That, you'd have to say, was some year of hurling.

First we had the Clare-Limerick rivalry that looked like defining the summer until, bang, out of nowhere, and like they've done so many times before, Kilkenny came good at the business end. They were good, but they just weren't as good as this Limerick team who now have legitimate claims as one of if not the best ever. They answered any doubters that might have been out there on All-Ireland final Sunday, with that momentous win over the Cats who, it has to be said, can be very proud of their efforts too. All told, it was an extremely difficult task to pick an All-Star hurling team and, in Mikey Butler, Eoin Murphy and Mikey Carey, Kilkenny have three absentees with legitimate claims. But that's the standard that Limerick have set, where there are All-Stars in almost every position, and that's why the lads were unlucky to miss out on what were extremely marginal calls. Another notable absentee is David Fitzgerald, who did so many good things for Clare. But the tough calls have to be made, and in the end, we were left with nine Limerick men, three Kilkenny, one Clare, one Wexford and one from Galway.

GAA JOE All-Star Hurling team

1 Nickie Quaid 2 Sean Finn 3 Huw Lawlor 4 Barry Nash 5 Diarmuid Byrnes 6 Declan Hannon 7 Padraic Mannion 8 Adrian Mullen 9 William O'Donoghue 10 Lee Chin 11 Kyle Hayes 12 Gearoid Hegarty 13 Tony Kelly 14 Aaron Gillane 15 TJ Reid

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• The brilliance of James McCarthy.
• Why nobody can do what Aaron Gillane can do.
• Playing GAA in America for a summer.

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