This is a three horse race, not a two horse race.
Ever since Declan Hannon lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup on the steps of the Hogan Stand last Sunday, debate has been raging about the end of season All-Star awards.
In one of the most open hurling years in a long time where a whole host of teams were of similar levels, it’s hardly surprising that the debate has been fierce with the competition again tit-for-tat.
Few can seem to agree on their Hurler of the Year. Joe Canning retains it for some, while the likes of Padraic Mannion, Graeme Mulcahy and Declan Hannon are poised to usurp the Portumna man according to others.
Picking an All-Star team has been similarly divisive, with Clare legend Jamesie O’Connor not even including the above-mentioned Graeme Mulcahy in his selection.
It really is impossible to keep everybody happy.
But the most difficult choice of all is the selection for the Young Hurler of the Year award. Previously won by Tony Kelly, Austin Gleeson, Noel McGrath and James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick among others, the prestigious prize is awarded on the best hurler in the adult grade who was able to compete in the All-Ireland under-21 championship for their counties in that year.
So therefore, this year’s award was for hurlers born in the year 1997 and after.
To look for pointers on the recipient of any of these awards, the bookies’ odds are generally taken as a solid guide. Paddy Power are the only bookmaker quoting odds for it this year and they have it down as a neck and neck two-horse race between All-Ireland final man-of-the-match Kyle Hayes and Cork’s sprightly midfield stayer Darragh Fitzgibbon.
Hayes, who has another year under-21, is quoted at 5/6 – the same odds as Fitzgibbon, but surprisingly, no odds are offered on Seamus Flanagan, another 1997 child.
Seeing as he’s quoted all over at 50/1 for outright Hurler of the Year, it’s surprising that he’s not shortlisted for the younger players’ award. Perhaps some are simply forgetting the fact that he played under-21 for Limerick this year, given the low-key nature of the county’s heavy defeat at the hands of Tipperary earlier in the summer.
Because even debates on talk shows have left the man out.
We weigh up the credentials of the three men standing.
Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork)
Was odds-on for this award before the final. Turned in class display after class display under John Meyler this year. Scored points for fun, left defenders feeling sorry for themselves as he showed them a clean pair of heels on countless occasions.
A leader too, he scored crucial points in nearly all of their games and his late substitution through injury against Limerick in the semi-final may just have cost Cork that day.
Cork's Darragh Fitzgibbon bursts out of defence and scores a fantastic point! pic.twitter.com/p7b04f7g3o
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 20, 2018
On Sunday, he has an All-Ireland under-21 final to re-affirm his case. The Charleville flier more than likely will take the chance.
Kyle Hayes (Limerick)
Scored 0-4 on his way to a man-of-the-match award in the All-Ireland final but he’d been threatening that kind of thing all year. Stepped up to score a late equaliser down in Cork on a day when Limerick were down to 14 men in Munster, he created all kinds of problems for Cillian Buckley in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
Throws his body into all kinds of difficult situations as a dogged tackler, he’s also clever and direct in his play. It’s so hard to separate him and Fitzgibbon.
Seamus Flanagan (Limerick)
Hayes may have been the last-gasp hero that day against Cork, but Seamus Flanagan was the hero of the 70 minutes. That’s because the Feohanagh-Castlemahon man ran himself into cramp down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, taking Cork’s inside line for five points from play in one of the most industrious performances of the year.
Indeed, the UCD student’s terrier-like work-rate set the tone for Limerick on a number of days this summer. He hit the headlines for flooring Gearóid McInerney in the final but he was laying down markers like that one all year.
The shoulder barge felt around the world! https://t.co/HpCS5vWaIp
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) August 20, 2018
With a serious ball-winning ability, his first port of call was often to throw a ball to the likes of Gillane or Hayes off the shoulder. He was the workhorse that caused upset among defenders, that created space for the others to flourish, that tackled anything that moved.
He was a Limerick under-21 this year. He’s surely in with a shout here, he’s breathing down the two lads’ necks.
