Picking holes in Jackie Tyrrell’s All-Star selection ahead of All-Ireland final

Niall McIntyre

It’s never been more difficult to pick an All-Star hurling team but Jackie Tyrrell has done a fairly decent job of it.

Because of 2018, hurling is no longer in Gaelic football’s shadow. It’s no surprise that there were more spectators in Croke Park for the hurling semi-finals than the football this year – that’s because hurling has won the hearts of the whole country in 2018.

Where Gaelic football is focused on rule changes to make itself a more enjoyable watch, hurling has never ever been in a better place. The round-robin provincial formats went down a treat in their debut year with the Munster hurling championship ruling the roost for six consecutive weeks through June and into July.

The Leinster championship wasn’t far behind it at all. What followed was two All-Ireland semi-final ties for the ages with Clare and Galway serving up one of the greatest games of all time in Croke Park, still tied after extra-time. The following day extra-time was again required for Limerick to put Cork away, as football moved further into the shadows.

And through all of this. Hurling folk sat pretty, those who wouldn’t even take a glance at the game before lost their minds. It’s no wonder tickets are like gold dust for this Sunday’s final.

Now the whole of Ireland are coming to terms with the fact that hurling is the fastest game on earth. That it requires so many different skills and that it can throw up moments of brilliance more regularly than any other sport.

Points like this one from Peter Duggan helped convince them.

"A truly astonishing score" – Peter Duggan hits a spectacular point as Clare try their best to stay in the game.

Watch highlights on The Sunday Game at 9:30pm on RTE 2 tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/yjLgwIbeZ2

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 28, 2018

The combination of moments like those led to some amazing individual performances and the All-Star selection has never been more competitive.

Kilkenny legend and Sunday Game analyst Jackie Tyrrell delivered his verdict for his best 15 hurlers of the year so far on his Twitter account recently.

Jackie’s team

Which is harder to do Applied Maths or picking the Hurling All Stars team this year!!!! My attempt at it pre-final
Murphy, Tuohy, Burke, English, Byrnes, Hannon, Mannion, Fitzgibbon, Lynch, Duggan, Canning, Glynn, Gillane, Conlan, Whelan.

— Jackie Tyrrell (@MrJackieTee) August 13, 2018

Our thoughts on Jackie’s team

We give our thoughts under each of his selections. We would make a few changes.

1 Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny)

Fact.

Aaron Gillane gets the point after a superb save from Kilkenny's Eoin Murphy! pic.twitter.com/eo7brTdy8y

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 15, 2018

With a massive All-Ireland final performance, Nickie Quaid will run him close but there wasn’t much more Eoin Murphy could have done all year. For that reason, he remains as number one.

2 Adrian Tuohey (Galway)

Debatable. Sean Finn gets the nod for us.

3 Daithí Burke (Galway)

No arguing with that.

4 Richie English (Limerick)

We’d go Clare’s Jack Browne instead.

Clare's Jack Browne with a lovely point. pic.twitter.com/rhhx35wz8O

— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 10, 2018

5 Diarmuid Byrnes (Limerick)

Going strictly by position, we’d have Padraig Mannion as our number 5.

6 Declan Hannon (Limerick)

On this year’s form, Declan Hannon has been the best of the sixes. Cillian Buckley pushes him close as does Gearóid McInerney but on balance that man Hannon deserves his spot.

7 Padraig Mannion (Galway)

Seeing as we have Mannion already in there, Mark Coleman gets our vote for number 7. That’s being extremely harsh on Dan Morrissey and Chris Crummie.