After half a century of All-Stars teams, the one constant has been the devilishly difficult challenge faced by the selection committee each year. It is always a head scratcher, a perennial debate.
The bar is set incredibly high. Fortitude and bravery, skill and guile are all prerequisites to simply make the 45-man list of nominees in football and hurling.
To make the eventual XVs and to finally join the pantheon of greats, or in some cases add another precious All-Star award to a treasured collection, a vital X-Factor is required. A sprinkling of stardust. Only the greats have it and 30 of them will be immortalised on Friday, October 28 when the 2022 PwC All-Stars are honoured in Dublin's Convention Centre.
Pick your GAA Football All-Stars for a chance to win €3,000.
Your challenge with the football selection begins with the goalkeeper and presents an immediate conundrum - do you go for style or substance?
Armagh's Ethan Rafferty, the very prototype of a modern day goalkeeper with his sallying bursts up the pitch and clever support runs, is undoubtedly the stylist. Kerry's Shane Ryan and Dublin's Evan Comerford the more traditional netminders.
Rafferty touched the ball over 80 times in open play throughout the Championship, Ryan just 18. Mind you, Ryan walked away with an All-Ireland medal and only conceded a goal all summer. But was he tested as much as Rafferty? Like Kerry and Ryan, Comerford and Dublin breezed through their provincial championship too. Rafferty certainly had the tougher journey - and scored two points along the way.
It doesn't get any easier with the defensive selections. Like the nominees for the forwards, there are 18 options but only six places on the team.
This is where Derry's first possibility of an All-Star since Kevin McCloy and Paddy Bradley made the 2007 Team of the Year comes into view. Chrissy McKaigue captained the team to a breakthrough Ulster title and thrived on the head to head battles he encountered all summer. He has to have a great chance now.
Galway have only had one All-Star recipient since 2003 - Ian Burke in 2018. Their march to a first final in 21 years has left them with eight nominees. Liam Silke has pushed hard for inclusion in defence.
James McCarthy is a tricky one. Sure, he did more than any other Dublin player to push Kerry to the brink in their memorable All-Ireland semi-final tie. But with only two starts before that, in the routine Leinster SFC wins over Meath and Kildare, was that enough?
The big calls keep coming. It is difficult to look beyond overall Footballer of the Year nominee Cillian McDaid, another Galway lionheart, at midfield. Brian Fenton was also back to his best with Dublin while Conor Glass proved with his remarkable form in the Derry engine room that his transition from AFL talent to GAA icon is officially complete.
Dare we say it, is it a little more straightforward in attack? After converting that late free against Dublin, the kick that was heard all around the world, Sean O'Shea can hardly be left out. David Clifford, another with a strong claim for inclusion, is Kerry's talisman these days but O'Shea rarely disappoints either. David and sibling Paudie Clifford were both honoured last year. It could happen for the brothers again.
Rian O'Neill didn't let up all year. From smashing in a terrific goal for Armagh against Dublin in Round 1 of the League in January to pushing Galway to extra-time in their epic All-Ireland quarter-final, the Crossmaglen man was consistently immense.
Pick your Hurling All-Stars for a chance to win €3,000.
The PwC Hurling All-Stars selection looks, on paper, to be a more routine proposition. Limerick took the Championship honours for the third consecutive year so the Team of the Year should have a decidedly green hue, right? The Shannonsiders collected a record dozen All-Stars last year but it is hardly as clear cut this time around.
After a two-point All-Ireland final defeat, Kilkenny's claims for multiple inclusions are strong. So too are Galway's who pushed John Kiely's men hard at the last four stage. Clare have genuine cases to make in several positions. It would be tempting, for instance, to hand Tony Kelly his third All-Star in a row, and his fourth in total, purely on the basis of his moment of magic in early June when he pushed Limerick to extra-time in the Munster final with a genius point from a sideline cut in Thurles. Shane O'Donnell, maybe the hardest working forward in the Championship these days, is another deserving nominee.
Limerick duo Diarmaid Byrnes and Barry Nash are among the nominees for Hurler of the Year. TJ Reid is the other. Any Team of the Year would be the lesser without the trio.
Eoin Murphy got the goalkeeper All-Star last year. He's shortlisted again but Limerick's Nicky Quaid had a brilliant final and a strong year overall. That is another tight call.
In midfield, picking two players from the six nominees is particularly difficult. William O'Donoghue and Adrian Mullen contested the final, for Limerick and Kilkenny respectively. But David Fitzgerald had arguably his best year yet with Clare. Darragh Fitzgibbon, another option, is one of only three Cork players to make the shortlist. There are no wrong selections but is there a correct overall final XV either? Perhaps not. Only glorious debate, the joy of the PwC All-Stars.
For more information on the PwC All-Stars, visit here and watch the ceremony on Friday 28th October from 7pm, on RTE 2 and RTE Player. #PwCAllStars
