9 CIARÁN CAREY LIMERICK, 1989-2004

So good, Guinness built a billboard campaign around the man who could break hearts from 70 yards. Carey (right) is forever associated with the slalom run through the heart of the Clare defence and the inspirational point to knock the All-Ireland champions out in 1996 in an epic finish to a Munster semi-final.

Great players show their class in the game’s great moments and that said so much about the balance, pace and electric drive of the Patrickswell player. His nephew Cian Lynch showed the rich bloodlines by going on to win Hurler of the Year when Limerick ended the county’s 45-year wait for the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Another player whose talent will never be defined by the lack of a Celtic Cross.

8 TONY BROWNE WATERFORD, 1991-2014

Made a mockery of the modern assumption that it’s a young man’s game, remaining a timeless, classy presence on the field right up until his retirement at the grand old age of 40. This is a player who made his senior debut in a League game against Galway in 1991 and whose career went on to span three different decades, his final cameo coming off the bench on July 13, 2013 as Kilkenny knocked Waterford out of an All-Ireland qualifier after extra-time.

Hurler of the year in 1998, Browne (left) was an all-action figure in the breakthrough story that saw Waterford thrill their way to four Munster titles (2002, ’04, ’07 and ’10).

A sign of his enduring talent comes from the fact that he was still winning All-Stars in the half-back line in 2006 and 2007. Like his teammate Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, who has the strongest of claims for inclusion in this Top 10, just as much as the Top 10 of defenders, Browne’s versatility was a distinguishing factor, though his end-to-end energy was tailor

made for the engine room of the team.

7 DAVID BURKE GALWAY 2010-PRESENT

Will be forever linked with Michael D Higgins when Galway’s hurling famine finally came to an end in 2017, the President joyful in being in the same shot when Burke (below) was handed both the National League trophy and Liam MacCarthy Cup as captain. And the St Thomas’ star played a heroic role in that All-Ireland triumph, slinging over four points from play in the smooth fashion with which he so often glided across Croke Park’s open spaces.

One of the purest ballstrikers in the game, he established an almost telepathic understanding with Joe Canning, one which was so central to Galway finally building a bridge to the double of 1987-88.

A central player, too, when Galway made history by winning Leinster for the first time in 2012 after decamping to the province, winning an All-Star that year and three more consecutively in 2015-17.

6 TOMMY DUNNE TIPPERARY, 1993-2005

Such a smooth, silky player, the quality and ease of his ball-striking was a joy to watch. The kind of midfielder every forward loves, given the sweetness of delivery and capacity to hit the space. It was just his misfortune that his career coincided with a fallow period after the All-Ireland triumphs of 1989 and ’91, though he finally got his just reward in 2001 when Nicky English guided Tipp over the line and continued the faith in Dunne (left) as an on-field lieutenant.

It was only fitting that his captaincy endured for that breakthrough season as the team swept to National League, Munster and All-Ireland success, Dunne firing over a fifth point in the final against Galway in added time to help secure victory. Such a celebrated player as well with Toomevara, how much his heart and soul is attached to Tipperary hurling is obvious in the way he took on various coaching roles and was back lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2019 as part of Liam Sheedy’s set-up.

5 MICHAEL FENNELLY KILKENNY, 2006-2017

A force of nature in full flow. A powerful and dynamic player who created such problems for opposition teams with his direct running. So dominant in the air and in the physical exchanges, he returned midfield play to its roots at times when the game threatened to evolve into a running pursuit for speed and quick stick merchants.

In true Brian Cody fashion, had to bide his time on the bench and then go through the pain of seeing the fivein-a-row dashed in 2010 before blossoming into a Player of the Year in 2011. He was a rock for Kilkenny and Ballyhale Shamrocks through a sus

tained period of success that leaned heavily on his leadership qualities. Fennelly (left) kept bouncing back from a series of crippling injuries to produce man-ofthe-match displays and could slot as easily into centre-forward or centre-back when required. The All-Ireland-winning captain of 2009, he was denied a ninth All-Ireland medal in 2016. He also won nine Leinster medals and five National Hurling League medals.

4 TONY KELLY CLARE, 2012-PRESENT

Announced himself as a rare talent in 2013 at just 19, becoming the first player to carry off the Young Hurler of the Year Award along with the Hurler of the Year title. Epitomises the fluidity of the modern game because he could make the Top 10 list of forwards just as easily as he roams around the middle third effortlessly picking up ball and splitting the posts.

A generational talent — just witness his stunning series of displays in the 2020 Championship when he equalled a record of 17 scores in a single game that dated back to Eddie Keher and 1972 in the opening round against Limerick. Kelly (below) finished with a stun- ning Championship haul of 1-53 in that loose roaming role, a 14-point average.

Has had to carry the burden for Clare all too often since 2013 and showed the same sustained excellence in inspiring his club Ballyea to the 2017 All-Ireland final. And far from finished yet – at just 27, he’s arguably only coming into his prime.

3 JOHN CONNOLLY GALWAY, 1967-81

A natural captain and leader, he was named as midfield partner to Kilkenny’s Frank Cummins on the inaugural All-Star team in 1971. When Galway made a longawaited breakthrough at national level in 1975 with a first National League title — beating Tipperary 4–9 to 4–6 — he was captain of the team.

And when Galway’s moment finally came on the All-Ireland stage with a first title since the standalone 1923 success he was there.

As the eldest, he was the figurehead for the Connolly family dynasty, with Castlegar and with Galway, his brother Joe famously taking a line from Pope John Paul II with his ‘People of Galway, we love you’ speech from the steps of the Hogan Stand.

Johnny Flaherty’s hand-passed goal and Offaly’s own breakthrough win in 1981 might have signalled his retirement but Connolly (above) is widely regarded as one of Galway’s greatest hurlers.

2 JOHN FENTON CORK, 1975-87

One of the game’s great goals captured so much of what made Fenton (below) special. It’s the famous first-time wonder strike against Limerick in the 1987 Munster semi-final replay.

It’s the one where Ger Cunningham launched a puck-out, it broke off Tomás Mulcahy to the right wing where Fenton touched it on into space before letting fly on the ground: so clean and hard was the strike that the camera barely picks up the flight until it hits the net cleanly. A goal that exhibited Fenton’s gilded wrists and impeccable timing.

It’s no wonder he scooped five successive All-Stars from 1983-87 and was named Hurler of the Year in 1984.

A beautiful dead-ball striker, too, whose class in the Cork engine room was such a part of the county’s success in 1984 when he captained his team up the steps of Croke Park in that milestone centenary year of the

association.