5 DEFENDERS TO HOLD THE LINE

WHEN it came to selecting the Player of the Year, it said everything about the modern game that it went to a celebrated wing back. Not just a defender but a scorer capable of plundering a goal in an All-Ireland final.

That’s how much the job description has changed in recent years with massed defences offering extra cover. These five players can do it all if required: man-mark or steal up the field.

Philly McMahon (Dublin)

Asked to comment on the retirement of Colm Cooper, the Dublin defender who outscored him in the 2015 All-Ireland final didn’t pretend to shed any crocodile tears.

‘Will I miss him? I don’t know. Would I miss any player that I mark? I won’t lose sleep. It’s very hard for me to rate him because I would have liked to mark him two or three years [ago]... let’s say 2012 or 2011 around that stage. I would have loved to mark him and see what he was capable of.’

Nobody expected one of the game’s best man-markers to join the sentimental tributes to one of the game’s greatest forwards, not when he is one of the select few to emerge in credit over their limited direct encounters.

That McMahon would like to have challenged himself on Cooper in his prime says much about his warrior mentality and how the balance of power between Dublin and Kerry has shifted since the 2011 decider. His ability to go down the field and turn Cooper inside out before kicking a point says everything about how his own game has evolved.

You know that you’ve made it when a statue is commissioned in your honour and you’re still alive, the life-size replica branded ‘#the toughest defender’ currently doing the rounds.

Tadhg Morley (Kerry)

Coming of age performance in the league final against Dublin. Few players have the athleticism to match the human dynamo that is Ciaran Kilkenny but Éamonn Fitzmaurice got his match-ups spot on.

Epitomises the manner in which the team has been reshaped to match the strengths of the All-Ireland champions. After Kerry were hammered by Dublin in the previous year’s league final for pace and mobility around the middle third, Morley is the sort of player that looks custom-made for the hard ground of summer. Gone is the raw, wild-haired cub that was only finding his feet on Fitzmaurice’s watch. A more central position seems to play to his natural strengths.

That league title, too, will do much for the confidence of Kerry’s New Wave.

Lee Keegan (Mayo)

It takes something special to buck the tradition of the Player of the Year being selected from the AllIreland winning team. Just like Austin Gleeson being selected by his peers as the outstanding performer in the 2016 hurling Championship, the Mayo defender’s selection was a nod to Keegan’s sustained excellence.

His goal in the All-Ireland final replay was a masterclass in counter-attacking at pace and precision finishing. Just like McMahon, his reputation has been enhanced by not only limiting the threat of his direct opponent – in Dublin’s case Diarmuid Connolly – but of outscoring him.

Before Maurice Deegan’s illjudged black card, he was shaping up to deliver one of the truly great final displays.

‘I’m not here to get character awards. I’m here to win medals. That’s the only reason I come back every year, to win that main medal.’ That’s Keegan’s personal manifesto. The joy on his face climbing the Hogan Stand steps in the spring with his club Westport said everything about what winning an All-Ireland feels like. ‘Things Lee Did?’ There’s only one thing of note left to add to that list.

Drew Wylie (Monaghan)

There’s something wonderfully oldschool about Monaghan’s re-emergence as an Ulster power and the same could be said of a player who is a central pillar in defence. Not in terms of tactical set-ups and all the modern plans that go with being successful but in terms of attitude. No gimmicks, soundbites – just a heart-on-sleeve, uncompromising, lets-have-you approach.

Wylie signifies that stomach for the battle, a stopper in the best sense of the word who isn’t bothered about adding to the long list of full-back line defenders who might have a score or two in brackets beside their name.

Strong in the air, he’s able to handle the threat of a sky-scraping fullforward being dropped on the edge of the square. If it comes down to a pure footballing contest, he has the ball-playing skill and street smarts to dominate as well.

Cathal McCarron (Tyrone)

After all the headlines that went with his searingly honest memoir ‘Out of Control’ which details his descent into the grubby clutches of gambling addiction, it’s nearly been forgotten that McCarron is a serious ball player. To have been able to play at the highest level while his life was in turmoil off the field just shows the level of his ability on it.

In the mould of Ryan McMenamin before him, he is versatile enough to play the role of hard chaw manmarker when required or strike threat from deep, to go with Mickey Harte’s penchant for hitting at breakneck speed on the counter.

His manager has always been there to defend McCarron, issuing a rebuke to those who have rushed to judgement. ‘There are a lot of people on the high moral ground and there must be a wild crowd of them there, they’d want to be careful they don’t fall off.’

This summer, McCarron will be keen to repay that faith.

There’s only one thing left of note Lee Keegan has still to do