Christy O'Connor on why the All-Star awards should be more balanced

IN the aftermath of Cork’s huge defeat to Limerick in the 2021 All-Ireland final, there was a slight fear around the county – given the scale of the loss – that there may be more collateral damage to come. Could Cork fail to win an All-Star?

It was unlikely, especially given the history attached to beaten finalists. 

Waterford lost the 2008 All-Ireland final to Kilkenny by more than what Cork lost to Limerick in 2021, but Eoin Kelly still received an award. 

Offaly were also blitzed by Kilkenny in the 2000 final but at least Johnny Dooley and the county had the consolation of an All-Star. Cork lost the 2007 All-Ireland football final to Kerry by 10 points but Graham Canty was recognised by the All-Stars selectors. When Galway lost the 1983 final to Dublin, Stephen Kinneavy was their sole recipient.

A few months after that 2021 decider though, Cork created unwanted history by becoming the first side to reach a final and not secure an award. The disappointment was exacerbated again in Cork with Limerick winning 12 awards that season.

As well as gobbling up All-Irelands over the last four years, Limerick have also been stockpiling All-Stars for fun – their total haul between 2020-’23 is a staggering 35. That number extends to 43 if the 2018 and 2019 seasons are also included.

The extent of those numbers accumulated in just six seasons can only really be appreciated when compared with what Limerick had won before 2018 – in the first 45 years of the awards scheme, Limerick won 44 hurling All-Stars.

DIVIDE

All-Irelands though, dictate everything. In just three seasons between 2003 and 2005, Cork won 17 awards. In the 18 years since though, Cork have secured just 14 awards. 

And eight of those were won by just three players – Patrick Horgan, Anthony Nash and Seamus Harnedy.

It’s just the nature of the game that the All-Ireland finalists dominate the make-up of the All-Stars anymore, especially the hurling team. The side named last week included 12 from the All-Ireland finalists, with the other three from the other two semi-finalists.

The 2021 season was an outlier in that it was a condensed championship, but an average of 11 players from the All-Ireland finalists have been honoured since the round-robin was first introduced in 2018.

Those numbers make it harder again for Cork to stomach not getting one in 2021. On the other hand, is it right that the All-Ireland finalists should dominate the All-Stars as much as they currently are?

In the last 10 years, the All-Ireland football finalists have averaged 10 players on the All-Star team.

The standard response is that players need to do it on the biggest days of all to be recognised, but what is the exact criteria for the biggest day? Is a massive Munster hurling round-robin game, when a team’s season is on the line, not as big as a Munster final, when the loser is guaranteed a second chance?

“Ciarán Joyce played four games in the Munster round robin this year,” said Colm Parkinson in his ‘Smaller Fish GAA’ podcast this week. “Cork didn’t get out of the group but he was outstanding in all those games. Did Joyce not deserve an All-Star? 

"You shouldn’t get punished because your team doesn’t get any further.” 

It was a very valid point. How can a player ever get an All-Star anymore if his county doesn’t progress beyond a certain stage of the championship?

The numbers back it up. In the last ten years, only seven players have won a football All-Star in a season when their team didn’t progress past an All-Ireland quarter-final. And all seven were marquee players – David Clifford, Michael Murphy, Ryan McHugh, Mattie Donnelly, Peter Harte, Conor McManus and Enda Smith.

Smith certainly was an outlier last week, with Roscommon having failed to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals. “To some it may be a strange decision,” wrote James Horan in his Irish Examiner column. “To others, it’s a celebration of what the All-Stars should be about.” 

The numbers are less in hurling, with only three players winning an award when their county didn’t progress beyond at least an All-Ireland quarter-final over the last 10 years - Patrick Horgan, Tony Kelly and Eoin Murphy.

They are all generational players but what chance has a player without that profile?

"It's only inclusive of All-Ireland semi-finalists and finalists really," said former Antrim hurler Neil McManus last week. "There's a real flaw in that system when one of the top three or four defenders in Ireland, simply because he was playing on the Antrim team that didn't progress to the latter stages of the All-Ireland, means that he is not even nominated. Was there a better corner-back than Paddy Burke this year? I'm really not sure that there was."

UNFAIR

Selecting the All-Stars is not an easy job, but is it ever going to be the fairest system when it is weighted towards the All-Ireland finalists?

The GAA is unique in that, unlike other sports, it doesn’t have a system where most teams play a similar amount of games like in a league format.

The Australian Football League does have knockout matches, but their All-Star teams are selected after the regular season, which means every player has a fair chance of representation. And the numbers reflect that equality.

In this year’s squad, 15 AFL clubs were represented on the 22-man squad, which is made up of 18 starters and four interchange players. 

The 2022 selection had representation from 14 clubs. With 18 AFL clubs, every one of them has a chance of representation.

It’s not that straightforward in the GAA. But maybe the process needs to change for the All-Stars to be a more equitable system than it currently is.