Good shout here by the Mayo man.
You got the sense that Tomás O Sé was banging the Stephen Cluxton drum on The Sunday Game. Lee Keegan, at least, got in a word for a few of the lads that missed out.
The pundits’ panel butted heads to come up with their Football Team of the Year on the RTE show, on Sunday, and made a lot of good calls.
1. Stephen Cluxton (Dublin)
2. Jonny Cooper (Dublin)
3. Padraig Hampsey (Tyrone)
4. Eoghan Ban Gallagher (Donegal)5. Karl O’Connell (Monaghan)
6. James McCarthy (Dublin)
7. Jack McCaffrey (Dublin)8. Brian Fenton (Dublin)
9. Colm Cavanagh (Tyrone)10. Shane Walsh (Galway)
11. Ciaran Kilkenny (Dublin)
12. Brian Howard (Dublin)13. Paul Mannion (Dublin)
14. Conor McManus (Monaghan)
15. David Clifford (Kerry)
That team differed in just one position from SportsJOE’s Team of the Year selection.
For us – in a team with eight Dubs included – Rory Beggan is in goal. The Monaghan goalkeeper was the catalyst for so much good from the Farneymen and chipped in with some crucial scores from placed balls.
It was O Sé that really pressed the case for Cluxton to get rewarded for another fine year between the sticks, even if he did just shy away from picking him as Footballer of the Year.
Keegan was obviously torn with the goalkeeping selection as Beggan’s was the first name he mentioned when discussing the team of the year.
“We’re always going to have this debate,” Keegan began, “and, probably nationwide, there’s going to be people upset by what we’ve named or the guys we have picked.
“Obviously, looking at it, Rory Beggan is one guy that can maybe feel hard done by but when you are competing with Cluxton it is very difficult to get into that position. Maybe you could put Graeme Brody from Laois in [goal]. He had a fantastic year.
“Another guy that I thought you could have had in was Neil Flynn. I thought he had a fantastic year and he was very good against us. Daniel Flynn up front too. I thought he was magnificent this year and he played so well against us.
“Even looking at Monaghan, I thought Drew Wylie could be in with a shout. He was magnificent against Tyrone, even late on when they wanted somebody driving on.
“But it’s a fair representation of the year and it is dominated by a team that deserves to [have many players] named.”
Kerry legend Colm Cooper said Tyrone forward Niall Sludden was ‘a fine forward’ and was another player unlucky to miss out. Former Dublin midfielder Ciarán Whelan ended the chat by giving mentions to a couple of other players that were in the mix, Ryan McHugh of Donegal and Galway’s Sean Andy O Ceallaigh.
