The official nominees for the 2008 Opel Gaelic Players’ Awards for Hurling have been announced today by the Gaelic Players’ Association. A total of 45 players have been named on the shortlist for the Opel Hurling Team of the Year, with three players also nominated for the Opel Hurling Player of the Year award.
The shortlist for the Opel Hurling Team of the Year includes 45 players – three players for each position. The shortlist contains players from nine counties: Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork, Waterford, Clare, Offaly, Wexford, Dublin and Galway.
The Opel Hurling Team of the Year shortlist reflects the most successful counties in this year’s championship with All-Ireland champions Kilkenny receiving a total of 13 nominations.
All-Ireland semi-finalists Tipperary received nine nominations while losing All-Ireland finalists Waterford received four. Clare received six nominations, Cork five and Offaly three.
Wexford and Dublin both received two nominations each with Galway’s Joe Canning the sole Tribesman to be nominated for an award.
The three nominees for the Opel Hurling Player of the Year as chosen by the Hurling Selection Committee are: Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny), Shane McGrath (Tipperary) and Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny).
The shortlists were drawn up by a selection committee headed up by Chairman Donal O’Grady. The winners will be selected by GPA members, all of whom will be issued with voting cards.
Commenting on the announcement, chairman of the Hurling Selection Committee, Donal O’Grady said: ‘These type of awards are entirely subjective and don’t always attract universal approval but the over-riding aim is to get the best 15 players for the 15 individual positions. Those of us on the committee feel that objective can be achieved from the 45 players we have chosen for the nominations.’
Dave Sheeran, Managing Director Opel Ireland, said: ‘The announcement of the Hurling shortlist reflects the fact that this season’s championship was hugely competitive with nominations spread across nine counties.
‘The nominations recognise the huge contribution and effort these local heroes have made to the continuing success of the sport. I look forward to celebrating their achievements at the awards ceremony on 7 November.’
Dessie Farrell, Chief Executive of the Gaelic Players' Association, said: ‘While Kilkenny obviously dominate, there was still a high level of competition for places in this year's Opel Hurling Team of the Year and that is reflected in the calibre of candidates which represent a variety of counties.
I would personally like to pay tribute to the hard work of Donal O'Grady and his committee who left nothing to chance in their deliberations, and I look forward to the next stage of the process when the players vote for their peers to pick the final 15.’
The shortlist in full for the 2008 Opel Hurling Team of the Year consists of:
1 Brendan Cummins (Tipperary), Clinton Hennessy (Waterford), PJ Ryan (Kilkenny)
2 Shane O’Neill (Cork), Michael Kavanagh (Kilkenny), Pat Vaughan (Clare)
3 Paul Curran (Tipperary), Noel Hickey (Kilkenny), David Kenny (Offaly)
4 Jackie Tyrell (Kilkenny), Brian Murphy (Cork), Conor O’Brien (Tipperary)
5 Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny), Michael Jacob (Wexford), Tony Browne (Waterford)
6 Conor O’Mahony (Tipperary), Brian Hogan (Kilkenny), Ronan Fallon (Dublin)
7 JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), Sean Óg Ó hAilpín (Cork), Shane Maher (Tipperary)
8 & 9 Shane McGrath (Tipperary), Derek Lyng (Kilkenny), Tom Kenny (Cork), James.”Cha”.Fitzpatrick (Kilkenny), Brian O’Connell (Clare), Colin Lynch (Clare)
10. Ben O’Connor (Cork), Niall Gilligan (Clare), Brian Carroll (Offaly)
11 Seamus Callinan (Tipperary), Diarmuid McMahon (Clare), Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny)
12 Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny), Jonathan Clancy (Clare), Stephen Doyle (Wexford)
13 Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny), Eoin Kelly (Tipperary), David O’Callaghan (Dublin)
14 Eoin Kelly (Waterford), Lar Corbett (Tipperary), Joe Bergin (Offaly)
15 John Mullane (Waterford), Aidan Fogarty (Kilkenny), Joe Canning (Galway)
Nominees for Christy Ring Cup player of the year: Keith Higgins (Mayo), Sean Kavanagh (Carlow), Brendan Murtagh (Westmeath)
Nominees for Nicky Rackard Cup player of the year: Keith Raymond (Sligo) and Diarmuid Murphy (Louth)
