It can be a tough team to pick.
That’s because the majority of county championship games aren’t televised, with only a handful of county finals making it onto TG4 or eir sport.
So a player could have been untouchable for a whole campaign, the best player in the country, yet many of us mightn’t have heard anything about him because he didn’t make it onto the box in front of us.
Thankfully there are still ways of finding out about these performances. Word of mouth is a big one, match reports are always there and when you see a few people raving on Twitter about one man’s greatness you just know there’s something going down.
We had our finger on the pulse in the majority of hurling county championships this year, and when the competition was coming towards its provincial decider stages, we compiled a list of the ten most impressive hurlers up to that point.
Three of that ten made it onto this official selection.
There are obvious reasons for that. Players stood up as their club teams progressed deeper into the competition. Players were responsible for their team progressing deeper into this competition.
Few players stood up more in the closing stages of this competition and all over this competition, however, than Na Piarsaigh half forward David Dempsey.
Dempsey was a key player for Shane O’Neill’s side in their journey to winning county and Munster titles. A peach of a goal in the Treaty decider shows him at his very best.
https://twitter.com/HurlingHotspot/status/921830857580711937
His game isn’t about scoring though. He’s a conductor, and his selfless play was at the heart of so many of the Limerick club’s attacks. His ability to win his own possession was highlighted better than ever in the two games against Cuala where he got on more ball than any other player on the field.
His use of it was nearly always economical. He’ll probably be a shoo-in for the Limerick team in the championship because of his exploits, we thought he’d be a shoo-in here. He could have got into this team ahead of either of the wing forwards named.
Dempsey wasn’t the only player hard done by.
The last four standing in Cuala, Na Piarsaigh, Slaughtneil and Liam Mellows dominate, with Ballygunner’s Philip Mahony becoming the only player who didn’t participate in the All-Ireland semi-finals to earn a spot on this 15.
Some players were so impressive in the early stages of this competition that these performances should still have held sway.
Peter Duggan springs to mind. In the Clare county championship, his scoring returns for Clooney-Quin were serious.
- 2-13 against Feakle in a group stage game.
- 0-12 against Clonlara in the semi-final.
- 0-10 in the drawn final against Sixmilebridge.
- 0-10 in the replay.
These performances catapulted him from sub to a mainstay on the Banner senior hurling team during the League. His club were beaten in that final but that wasn’t down to him.
Kevin Downes was lucky to get in ahead of him.
Sixmilebridge half back Seadna Morey also has solid claims for inclusion. He was the best player on the pitch in his club’s Munster semi-final loss to Ballygunner.
The rest of the team is hard enough to argue with.
Meanwhile the three nominees for Hurler of the Year are as follows.
- Michael Casey (Na Piarsaigh)
- Sean Moran (Cuala)
- Con O’Callaghan (Cuala)
Sean Moran should collect that gong.
