Martin Breheny runs an in-depth rule over the huge reaction to our GAA series
Martin Breheny
REACTION to our week-long 20-20-50 series, which concluded last Saturday with the selection of the top 20 footballers and hurlers since 1970, had four common themes.
1. Ranking players against each other from various decades may be an inexact science, but the GAA public love it.
2. They have very strong views, especially when working off lists compiled by someone else.
3. They become incensed by the exclusion of their particular favourites, regarding it as bias, ignorance, stupidity or, even more likely, all three.
4. They are happy to name who should be included, while steadfastly declining to identify who should be dropped from the lists they are working off.
Points three and four dominated the reaction we received, while another issue also arose which needs to be clarified. It concerns those who played mainly in the 1960s (1950s also in some cases), but who continued past 1970, which was the starting point for our exercise.
Was everything they did before 1970 to be ignored? Mick O’Connell, who didn’t make the Kerry top 20, was cited as an example of a perceived anomaly.
He played from the mid-1950s to 1974, so should the entirety of his exceptional career be taken into account, or only the post-1970 years? There were several others too all over the country whose best years were pre-1970. In the main, that wasn’t taken into account, although obviously it remained a background factor in close calls.
Mick Roche’s exclusion from the Tipperary hurling top 20 drew negative reaction and, in hindsight, it probably was an error. It, too, was based on the fact that the legendary centre-back’s inter-county career ended in 1974.
He had been outstanding in the 1960s and again in 1971 when Tipperary won the All-Ireland, but opportunities dried up after that as they won only one championship game in 1972-’73-’74.
At the other end of the time-line, there was some criticism that more of the current Dublin football team didn’t make the national top 20. Stephen Cluxton, James McCarthy and Brian Fenton were included, but obviously Dublin supporters would have expected more. But at whose expense? This was about picking the top 20 from 50 years, not merely the last 10.
Also, there are excellent players from every county, even those who have no chance of winning an All-Ireland. They all deserve to be considered on their merits. Actually, if I had room to squeeze in another Dublin player, it would not have been any of the current squad, but rather John O’Leary, one of the great all-time goalkeepers.
Martin O’Connell? Good enough for the football Team of the Millennium but not in your Top 20. Why? Mark Ryan, Meath
MB: Teams are different. Players are competing against each other for positions as opposed to 1-20, which ranks them against each other. For example, Dublin had three goalkeepers, Stephen Cluxton, John O’Leary and Paddy Cullen, in their Top 20. That left only 17 other choices, but who would argue against the inclusion of that trio?
Regarding the Donegal players you selected, there are five that I disagree with: Martin Carney (he left us), Pauric McShea, Brian McEniff, Matt Gallagher, Paul Durcan. Pádraig Carr, Donegal
MB: I would have liked to see you five replacements. As for Carney, he played for Donegal for eight seasons before switching to Mayo where he worked and lived. You can’t dismiss a player because he built a new life elsewhere.
God help us all. Séamus Darby in the top Offaly 20? I would say No. 65 a more accurate assessment. Tom, Offaly
MB: I’ll quote what the late Eugene McGee, a man who knew Offaly football in minute detail, wrote about Darby in his autobiography: “It’s a mistake to regard Darby’s achievements as a one-goal wonder. People forget he is one of a fairly small number of players to have won senior All-Irelands at 10-year intervals (197282).” I fully support McGee’s view.
You should have called the series ‘the best 20 players from the 20 best teams’. How Greg Blaney, Mickey Linden, James McCartan, Paddy Bradley don’t get a mention is crazy. Peter Gilliland
MB: Blaney was sixth and Linden eighth in the Ulster Top 20. They didn’t make the Top 20 nationally, just as dozens of other great players missed out too.
20-20-50 has been a fascinating read all week. Is it fair to say that (Michael) Murphy has been the best footballer in the past decade? Irkku Mies (email)
MB: Other than Stephen Cluxton, who first played for Dublin in 2001, Murphy is the highest-ranked current player. That indeed makes him the best outfield player of the last decade.
I was surprised to see Brian Corcoran not only first in Cork hurling but first in Munster too and then ahead of the likes of Joe Canning, Nicky English, JJ Delaney and Brian Lohan on the top 20. Corcoran was a good player but not that good. Michael O’Brien, Tipperary
MB: It takes a special talent to play corner-back, centre-back and full-forward at the highest level. Corcoran won All-Stars awards in all three positions and Hurler of the Year awards in two (corner-back and centre-back).
I was disappointed with the rather under-researched description of the Sligo player, namely Barnes Murphy. In my opinion, he warrants further recognition. Tara Delamere, Dublin
MB: Thanks for also providing Barnes’ long list of achievements. Space restrictions prevented me from giving the 1974 All-Star and captain of the team that won the Connacht title for the first time in 47 years in 1975 more coverage in the Sligo 1-20, where he was ranked third behind Mickey Kearins and Eamonn O’Hara.
It’s an insult to Cork football that they only had four on the Munster 20 and only two in the top ten. What about Ray Cummins, Steven O’Brien, Graham Canty and Declan Barron?
It’s not always about Kerry. Anthony Brady, Cork city
MB: No insult intended, but look at the quality of the opposition they were up against, not just from Kerry but also from the likes of Declan Browne and John Galvin, both of whom were on the Munster 20.
I read over the Donegal panel several times and I couldn’t find Paddy McBrearty’s name on it. Paddy is one of the most versatile and complete footballers to come out of Donegal for many a year. He deserves recognition. J Sheehan, Galway
MB: True. I was conflicted on that one. Paddy just missed out. He’s still only 26 so if an updated exercise is carried out in a few years’ time it’s highly likely he will be well inside the Top 20.
Just wondering how you could leave Seánie Johnston out of a Cavan top 20 from the last 50 years? Richie Kelly
MB: Twenty is a small number when you’re looking back over all the players in any county over 50 years. Johnston just missed the cut.
You should have called it ‘The Winners’ Club’, with Ken McGrath left outside. How can a team lose All-Ireland finals by the smallest of margins and lots of bad luck and not get a player close? Mickpadden (email)
MB: Close to what? McGrath was 10th in the national rankings and fourth in Munster. Those are high positions in a field of hundreds.
As a west of Ireland man, how could you have only one Connacht footballer in the top 20? John Canavan, Sligo
MB: Because I regarded others as having stronger cases. It’s as simple as that. Geography or birth place don’t come into it.
Paul Earley at No 10 and Eamonn McManus Snr at No 11 (Roscommon). No Cathal Cregg or Diarmuid Murtagh. Are you having a laugh? M Walsh
MB: No, I’m not.
How could you place Séamus Callanan as low as No 10 in the Tipperary rankings? Jim Fogarty (A Tipp man in Kilkenny)
MB: I can see why that didn’t go down well with Callanan supporters. They
have a point but then the nine ahead of him (English, Kelly, P Maher, B Cummins, Leahy, D Ryan, B Maher, O’Connor, Fox) aren’t exactly weak candidates. Tipp is a very competitive field.
I can’t agree with some of your selections of Longford’s best players of the last 40 years. I can’t understand how you chose Mickey O’Hara, Joe McCabe and Paddy Dowd, and omitted Liam Keenan, David Hanniffy and Barry Gilleran. Surely Seán Donnelly had finished playing before 1980! kjtonra (email)
MB: The exercise covered 1970-2020. Also, Paddy Dowd was not included.
Many congratulations on the magnificent series. As a keen GAA follower, I would have to say that you and your team have been very keen in selecting the best in each of the counties. However, having watched Liam O’Neill (Galway) and the Mayo pair, John Morley and Joe Corcoran, I was mystified as to why they didn’t make their county selections or even get an honourable mention. Tom Towey, Sligo
MB: O’Neill, an excellent wingback, just missed out in Galway.
Corcoran and Morley gave exceptional service for Mayo but were at their best in the 1960s. They both retired in 1974, which was early in the 20-20-50 timeframe. That came against them.
Ciarán Whelan was a colossus of a midfielder and one of Dublin’s greatest ever players in that position. To leave him out of the Dublin top 20 is wrong and takes away from the value of the exercise. Joe Nugent, Swords
MB: Whelan was unlucky to miss out on a Top 20 spot but then so too were David Hickey, Tony Hanahoe, Bobby Doyle, Kieran Duff, Keith Barr, Charlie Redmond, Paul Mannion, Con O’Callaghan, Michael Darragh Macauley and others.
It’s a very crowded field in Dublin.
There wasn’t a better midfielder at any time than Anthony Tohill (below) and he’s not even in the top 20. He should be top five. Noel McEvoy, Derry
MB: Our Top 20 wasn’t about positions. Having said that, four midfielders, Jack O’Shea, Brian Mullins, Seán Cavanagh and Brian Fenton, got in. If we had extended it to a top 25, Tohill would have made it.
Having viewed the selections, I have a few things to say about Meath. Firstly, you can never please everyone! I completely agree with Colm O’Rourke at No 1 but also think you could have found room for Colm Coyle and Mark O’Reilly. Emmet Finn
MB: You definitely have a point about Coyle in particular.
MB: Tim Kennelly, Charlie Nelligan and Jimmy Deenihan are others from the great Kerry team of the 1970s/’80s who lost out too, but there were only 20 places and so much talent in contention for them.