Football

McManus takes top Irish News Ulster Allstar award 2015

Monaghan players Dessie Mone, Ryan Wylie, Player of the Year Conor McManus, Vincent Corey and Karl O'Connell at Thursday night's Irish News Ulster Allstar awards at the City Hotel, Armagh <br />Picture: Cliff Donaldson&nbsp;
Monaghan players Dessie Mone, Ryan Wylie, Player of the Year Conor McManus, Vincent Corey and Karl O'Connell at Thursday night's Irish News Ulster Allstar awards at the City Hotel, Armagh
Picture: Cliff Donaldson 
Monaghan players Dessie Mone, Ryan Wylie, Player of the Year Conor McManus, Vincent Corey and Karl O'Connell at Thursday night's Irish News Ulster Allstar awards at the City Hotel, Armagh
Picture: Cliff Donaldson 

From numbers one to 15, the Ulster stars who caught the eye in this year's Championship...

GOALKEEPER

Paul Durcan (Donegal)


THE Ballyboden St Enda’s clubman has reclaimed the number one jersey from Monaghan’s Rory Beggan after a impressive season between the Donegal sticks. He made outstanding saves to deny Tyrone’s Peter Harte, Armagh’s Ciarán O’Hanlon and Derry’s Enda Lynn in Ulster. His quick-thinking prevented goal chances for Monaghan’s Dermot Malone and then Mayo’s Jason Doherty. His kick-outs were invariably excellent.

FULL-BACKS

Vinny Corey (Monaghan)


THE first of three players from Monaghan club champions Clontibret O’Neill’s to make this year’s selection. Corey had an excellent season for the Farney men after stepping into the full-back breach after Drew Wylie was injured.


His man-marking job on Michael Murphy was crucial to Monaghan recapturing the Anglo-Celt Cup and he restricted the otherwise prolific Seán Quigley to a point in the Ulster semi-final.

Neil McGee (Donegal)


REGULARLY marks the best forwards in the game out of the game and there isn’t a more committed defender around than the Gweedore clubman. Strong, quick and fearless, he was a tower of strength for the Tír Chonaill side on their way to the Ulster final.


Played his part in a ferocious hammer-and-tongs battle with Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea in the All-Ireland quarter-final before a hamstring injury - perhaps­ the result of Donegal’s gruelling programme of fixtures - brought his season to a premature end.

Ryan Wylie (Monaghan)


RYAN replaces his elder brother Drew in the Allstar side after an excellent season in blue and white.


Rapidly establishing himself as one of the best footballing defenders in Ulster, Wylie won personal duels against several Cavan forwards in Monaghan’s provincial opener and continued his excellent form up against Fermanagh’s Tomás Corrigan in the Ulster semi-final.


After a superb performance in the Ulster final, when he was able to break at pace and never put a foot wrong, he played the sweeper role well again the All-Ireland quarter-final.

HALF-BACKS

Ryan McHugh (Donegal)


OPPONENTS are wary of him now because they know his reserves of energy, pace and quality on the ball have become vital to Donegal.


So difficult to pick up because he runs from deep in his own half and exploits pockets of space in opposition defences. Armagh couldn’t work out what to do with him and Monaghan sacrificed the attacking talents of Darren Hughes to shackle the Kilcar man in the Ulster final.


It worked for a while, but McHugh stood up to his challenge and helped launch Donegal’s second half comeback.

Dessie Mone (Monaghan)


ONE of the most accomplished footballers in the country, Mone is blessed with courage, skill and footballing intelligence and he used all three attributes well this season.


When pushed out of the sweeper role when Monaghan trailed Cavan, he proved to be the catalyst for the Farney comeback and he scored points in all four Championship outings. The Clontibret clubman is absolutely crucial to the Farney effort.

Karl O'Connell (Monaghan)


TYHOLLAND star O’Connell was one of the undoubted stars of Monaghan’s campaign. His pace and ability were eye-catching early in the season and he improved with every game.


He was sound defensively and kept forwards on the back foot by scoring points in three Championship games. O’Connell followed an impressive display in the Ulster opener against Cavan with an even better showing against Fermanagh in the semi-final, when his runs caused the Erne defence serious problems.


But his best came in the Ulster final when Donegal couldn’t live with his pace and he repeatedly turned defence into attack.

MIDFIELD

Eoin Donnelly (Fermanagh)


A TOWER of strength in the Erne midfield, Donnelly was man of the match against eventual Ulster champions Monaghan. He drove Pete McGrath’s side on to an unforgettable win in the Qualifiers against Roscommon and stood tall in midfield when Westmeath tried to crowd him out two weeks’ later. Calm in possession, he won his share of the ball against Dublin and was at the forefront of Fermanagh’s second half fight-back. An excellent season for the Coa clubman, who’ll hope for even better in 2016.

Neil Gallagher (Donegal)


STILL the best in the business. Gallagher can mix it in the middle if he has to and is the launching pad for Donegal attacks. It was his pass that sent Paddy McBrearty away for the early goal that left Armagh reeling and he was also involved in the majors against Tyrone and Derry when he won the kick-out and played the ball that split the Oak Leaf defence.


He is the rock on which several of Donegal’s tactics are built and is the main ball-winner at midfield and the catalyst for scores. It took sheer weight of Mayo numbers to restrict his influence on the All-Ireland quarter-final.

HALF-FORWARDS

Mattie Donnelly (Tyrone)


WITH short kick-outs in vogue, Donnelly embodies all the qualities that the modern midfielder/half-forward requires and the Trillick clubman found a rich vein of form on Tyrone’s march to the last four.


His clever movement and accuracy mean he is always a scoring threat and he came into his own with three points against Tipperary in the Qualifiers. Three more followed against Sligo as the Red Hands battled their way into the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Monaghan found his industry in the midfield engine room almost impossible to contain and he scored the final two points of the game to ease his side to victory.

Peter Harte (Tyrone)


A LEADER on the field and probably Tyrone’s most consistent performer this season. Converted two penalties when the pressure was on.


The first against Meath turned the Red Hands’ season around and the second brought his county to the verge of another famous win against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-finals.


Quick and skilful, the Errigal Ciarán star was pivotal to Tyrone’s success as part of a hard-working middle eight that enabled the Red Hands to make a seamless transition from defence to attack.

Michael Murphy (Donegal)


HE WAS worth the admission price on his own for arguably the individual performance of the season against Armagh. On that June Sunday, Murphy produced a superb display of pass-and-move football and also landed a series of astonishing frees off the Athletic Grounds’ turf with a majestic swing of his right boot.


He was well marked by Vinny Corey in the Ulster final, but otherwise he came up with the scores that got Donegal over the line against Derry and produced some memorable moments of magic against Galway and Mayo.

FULL-FORWARDS

Seán Cavanagh (Tyrone)


TYRONE’S new tactical approach means that everybody has to put his shoulder to the wheel and Cavanagh led from the front this season.


He set the standards for the victory against Monaghan with a never-day-die attitude in tackling and winning the ball. Alongside his work-rate he continues to come up with vital scores and when pushed to full-forward in the All-Ireland quarter-final he proved that he is as potent as ever.


Seán breaks his own Irish News Allstars record by winning his eighth award - Tyrone fans will hope there’s a few more to come.

Conor McManus (Monaghan, Player of the Year)


THERE isn’t a better forward playing the game and this surely won’t be his only Allstar this year.


One quick look at the posts is enough for McManus to smash the ball between them from all sorts of angles with the power and accuracy of a ground-to-air missile. The Clontibret forward is routinely double-marked and on the receiving end of some physical tackling but he never stops showing for the ball and kicks points for fun.


He top-scored in all four of Monaghan’s Championship games and ended the campaign with a total of 1-26.

Seán Quigley (Fermanagh)


WHEN you wind-up the boo-boys in blue on Hill 16 you must be doing something right. Roslea’s Quigley revelled in the role of pantomime villain when Fermanagh crossed swords with the Dubs in the All-Ireland quarter-final and he chose the biggest stage of all to showcase his formidable arsenal of skills.


He finished that game with eight points and after he pushed Stephen Cluxton over the line for one of Fermanagh’s goals his manager Pete McGrath joked that he thought Quigley would wave the green flag himself.


His performance in the thrilling finale against Roscommon will go down in Erne county folklore, he also hit 0-14 in the Qualifier against Antrim and totalled 2-36 in the campaign.

HURLING MERIT AWARDS

Christy Ring: Derry

Nicky Rackard: Armagh

Lory Meagher: Fermanagh

LADIES' FOOTBALL MERIT AWARD

Geraldine McLaughlin (Donegal)

CAMOGIE MERIT AWARD

Niamh Mallon (Down)