Eye candy.
The type of lads who could make the ball talk, the type of lads who you’d give your kitchen sink away just to watch them in action for 5 minutes.
We’re talking about those hurlers who were graceful, were easy on the eye, and a real joy and honour to watch every minute they played.
We’re talking about the wristiest of the lot, those with rolex wrists, those who you could die happy watching.
We’re not talking about the best, we’re not even talking about the most thrilling, just those who caused your jaw to drop to the floor every time they got near the sliotar.
The things they could do with it, the ball-manipulation, it’s all just delicious, and that’s what they have, they have ‘it.’
Without further ado, from 20-11 over the last two decades, here we go.
Don’t fret, 10-1 is coming tomorrow.
Diarmuid ‘the Rock’ O’Sullivan, JJ Delaney… – no, not even those guys. Come on, we’re talking natural beauty, baby.
20. Paul Ryan (Dublin)
Now you know the type of hurler we’re talking about. What he lacked in pace, the Ballyboden St- Enda’s made up for in style and grace.
He was a deadly free-taker, one of the most natural ball-strikers in the game. And by natural, we mean you give this man the ball anywhere within 80 yards of the goals, with a flick of the wrists, he will stitch it.
Had a first touch that would kill an O’Neills size 5 dead in an instant.
Never really, really made it as a great, but any moment spent watching him playing hurling wasn’t a wasted one.
Defining moment:
2-6 scored in Dublin’s first Leinster triumph since 1961 in their victory over Galway in 2013.
Ryan was virtually unplayable and his goal scored at 1:37 in the below clip showcases everything that tells us hurling is the best game on earth.
Speed. Verve. Confidence. Skill. Touch. Movement. Bang.
19. Ollie Canning (Galway)
So skilful, so stylish, so visually pleasing that his various managers down through the years didn’t like to confine him to just the one position.
Though he made his name as the tidiest corner back to have ever picked up a hurl, he began his Galway career as a forward, and that is where he currently plays with club Portumna.
Canning wouldn’t break stride as he raced ninety miles an hour out to pick up a sliotar rifling at him at the same speed.
The ball stuck to his hurl every time, and you’ll probably never come across a player who could get it into their hands quicker than Ollie.
Rose it off the turf with a deft flick of the wrists, and the fact that he made Galway minor at 14 showed he was destined for it.
Defining moment:
A true shame that he never lifted the Liam MacCarthy, but we can guarantee you that many of those that did scale the steps of the Hogan stand in November to pick up a Celtic Cross would give that and more away to win one with their club.
Ollie did that four times, and his display against neighbours and rivals Birr in the 2008 Tommy Moore decider will go down as one of the greatest club displays we’ve seen.
And he did it all as captain.
18. Podge Collins (Clare)
Clare’s 2013 All-Ireland winning outfit must have been composed of the 15 easiest males on the eye since Ocean’s eleven hit the screens in 2001.
Not one Banner boy was as aesthetically pleasing as the brilliant Cratloe chief Podge Collins. Small in stature but that lead to him having one of the lowest centres of gravity the game has ever seen.
Explosive, stupendously skillful and a pair of Rolex wrists to match.
Collins hasn’t hit the same heights since a cruciate knee ligament injury in 2015, but with a winter of hard training ahead of him, hopefully he can get those dazzling feet back into action.
Defining moment:
THAT score from under the shadows of the Hogan stand in the 2013 All-Ireland final is one of the best you’ll see with a sliotar and hurl.
Helped Clare to 2013 All-Ireland glory.
Brighten up your evening with five of the best points from the 2013 #GAA Hurling championship! http://t.co/2i7D2umivC #lovelyhurling
— The GAA (@officialgaa) December 5, 2013
17. Cathal Mannion (Galway)
Languid, expressive, mercurial. Mannion is a freestyle hurler. If street hurlers were a thing, the Ahascragh-Foghenagh club man would be the founder.
His skill is a joy to watch and even lead to Joe Canning’s Portumna club mate Andy Smith claiming that Mannion is the more skillful of the pair.
His brother Pádraic referred to his skill-locker as “scary” in the GAA Hour earlier this year.
The type of player that can crucify opponents due to his ability to pick off a point, like Paul Ryan, from any location on the pitch.
His effortless, nonchalant running style compliments his nonplussed, relaxed style of play perfectly.
You couldn’t live with a team of Cathal Mannions, but every team needs one.
Defining moment:
Leinster SHC semi-final vs. Dublin 2015.
Mannion announced himself to Galway, to the hurling world. 3-3 from play and making it impossible to leave him out of contention.
16. Brian Whelehan (Offaly)
Similar to Ollie Canning in that he could play as both a forward and a back, winning an All-Star at both ends of the field. A joy to watch with his textbook reading of the game, his sprightly running, and his wondrous strike off both sides.
The Birr club man was able to hurl the whole field from wing back, such was his vast array of talents, all of which came across in the most visually pleasing manner possible.
A natural, an aristocrat, a treasure of the game.
Defining moment:
Induction into the hurling team of the millennium.
Enough said.
15. Seanie McGrath (Cork)
Zipped around the field like a wizard on speed. The Cork magician was your textbook corner forward with his darting pace, and lethal first touch.
Despite being small in stature, and holding a hurl that was rumoured to have been only 30″ in length, McGrath was a defender’s nightmare, and a spectators dream.
Played the corner forward role perfectly. Stayed inside but when he moved, boy did he move, and his obsession with skill and nailing that first touch was an absolute joy to watch.
Skipped over the ground as if he wasn’t even striding and his twinkle-toes were only matched by his eagle eye and his flexi-wrists.
Deadly accuracy, unfailing selflessness. A traditionalist’s dream.
Defining moment:
The whole 1999 hurling Championship season. McGrath deservedly earned himself a place on the All-Star team as he became a Rebel hero.
14. Patrick Horgan (Cork)
One of those players who’s so beautiful to watch that you just know he spends morning, noon and night honing his skills.
Every act he performs in the Rebel red oozes so much class, and when he’s on form, like he was when Cork agonisingly lost this year’s All-Ireland semi-final to Waterford, he’s almost unplayable.
In a hurling era that is often defined by speed, while not being the biggest slouch, Horgan succeeds on the bedrock of daring skill.
If others can make a ball talk, Patrick Horgan can make it scream.
Defining moment:
The Glen Rovers man surpassed the great Christy Ring as Cork’s all-time top scorer in the Leesider’s Munster final triumph over Clare earlier in the year.
He has done it all with that unique graceful elegance, as he caresses the ball with the care and respect that it deserves. You’ll rarely see him throw it away.
But just look at this from a Munster club game against Ballygunner.
Poor Stephen O’Keeffe didn’t know whether he was coming or going.
"@PH31933: Patrick Horgan's wonder goal https://t.co/ZlsMvICM3y" #Irish Hurling skill! @HobokenGuards @KeanHurling @TommySmythESPN @WFAN660
— Jersey Shore GAA: Na Píoráidí Abú! Join us! (@JerseyShoreGAA) November 8, 2015
13. Richie Hogan (Kilkenny)
One of the most visually pleasing skills in hurling is when a player rises highest amongst a flock of others to pluck a high ball from the clouds.
Richie Hogan does it game after game, puck-out after puck-out, despite being only 5 ft 7 in tall, and more often than not he sticks it over the bar when he comes back down to earth.
His strike is so effortless that the rest of his body barely moves, apart from those pendulum wrists, and his posture, first touch and movement is always enviously perfect.
Defining moment:
That extraordinary goal he scored that eventually condemned Tipperary to 2012 All-Ireland final defeat, and fired the Cats to glory.
A darting Eddie Brennan run cut through the heart of the Tipperary defence, and his lay-off to the Danesfort man didn’t even require the touch of a hand before it was rifled into the far top corner with Paddy Stapleton and Brendan Cummins shell-shocked.
Wrists, power, bottle.
12. John McGrath (Tipperary)
Makes hurling look like the easiest game on earth. Can flick those famous Loughmore wrists like nothing we’ve ever seen before. His movement is elegant and graceful and the greatest thing about John McGrath is that the best is yet to come.
He is one of the most potent attacking threats in the game, scoring goal after goal in the Premier Blue and Gold, and while defenders are terrorised, he is as cool as a cucumber.
Deceptively quick, just like Cathal Mannion.
Defining moment:
Brian Corcoran step aside, there’s a new kid on the block.
While you wait for the second half to start have a look at this wonder point form John McGrath of Tipp from lastnight http://t.co/Pbw2M1OJIb
— BGEGAA (@BGEGAA) July 18, 2013
McGrath did it when Tipperary needed him most throughout their 2016 All-Ireland winning campaign, notching a crucial 1-3 from play.
11. Lar Corbett (Tipperary)
The artful dodger. Was there any better sight in hurling than the galloping Lar Corbett at full flight with his eyes peaking up towards goal and his heals kicking his backside?
His hurl was always raised to the sky, in the ready position, ready to stitch a bullet shot into the roof of the net.
The Thurles Sarfields man had many good days and many bad ones, probably because the game he played was one that relied on fortunate breaks of the ball, though he was well able to win his own ball, too.
No player appreciated a fortunate break quite like Lar, though, as he would have the ball controlled and ripping the back of the net before you could say ‘boo.’
Lar had many detractors throughout his Tipperary career, but not even the most partisan Kilkenny supporter could argue that the hurling Lar played was up there with the best of them.
Defining moment:
All-Ireland hurling final day 2010. Three goals. End of the famine. Lar Corbett at his brilliant, brilliant best.
But this, this in the league against Galway couldn’t sum him up any better.
My favourite Lar Corbett goal and the one which sums him up as a player https://t.co/b5cHIWnE2B via @YouTube
— Shane Brophy (@BrophShane) November 19, 2015
Don’t fret, 10-1 will be here tomorrow.
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