MAIN MEN OF SUMMER

There are plenty of players outside Dublin capable of putting it up to the champions on the team of the year

AFOOTBALL season deemed too sedate and predictable for its own good is over, but the debate will live on.

It was a campaign that confirmed Dublin’s status as one of the greatest ever teams to play the game, which is likely to fuel expectations that the champions will dominate this year’s All-Star awards.

After all, the last time four-in-arow was achieved by Kerry in 1981, no fewer than nine of the Kingdom’s team made the final cut.

But times have changed and in a year which saw the advent of the Super 8s, ensuring that elite players were given a bigger stage to showcase their talents, the likelihood is that this year’s selection will be a tad more democratic in fashion.

The process begins this week when 45 players will be short-listed for selection and to get the debate going, Sportsmail picks its team of 2018 All-Stars, and while Dublin take the lion’s share with six, Monaghan (three), Tyrone, Donegal (two each), Galway and Kerry are all represented.

1 RORY BEGGAN (MONAGHAN)

Enjoyed sublime performances against both Tyrone and Kerry.

His kicking game, both from the restart tee and placed balls – he racked up 0-17 – was perfect while also attending to his core duties, most memorably with a flying save against Kildare in the Super 8s

Nominees: Graham Briody (Laois), Stephen Cluxton (Dublin).

2 JONNY COOPER (DUBLIN)

Tyrone legend Owen Mulligan nailed it perfectly recently, when he described the Na Fianna clubman as Dublin’s Sergio Ramos.

He is not everyone’s cup of tea, but then abrasive defenders with an instinct to go to ground never are, but nothing can disguise the reality that he is best man-for-man marker out there.

He emphasised such in the All-Ireland final, recovering from a difficult start on Mark Bradley to dominate. Nominees: Eoghan Kerin (Galway), Ryan Wylie (Monaghan).

3 PÁDRAIG HAMPSEY (TYRONE)

His boxing background served him well, thriving when left alone in the ring with some of the game’s true heavyweights like Michael Murphy, Conor McManus and Paul Mannion.

He went the full distance with all three and could possibly claim points victories over McManus and Mannion. And he signed off his year with the best score of the final.

Nominees: Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh (Galway), Che Cullen (Fermanagh).

4 EOGHAN BÁN GALLAGHER (DONEGAL)

His surging runs from the full-back line wreaked havoc all summer. That cocktail of powerful upperbody strength and lightning speed is almost impossible to stop, while he also came up with the goal to put Donegal on their way in the Ulster final. Nominees: Michael McKernan (Tyrone), Eoin Murchan (Dublin).

5 KARL O’CONNELL (MONAGHAN)

He scorched grass all summer long to devastating effect, scoring 1-7 from wing-back in the process.

He was Man of the Match in the Super 8s win over Kildare, scoring 0-3, but he also set the tempo which was pivotal to Monaghan’s Championship run. Nominees: Tiernan McCann (Tyrone), John Small (Dublin).

6 COLM CAVANAGH (TYRONE)

Sandwiched between a shaky start and a poor finish, he was the one who held it together for Mickey Harte’s men.

His postal address may have been at midfield, but it was in his permanent sweeping role that he excelled – not least in the crucial wins over Donegal and Monaghan.

The timing of that tackle to strip Jack McCarron in the latter game was one of the defensive plays of the year. Nominees: Colm Begley (Laois), Vinny Corey (Monaghan).

7 JACK McCAFFREY (DUBLIN)

After recovering from a cruciate knee injury, he came cold into the summer but finished it red hot.

If the measure of a great player is how they fare in the big games, then he was top of the class.

He was man of the match in their stiffest tests – the two games against Tyrone and the All-Ireland semifinal against Galway. Enough said.

Nominees: Gavin White (Kerry), Cathal Sweeney (Galway).

8 BRIAN FENTON (DUBLIN)

It is hardly a coincidence that he has never lost a Championship game in 27 starts because he is a born winner.

In the final, the combined efforts of Conor Meyler, Colm Cavanagh and Mattie Donnelly went to waste, as he emerged to produce a sublime second-half performance, including two points, which took his season’s tally to 1-11.

Nominees: Michael Murphy (Donegal), Tom Flynn (Galway).

9 BRIAN HOWARD (DUBLIN)

Although, he didn’t officially start in the centre – the middle eight has become a moveable feast – he is hardly out of position.

And no one can argue that his role to Dublin’s 28th All-Ireland title was anything less than central. A powerful ball winner, he emerged as one of Stephen Cluxton’s favoured receivers for a very good reason. Nominees: James McCarthy (Dublin), Niall Kearns (Monaghan).

10 IAN BURKE (GALWAY)

Although he played in the corner, he is just too good to be left out of this team. He scored 1-11 from open play, but his influence went far beyond that as his sharp brain and quick hands made him the most effective of play-makers. After coming off the bench, his assist for Johnny Heaney’s matchwinning goal shaped Galway’s season. Nominees: Niall Scully (Dublin), Ryan McAnespie (Monaghan).

11 CIARÁN KILKENNY (DUBLIN)

From the first minute of the season to the last, he took consistency to a whole different level. His tendency to monopolise play has been used unfairly against him in the past, but he could hardly be accused of lacking end product this time. His three points in the All-Ireland final took his season’s tally to 2-24 from

open play, makes him a priceless asset. Nominees: Shane Walsh (Galway), Paul Cribbin (Kildare).

12 RYAN McHUGH (DONEGAL)

There is arguably no better heads-up footballer in the game, but that invites the kind of heat that had his manager Declan Bonner pleading for protection in mid-summer.

He can sting as well, as evidenced by the 2-8 he notched in open play, including one of the goals of the season against Fermanagh in the Ulster final.

Nominees: Niall Sludden (Tyrone), Con O’Callaghan (Dublin).

13 PAUL MANNION (DUBLIN)

He is the ultimate modern corner-forward in that he is as technically gifted in the tackle as he is with ball in hand.

His converted penalty set Dublin on the road to a fourth title, but it was his two huge defensive plays which reminded us why the champions are out on their own.

Nominees: Paddy McBrearty (Donegal), Paul Broderick (Carlow).

14 CONOR McMANUS (MONAGHAN)

Probably the best player in the country over the last half decade, McManus finished with the Championship’s golden boot and a summer haul of 2-47.

That number tells only half the story; that point he scored against Tyrone told us the rest. Quite simply a class apart.

Nominees: Damien Comer (Galway), Daniel Flynn (Kildare).

15 DAVID CLIFFORD (KERRY)

He defied both the hype and playing as an inside forward in a malfunctioning team, to surpass expectations.

He notched 4-14 – 3-12 from open play – in three Super 8s games in which Kerry were on the back foot for two and a half.

And then there was that goal in Clones which left us believing that camels can be threaded through the eye of a needle.

Nominees: Dean Rock (Dublin), Rory Grugan (Armagh).