A changing of the guard in 2015.
24 hours after the All-Ireland champions Dublin dominated the football equivalent, Kilkenny lead the charge on the GAA GPA All-Star hurling nominations for 2015.
12 of Brian Cody’s side are up for awards, the same amount as that of beaten Leinster and All-Ireland finalists Galway, while Waterford are just behind after a huge season sees 11 of their players get a prestigious nod towards their achievements in 2015.
Tipperary’s Munster final success seeds the Premier with seven nominations, while Cork, Clare and Dublin will also have representatives in the running for positions on the team of the year.
In total 11 counties are selected with Waterford making a significant leap in 12 months after failing to get a single recognition last year.
However the most interesting feature of this year’s awards is that no-man of the 45 has more than three awards to his name.
Leading that list is three-timers Kilkenny’s Paul Murphy, Tipperary’s Pádraic Maher and Waterford’s Michael ‘Brick Walsh, while only Joe Canning and the Kilkenny duo of Eoin Larkin and Michael Fennelly have two awards.
The selection for the team has changed slightly with players now being selected as per section on the field rather than a defined position as was the case previously, which has allowed for a broader range of players to be selected in the categories of defence, centre-field and attack.
The 45 nominees are :
Goalkeepers:
Colm Callanan (Galway), Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny), Darren Gleeson (Tipperary).
Defenders:
Daithí Burke (Galway), Cillian Buckley (Kilkenny), Joey Holden (Kilkenny), Paul Murphy (Kilkenny), Pádraic Walsh (Kilkenny), Johnny Coen (Galway), Iarla Tannion (Galway), Pádraig Mannion (Galway), Kieran Joyce (Kilkenny), Pádraic Maher (Tipperary), Cathal Barrett (Tipperary), James Barry (Tipperary), Noel Connors (Waterford), Tadhg de Búrca (Waterford), Shane Fives (Waterford), Austin Gleeson (Waterford), Barry Coughlan (Waterford), Philip Mahony (Waterford).
Centrefielders:
Andrew Smith (Galway), David Burke (Galway), Michael Fennelly (Kilkenny), Conor Fogarty (Kilkenny), Kevin Moran (Waterford), Jamie Barron (Waterford).
Forwards:
Tony Kelly (Clare), Séamus Harnedy (Cork), Mark Schutte (Dublin), Cathal Mannion (Galway), Jason Flynn (Galway), Jonathan Glynn (Galway), Joe Canning (Galway), Conor Whelan (Galway), Ger Aylward (Kilkenny), TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny), Richie Hogan (Kilkenny), Brendan Maher (Tipperary), John O’Dwyer (Tipperary), Séamus Callanan (Tipperary), Colin Dunford (Waterford), Maurice Shanahan (Waterford), Michael Walsh (Waterford).
The Player Of The Year nominations feature last year’s winner Richie Hogan from Kilkenny, while Tj Reid, the favourite for the award, is also included as is Seamus Callanan of Tipperary.
Unsurprisingly Galway take two of the Young Player of the Year nominations as Jason Flynn and Cathal Mannion join Tadhg de Búrca of Waterford for the award.
The winners will be revealed at Dublin’s Convention Centre on Friday 6th November.
