SEVEN UP FOR THE CHAMPS
Stars align as Galway equal best ever haul
GALWAY have equalled their record haul of All-star hurling awards with a tally of seven, matching that of 1988.
Waterford, who Galway beat in the All-ireland final, have also emulated their best representation of five from 2007.
The team is completed by two Cork players and one from Tipperary.
In all there are six first-time winners, four of them from Galway, as Padraic Mannion, Gearoid Mcinerney, Conor Whelan and Conor Cooney get the nod.
Waterford goalkeeper Stephen O’keeffe and Cork’s Mark Coleman are the other players making their maiden appearances on the team.
There are four survivors from last year’s selection as Daithi and David Burke win their third successive awards, while Jamie Barron and Padraic Maher have also been retained.
For the first time in the 46-year history of the scheme, the same midfield pairing has been retained from the previous year as Barron and David Burke held on to their positions.
In winning his fourth award – though his first as a forward – Waterford stalwart Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh emulates Kilkenny great Tommy Walsh by winning an All-star as a defender, midfielder and attacker.
Walsh’s record still stands apart, however, as he won five of his All-stars at right half-back, and one each at left half-back, left corner-back, midfield and left half-forward.
Waterford captain Kevin Moran also wins his first All-star as a forward, having been chosen in midfield in 2012.
Mcinerney already emulated his father Gerry in September but goes one step further by claiming the All-star that eluded the man who was left half-back on Galway’s All-ireland winning sides of 1987 and ‘88.
Mcinerney is the fourth Galway hurler to man the pivotal centre-back slot on an All-star team after Sean Silke, the late Tony Keady and Liam Hodgins, the last Tribesman to be selected in that position in 2001.
Despite being chosen on the team in each of the last two years at left corner-back and right halfback, Daithi Burke is the first Galway man chosen at full-back since legendary former captain and manager Conor Hayes, back in 1988.
Padraic Maher is the most decorated Tipperary defender in terms of All-stars as he picks up a fifth award, drawing him level with former teammate and goalkeeper Brendan Cummins and one behind legendary Premier attackers Eoin Kelly and Nicky English, who have six each.
Having been chosen at right half-back, it means that Maher has won All-stars all across the half-back line, as well as at full-back in 2009.
O’keeffe becomes the first Waterford goalkeeper to win an All-star, seeing off competition from Cork’s Anthony Nash, who may count himself unlucky not to have won his third.
Other players who were unfortunate not to make the final cut were Waterford pair Pauric Mahony and Tadhg de Burca.
Joe Canning’s fourth award, and first since 2012, means he matches the tally of his brother Ollie. It makes them Galway’s most decorated All-star siblings, moving one ahead of Jimmy (two) and Joe Cooney ( five). It draws the Cannings level with
Eoin (six) and
Paul Kelly (two) from Tipp and the Hendersons – Pat (two), Ger (five) and John (one) – of Kilkenny, though the record haul of hurling All-stars among siblings belongs to Walsh and his brother Padraig, who hold 10 between them.
Canning is also the first Galway player to be chosen at centre-forward since Joe Rabbitte 17 years ago.
Cork’s superb Munster Championship campaign hasn’t seen them go unnoticed either with 19-year-old Mark Coleman securing the left half-back berth.
His team-mate Patrick Horgan, 10 years his senior, earned his second award at left corner-forward after a sterling campaign, four years after winning his first award on the edge of the square.
It’s only the eighth occasion in the history of the All-stars that no Kilkenny player has made the team, a reflection of their earliest Championship exit since 1996 this year.