There have been some big shocks in the football championship so far and a lot of very talented players no longer involved.
SportsJOE and JOE go head-to-head with two different dream teams of the stars that have been eliminated already. Who would win?
Conán Doherty of SportsJOE’s XV:
Thomas Mallon (Derry): Could land the football on a sixpence with his kickouts. Has been producing point blank saves for the craic and has a passionate celebration that every team could do with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBe9uylDM1A
Michael Shields (Cork): Tight, nippy, aggressive. Showed he is just as comfortable at drifting out the field as well and the like of his run through Kerry’s blanket defence to set up Cork’s final goal will come in handy against teams withdrawing their corner forward.
Andy Mallon (Armagh): The man-marker assigned the worst tasks. And he would bloody love it, too.
Brian Darby (Offaly): Produced some of his finest football in a season on the brink of making some kind of noises with Offaly. Has the engine and athleticism to launch quickfire attacks from the backline.
Sean Leo McGoldrick (Derry): Let him captain the team if he wants to. Sean Leo is the side’s go-to man in whatever area of the field they are. He’ll get the side out of defence with consummate ease and set up chances galore at the other end.
Ciaran McKeever (Armagh): The rock holding everything together at the back. Will man the house as his two adventurous wing men go and do whatever they like. Thou shall not pass.
Barry O’Driscoll (Cork): A wing forward’s nightmare, Barry O’Driscoll will be one of the greatest weapons of the team, putting defenders on the back foot with relentless running power.
Alan O’Connor (Cork): Thomas Mallon will enjoy picking out Alan O’Connor’s safe hands all day long. Will dominate the midfield exchanges. The anchor of an attack-minded front eight.
Gary Brennan (Clare): Scoring power and class from the middle of the field. Gary Brennan is tall, strong and he enjoys a foray forward.
Gearóid McKiernan (Cavan): Another man giving the traditional midfielders a nightmare. Power and drive, McKiernan will affect the play wherever’s he’s played. He’ll score too.
Conor Laverty (Down): Brimming with energy, Laverty is impossible to pick up. Given a free role to go get on the ball and will take men on and create overlaps without a second’s hesitation. A classy player that could drift all over the field.
Paul Kerrigan (Cork): More energy, more pace, more work rate. Kerrigan has proven that he can help sow up the backline and his running abilities on and off the ball are well documented. Will cause damage.
Mark Lynch (Derry): Strength, accuracy, leadership. Mark Lynch is the focal point of the attack. He can win his own ball, he can win his own kickouts, he can run, and by God he can take a score.
Jamie Clarke: Released back on the inside line, there is enough out the field to feed Clarke the right ball. And, with the right ball, he can terrorise any defender in Ireland. Unmarkable at his best.
Eoin Bradley: Has just about everything in his arsenal. Kick the ball – any bloody ball – in his direction and he’ll wreak havoc. Needs to be kept inside though. He’s no use floating around out the field when he can win any game inside.
Cian Murray of JOE’s XV:
Chris Kerr (Antrim): I’ve picked Kerr for two reasons. Firstly, he plays for one of the worst teams in the country so gets plenty of goal tending practice. Secondly, he’s one of these new-age keepers who likes to slot over the odd free.
Dermot McBride (Derry): A typical Ulster corner-back. Let me stretch that euphemism a little: he loves a bit of ‘dark arts.’
Jamie O’Sullivan (Cork): Like McBride, O’Sullivan has plenty of bite. Which is always useful in the full-back line.
James Morgan (Armagh): Players that are highly regarded in Crossmaglen should be highly regarded everywhere.
Brian O’Driscoll (Cork): There are rumours that O’Driscoll runs on batteries, but that can’t be true, because batteries run out.
Kieran Martin (Westmeath): 2-2 against Meath cemented this man’s name in history, although among the locals he is simply known as ‘The Bear.’
Graham Reilly (Meath): Reilly had scored 4 points before his harsh black card against Westmeath. Him playing for Meath is a little bit like Leonardo Di Caprio acting in a panto.
Ethan Rafferty (Armagh): He scored three points in Armagh’s loss to Galway and looked brilliant throughout.
Colin O’Riordan (Tipperary): If you’re looking for reasons why Tipp’s underage set-up has been so successful in recent years, look no further than O’Riordan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSH0ggFB_Iw
Clip via MagnaCartaClauses39+40
Cian Mackey (Cavan): Cian Mackey is the man the energiser bunny looks to for inspiration. He’s all go and won’t stop until the final whistle is blown.
John Heslin (Westmeath): The Sunday Game panel described Heslin as a ‘heavyweight footballer’ around 2,000 times this summer. As tedious as it became, there’s no doubt it’s true.
Clip via officialgaa
Paul Devlin (Down): One of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing campaign for Down.
Colm O’Neill (Cork): O’Neill is a Rolls Royce player who would walk onto almost every team in the country.
Michael Quinlivan (Tipperary): Quinlivan could unlock any defence in the country. Two goals against Kerry proved that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvszCDas3pY
Clip via MagnaCartaClauses39+40
Brian Kavanagh (Longford): Kavanagh scored 0-5 against Dublin and Offaly, 1-5 against Clare and 0-7 against Kildare in this year’s Championship. That speaks for itself.
