GAA Top 20: Who are the best hurlers in their province from the past 50 years?
by Martin BrehenyThe county choices have been completed in our 202050 ranking series – and today we carry the provincial selections, clearing the way for the announcement tomorrow of the 20 top hurlers in the country since 1970.
It will be the culmination of a week in which a total of 940 players were ranked within their counties, 160 in their provinces (including Galway hurlers, who represent Connacht) and 40 in the national selections.
Players from all six lines are represented at the pinnacle of the provincial selections, Brian Corcoran – who played at corner-back, centre-back and full-forward – is No 1 in Munster hurling, while ‘Sambo’ McNaughton (half-back, midfield and attack) takes top spot in Ulster hurling.
Henry Shefflin flies the half-forward flag at No 1 on the Leinster hurling selection, followed by DJ Carey, Brian Whelahan, Eddie Keher and Tommy Walsh.
Today’s choices narrow the options for the national selections as, obviously, the top spot in both codes will go to one of the No 1s from the provinces. Who will they be?
Find out tomorrow.
LEINSTER
The big difficulty with choosing a Leinster Top 20 is that you could name an entire set of Kilkenny men and still be unable to accommodate lots of multiple All-Ireland winners.
The Kilkenny supply lines have always maintained a high production rate, but they went into complete overdrive since the turn of the Millennium, yielding 11 All-Ireland titles. That group provides seven of our Leinster 20, with four more from the earlier decades.
Given Kilkenny’s extraordinary achievements between 2000 and 2015, seven may seem like under-representation, but then some fellow county men from previous decades had to be included too.
Offaly (five) and Wexford (four) also feature, but there’s no room for anybody from Laois, Dublin, Westmeath or Carlow.
Brian Whelahan, Tony Doran and Liam Dunne are the only three non-Kilkenny men in the top ten, which won’t please Offaly and Wexford supporters, but they would also have to admit that their contenders were up against fierce opposition.
Whelahan breaks up Kilkenny’s top-eight monopoly, slotting in third behind Henry Shefflin and DJ Carey. Having been chosen on the Team of the Millennium, Whelahan would, in different circumstances, take top spot, but then he was up against two players who have genuine claims to be regarded as the best ever.
Shefflin’s career was only in its second season when the Millennium team was announced while Carey had another five years on active duty.
Eddie Keher, who, like Whelahan, is another Millennium man, takes fourth place, a well-deserved ranking after an amazing career which spanned a time when hotshot forwards didn’t get anything like the same level of protection as their modern-day counterparts.
Tommy Walsh ahead of JJ Delaney? This is tight borderline territory between two great Kilkenny defenders who did so much to build the black and amber post-Millennium empire.
Tony Doran didn’t win anything like as many big titles as the Kilkenny men, but will always be remembered in Wexford as a heroic figure who electrified many occasions in a long career.
Leinster Top 20: 1. Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny), 2. DJ Carey (Kilkenny), 3. Brian Whelahan (Offaly), 4. Eddie Keher (Kilkenny), 5. Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny), 6. JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), 7. Noel Skehan (Kilkenny), 8. TJ Reid (Kilkenny), 9. Tony Doran (Wexford), 10. Liam Dunne (Wexford), 11. Johnny Dooley (Offaly), 12. Ger Henderson (Kilkenny), 13. Frank Cummins (Kilkenny), 14. Richie Hogan (Kilkenny), 15. Eugene Coughlan (Offaly), 16. Damien Fitzhenry (Wexford), 17. Martin Hanamy (Offaly), 18. Jackie Tyrrell (Kilkenny), 19. Joachim Kelly (Offaly), 20. Martin Storey (Wexford)
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Brian Corcoran not only managed it, but did it so well that he has All Stars to show for his efforts in all three positions. It’s that adaptability that earns him Munster’s top rating.
He is also among the small group of players who won the Hurler of the Year award more than once, having been selected as a 19-year-old in his debut season at corner-back in 1992 and again in 1999 after an outstanding campaign at centre-back. A year later, he was chosen at left corner-back on the Cork team of the Millennium.
His second coming after a period in retirement took him into attack, a powerful addition that took Cork from All-Ireland contenders in 2003 to double winners in 2004-2005.
Nicky English’s finishing skills earns him the No 2 slot after a career which saw him prosper in bad and good times, first as the brightest attacking star on a struggling team before the 1987 breakthrough and later as the main threat on the All-Ireland winning teams of 1989 and 1991.
Ken McGrath is the only man in the top ten without an All-Ireland medal but that in no way takes away from his status as one of hurling’s great all-rounders, having played in all five outfield lines at various stages.
Seánie McMahon (3) and Brian Lohan (6) fly the Clare flag in the top ten, having done so much as the central pillars of the defence on the squad that changed the Banner’s fortunes after decades of disappointment.
There will be surprise in Cork that Ray Cummins, who was chosen on the Teams of the Century and Millennium, isn’t ranked higher than ninth, but it’s our contention that others are ahead of him for this exercise, which ranks players against each other, as opposed to selecting position-by-position.
Munster Top 20: 1. Brian Corcoran (Cork), 2. Nicky English (Tipperary), 3. Seánie McMahon (Clare), 4. Ken McGrath (Waterford), 5. Pat Hartigan (Limerick), 6. Brian Lohan (Clare), 7. Eamonn Cregan (Limerick), 8. Eoin Kelly (Tipperary), 9. Ray Cummins (Cork), 10. Jimmy Barry-Murphy (Cork), 11. Pádraic Maher (Tipperary), 12. Tony Browne (Waterford), 13. Joe McKenna (Limerick), 14. John Fenton (Cork), 15. Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh (Waterford), 16. Ger Cunningham (Cork), 17. Brendan Cummins (Tipperary), 18. Jamesie O’Connor (Clare), 19. Ciarán Carey (Limerick), 20. Tony Kelly (Clare)
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The northern fields are in serious need of fertiliser. They’re not exactly barren, but the green swathes of previous times are no more than a distant memory.
The memorable harvest of 1989 brought the lushest growth of all as Antrim stunned the hurling world by reaching the All-Ireland final for the first time in 46 years.
They didn’t win, but hopes soared that the spin-off would be hugely beneficial, not just in Antrim but also in other Ulster counties, especially Down and Derry.
For a time, it looked as if that would indeed happen. Down responded quickly, inching ever-closer to Antrim until they eventually beat them in the 1992 Ulster final.
They rose to the NHL Division 1 and did quite well before winning two more Ulster titles in 1995 and 1997.
Derry raised their game too and made a big breakthrough in 2000 when they won the Ulster title for the first time since 1908. They reinforced their No 1 status in 2001 when they retained the provincial title.
History had shown that Antrim were always the most likely to maintain a consistent level of opposition for the powers down south and in 2009, they joined Galway in the Leinster championship.
Initially, it looked like a good move. In 2010, they took Offaly to extra-time and later beat Dublin in the qualifiers. Ten months later, Dublin won the NHL Division 1 final.
The reality now is Antrim, Down and Derry are all a long way from the heights they reached at various stages pre-2010.
A glance at our Ulster top 20, with Derry’s Geoffrey McGonigle arguably unlucky, underlines the quality of players produced, reviving memories of times when there were realistic hopes that Antrim, in particular, would drive on in pursuit of the southern powerhouses. It didn’t happen and hurling is all the poorer for that.
Ulster Top 20: 1. ‘Sambo’ McNaughton (Antrim), 2. Eddie Donnelly (Antrim), 3. Dessie Donnelly (Antrim), 4. Paul McKillen (Antrim), 5. Noel Sands, (Down), 6. Ciarán Barr (Antrim), 7. Olcan McFetridge (Antrim), 8. Gregory O’Kane (Antrim), 9. Brian Donnelly (Antrim), 10. Gary O’Kane (Antrim), 11. Noel Keith (Down), 12. Dominic McKinley (Antrim), 13. Gerard McGrattan (Down), 14. Marty Mallon (Down), 15. Niall Patterson (Antrim), 16. Liam Watson (Antrim), 17. Neil McManus (Antrim), 18. Paddy Branniff (Down), 19. Ollie Collins (Derry), 20. Danny Hughes (Down)
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