Who’ll end up making the final cut?
All-Ireland finalists Kilkenny and Galway account for more than half of the nominations for the 2015 GAA GPA Hurling All-Stars, which were revealed this morning.
Both counties are represented by 12 nominees apiece, while there are 11 for Waterford, seven for Tipperary and a nomination apiece for Cork, Clare and Dublin.
Not surprisingly, Kilkenny duo TJ Reid and Richie Hogan have been nominated for Hurler of the Year alongside the free-scoring Seamus Callanan from Tipperary.
Remarkably, those three players were also nominated for last year’s Hurler of the Year, when Hogan claimed the prize. Consistency ain’t a problem for these guys.
Galway duo Cathal Mannion and Jason Flynn, meanwhile, will contest the Young Player of the Year award along with Waterford’s Tadgh de Búrca.
All of the award winners will receive their prizes on the evening of Friday, November 6 in the National Convention Centre in Dublin, where the successful hurlers will be announced live on the evening.
2015 GAA GPA Hurling All-Stars sponsored by Opel
Goalkeepers
Colm Callanan (Galway), Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny), Darren Gleeson (Tipperary)
Defenders
Daithí Burke (Galway), Cillian Buckley (Kilkenny), Joey Holden (Kilkenny), Paul Murphy (Kilkenny), Pádraic Walsh (Kilkenny), Johnny Coen (Galway), Iarla Tannion (Galway), Pádraig Mannion (Galway), Kieran Joyce (Kilkenny), Pádraic Maher (Tipperary), Cathal Barrett (Tipperary), James Barry (Tipperary), Noel Connors (Waterford), Tadhg de Búrca (Waterford), Shane Fives (Waterford), Austin Gleeson (Waterford), Barry Coughlan (Waterford), Philip Mahony (Waterford)
Midfielders
Andrew Smith (Galway), David Burke (Galway), Michael Fennelly (Kilkenny), Conor Fogarty (Kilkenny), Kevin Moran (Waterford), Jamie Barron (Waterford)
Forwards
Tony Kelly (Clare), Séamus Harnedy (Cork), Mark Schutte (Dublin), Cathal Mannion (Galway), Jason Flynn (Galway), Jonathan Glynn (Galway), Joe Canning (Galway), Conor Whelan (Galway), Ger Aylward (Kilkenny), TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny), Richie Hogan (Kilkenny), Brendan Maher (Tipperary), John O’Dwyer (Tipperary), Séamus Callanan (Tipperary), Colin Dunford (Waterford), Maurice Shanahan (Waterford), Michael Walsh (Waterford)
Player of the Year
TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Richie Hogan (Kilkenny), Séamus Callanan (Tipperary)
Young Player of the Year
Jason Flynn (Galway), Cathal Mannion (Galway), Tadhg de Búrca (Waterford)
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