Half back line up next. Remember you still have another day to vote for the full back line if you haven’t yet.
Anyway on to the half back line, this is going to be a blood bath, it’s rammed with quality and I’m expecting a wide variance of votes between 10-15 players.
Jack McCaffrey - the best player of the lot here, if you look at that Dublin team for me - the biggest concern I’d have is who can do a job on McCaffrey, for me he is pretty much unmarkable. The pace and engine he has can blow any side out of the water. A class act and will go down as the greatest wing back in the GAA when his career finishes.
Conor Gormley - the complete defender. An absolute warrior, played every position from 2-9 for Tyrone and always played where the trouble needed to be stamped out - in that great Tyrone team Gormley was the go to man for danger and he never let his manager down. His best position for me is at 6, an exceptional reader of the game, extremely composed on the ball. The block of McDonnell in the 2003 final will live on through history. McGeeney and Cian O’Sullivan were other serious options here. I went with Lacey at corner back but if I hadn’t he would have pushed Gormley to the wire.
Philly Jordan - an exceptional wing back, an absolute Rolls Royce of a player. He was a magnet for the breaking ball for Tyrone, he was always on hand to dart in and set off an attack, superb engine, superb distribution, pace to burn and always played with his head up. A man who always came to the fore in the deciding moments of a game.
It’s the toughest line on the pitch to pick - you have legends of the game like Tomas O’Se, Lee Keegan, Seamus Moynihan, James McCarthy. The other three Donegal lads in Cassidy, McHugh and McGlynn were outstanding players. Colm Boyle has been a tremendous servant for Mayo. McGeeney, Lacey and O’Sullivan as mentioned previously. Declan Meehan was another superb attacking half back.
The likes of De Paor having more votes than Philly Jordan.
Give me strength.
It’s a tough line but Jordan was the elite wing back of his generation and I’m the only one to vote for him? Give me strength.
The O’Se surname carries a lot of weight down south, I was watching the 2002 final with Armagh the other night. McConville gave Tomas O’Se the mother of all roastings. That’s not to see Tomas wasn’t a great player but having that volume of votes ahead of some of the players he’s up against? Give me strength.
I only dread to think what Marc O’Se has gotten in the other thread.
I no longer have a photographic memory of matches or a scrapbook of match reports, but I have a feeling (possibly incorrect) that Marc O’Sé in his early years was regularly roasted. I can’t back that up with examples. Any truth in that?
