IFC Team of the Year

Seen the article in the Nationalist today and thought I'd post it up for people who have'nt seen it
1) Colin McCabe (Monasterevin)
2) David Maher (Monasterevin)
3) Daniel Flynn (JTB)
4) Evan Dempsey (Robertstown)
5) Paul Kelly (Monasterevin)
6) Graham Waters (Raheens)
7) Jimmy Gorry (Monasterevin)
8 ) Lenny Havens (Monasterevin)
9) Damien Leeson (Robertstown)
10) Sean Hurley (JTB)
11) Alan Igoe (Raheens)
12) Aidan Dunne (Robertstown)
13) Cathal McNaly (JTB)
14) Paddy Mahon (Castledermot)
15) Mark Kelly (Monasterevin)

Monasterevin - 6, JTB - 3 , Robertstown - 3 , Raheens - 2, and Castledermot - 1

Mark Cornish and Noel Byrne are 2 notable omissions from that team. Not sure About Evan Dempsey and Mark Kelly's inclusion..

Im delighted for the two raheens lads, both had very good championships. I agree with you taibi about golly byrne. Without him raheens would of struggled.

Where is Joe Kavanagh ?

Eoin Stapleton is another notable omission

Are any of them on the kildare junior set up? Or should they be?

Daniel Flynn, Graham Waters, Aidan Dunne & Cathal McNally were on the Junior panel this year.

tomcruise wrote:

Where is Joe Kavanagh ?

Kavanagh had a poor enough year IMO, Joe Carthy in the other corner was better.

any 2012 intermediate team without brian flood on it is a fair team

Eoin Stapletons exclusion is a big surprise for me. If Mark Kelly was left out Monasterevin would have had no Forward, as hes the only one.
Cian Bolton had a decent Year at Full forward also.

Bit harsh to say hes our only forward, Wayne fitzpatrick came in to the set up late and made a huge difference in the replay against Robertstown, and is definitely one for the future and the rest of the lads worked very hard for the team, there is more to forward play than scoring.

SeamusMurphy wrote:

Eoin Stapletons exclusion is a big surprise for me. If Mark Kelly was left out Monasterevin would have had no Forward, as hes the only one.
Cian Bolton had a decent Year at Full forward also.

I thought he was lucky to be in the team if I'm honest. Monasterevin didn't have a stand out forward. They relied mainly on frees this year, primarily from McCabe and Havens.

Didn't see much of Eadestown in the Championship but I'm a little surprised Emmett didn't feature. He's generally their key player. Did he have a bad year ? Or did he suffer from their lack of progress to the latter stages of the Championship ?

Fitzpatrick didn't play enough games to warrant a place. Monasterevin failed to score from play in the final, that says it all about their forwards. Mark Kelly been picked was a token gesture IMO.

Predictably enough they all come from the 4 semi finalists, I would say whoever compiled that team has little or no knowledge of Intermediate football and are probably going on a few match reports.

The omission of Noel Byrne is quite shocking TBH.

I agree with most of that TAIBI, However you missed Paddy Mahon of Castledermot (who wernt semi finalists). Also I read that M Kelly scored 5 - 8 from play which was a good return, so I think he defo deserved to be picked IMO. Noel Byrne is very unlucky to miss out agreed.
There is indeed " more to Forward play than scoring ", but not much good if you have " forwards who cant score ".

Correct Seamus, Paddy Mahon did deserve his place, his scoring rate was excellent.

Great to see this team of the year getting so much debate. It's only a bit of craic, although I do take it very seriously when I am picking it, and hopefully it might start a few conversations around bar counters over the weekend.

I'll try to explain some of my thinking on a few of the names that keep cropping up here.

Firstly, Taibi, I would have thought it would have been fairly predictable that any team of the year is going to be made up predominantly of the four semi finalists. That would be pretty much the same of any similar team in any competition but Paddy Mahon didn't play in a semi final so the team certainly wasn't restricted to players who played in the last four. Nor was it picked from a few match reports. I obviously wasn't at every single match but I was at the final, all 3 semi finals, 3 of the 6 quarter finals and a whole host of games in the earlier rounds. The team is my opinion, nobody elses, if you differ so be it, as I said, it's only a bit of craic for debate.

Onto some of the names:

Noel Byrne: Definitely the unluckiest man not to make the line up. There wasn't a lot between him, Joe Kavanagh and Cathal McNally for one of the corner forward positions. But McNally is the only player in the grade who was called up to the senior panel after his performances in the championship so had to get the nod. As good as Noel was against the likes of Ballyteague and Johnstownbridge, he was pretty quiet in the final too.

Mark Kelly: Can't believe that anybody would question his selection. He scored 5-8 in the championship (to put that in context, Noel Byrne scored 1-10 and Joe Kavanagh scored 2-4) and also scored the goal that basically won the final. You might say he didn't get a touch for that particular goal but he was insistent after the game that he did and better to credit him with it than an own goal.

Eoin Stapleton: Had a very good championship but I found it hard to nail down a position for him. He did a very effective job for the team floating around the middle third but I considered Paul Kelly and Graham Waters as certainties in the half back line. Perhaps he could have been included in place of Jimmy Gorry but Gorry was an out and out wing back and had a good championship too. Maybe Stapleton could have figured as a half forward but I would have found it hard to leave out any of the three picked there.

Evan Dempsey: It was difficult to pick corner backs but Dempsey had a good season, especially considering he is 17 and in his first year of regular senior football. Probably didn't have a great game in the semi final replay but was very solid throughout the year.

The Two Boltons: I only saw Eadestown play once and both played well but there was nobody other than Alan Igoe and Paddy Mahon going to fill the centre forward and full forward positions on the team. Igoe was the heartbeat of the Raheens team and Mahon scored 3-30, contributing 11 more points than any other individual.

Hope that clarifies some of the reasoning behind the selections, enjoy the debate!

Ah I know it's only a bit of craic Ger, it'd be no fun if we all agreed.

Good post Ger and very good reasoning behind your decisions, it stands up to scrutiny.

Ger McNally wrote:

Great to see this team of the year getting so much debate. It's only a bit of craic, although I do take it very seriously when I am picking it, and hopefully it might start a few conversations around bar counters over the weekend.

I'll try to explain some of my thinking on a few of the names that keep cropping up here.

Firstly, Taibi, I would have thought it would have been fairly predictable that any team of the year is going to be made up predominantly of the four semi finalists. That would be pretty much the same of any similar team in any competition but Paddy Mahon didn't play in a semi final so the team certainly wasn't restricted to players who played in the last four. Nor was it picked from a few match reports. I obviously wasn't at every single match but I was at the final, all 3 semi finals, 3 of the 6 quarter finals and a whole host of games in the earlier rounds. The team is my opinion, nobody elses, if you differ so be it, as I said, it's only a bit of craic for debate.

Onto some of the names:

Noel Byrne: Definitely the unluckiest man not to make the line up. There wasn't a lot between him, Joe Kavanagh and Cathal McNally for one of the corner forward positions. But McNally is the only player in the grade who was called up to the senior panel after his performances in the championship so had to get the nod. As good as Noel was against the likes of Ballyteague and Johnstownbridge, he was pretty quiet in the final too.

Mark Kelly: Can't believe that anybody would question his selection. He scored 5-8 in the championship (to put that in context, Noel Byrne scored 1-10 and Joe Kavanagh scored 2-4) and also scored the goal that basically won the final. You might say he didn't get a touch for that particular goal but he was insistent after the game that he did and better to credit him with it than an own goal.

Eoin Stapleton: Had a very good championship but I found it hard to nail down a position for him. He did a very effective job for the team floating around the middle third but I considered Paul Kelly and Graham Waters as certainties in the half back line. Perhaps he could have been included in place of Jimmy Gorry but Gorry was an out and out wing back and had a good championship too. Maybe Stapleton could have figured as a half forward but I would have found it hard to leave out any of the three picked there.

Evan Dempsey: It was difficult to pick corner backs but Dempsey had a good season, especially considering he is 17 and in his first year of regular senior football. Probably didn't have a great game in the semi final replay but was very solid throughout the year.

The Two Boltons: I only saw Eadestown play once and both played well but there was nobody other than Alan Igoe and Paddy Mahon going to fill the centre forward and full forward positions on the team. Igoe was the heartbeat of the Raheens team and Mahon scored 3-30, contributing 11 more points than any other individual.

Hope that clarifies some of the reasoning behind the selections, enjoy the debate!

pop in again

Forwards who cant score, 11 points against Kilcock, 2 12 against Caragh, 1 10 and 12 points against Robertstown respectively, 2 16 against Eadestown, we scored 1 15 in beating the senior runners up Carbury in the league (wihout the O' Flahertys). Not all of these scores came from frees it is great to have players like Colin McCabe and Lenny to strike a dead ball, and being strong at back. But to completely discredit or forwards on the basis of the final against Raheens is harsh. Finals are for winning not how many scores were got from play. The forwards played as much part as the rest of the team in winning the championship and hopefully will again in Leinster during the coming weeks.
Great post Ger, and its no surprise to see differing opinions on topics such as these, woud be no fun if we all agreed

Who would have been Intrmediate player of the year?

Or other grades even.

In laois they give an award for POTY in each grade. Nice idea.

Can only comment on senior player of the year and my opinion is very biased but would give it to Conor Tiernan, didn't put a foot wrong all year and chipped in wit a few big scores including the penalty in the final.

Great post Ger, thanks for the insight. Interesting debate also!!

I will also be biased and say that Daryel O'Brien of Carbury is my senior player of the year by a long shot.I just cannot understand why he is not on the Geezers radar. At the very least , he is worth a look at in a trial game.

As for others , I was very impressed by Hugh Lynch on the day we played Confey. A certain starter for Kildare midfield next year.

Good of you to explain your selections Ger.
Another Player missed out on was David Fitzpatrick (Raheens), outstanding at Midfield and IMO should have been included, however the biggest mystery is he was / is an other Minor from this Year who was overlooked, or " Maybe he is a late bloomer also ". People may not have been aware. Dont want to be harpem on.
BarrowSideBlue. If you took Havens (midfield), Mc Cabe (Goalie) and M Kellys contribution, who were your other Forwards to score ? very few I would be fairly sure.. So while your backs were outstanding, your Forwards are not scoring Forwards.