FORMER Donegal ladies' football boss Davy McLaughlin says he cannot fathom why the Ulster champions were overlooked when the Allstars were handed out last Saturday night.
Defeated finalists Monaghan claimed two of the awards, while Armagh, beaten provincial semi-finalists who went as far as the last four in the All-Ireland series, picked up one. The Tír Chonaill trio of Geraldine McLaughlin, Treasa Doherty and Ciara Hegarty were all nominated, but went home empty-handed from last weekend’s gala ceremony at Dublin's Citywest Hotel.
Geraldine McLaughlin was named Ulster Writers' Player of the Year last Friday night in Bundoran and her exclusion from the Allstar selection probably raised the most eyebrows. Former boss McLaughlin said he was curious as to how the selection process actually works. Even the nominations, when released last month, left him confused.
Ace attacker Yvonne McMonagle, whose performances won her the national Player of the Month gong back in July and who was again superb in the All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Armagh, was also overlooked.
McLaughlin said: “First of all, I suppose if you put 20 people in a room and ask them to pick 15 Allstars, you’d probably get 15 different selections.
“The girls that were nominated for Donegal, I can understand why they were picked. And I could have argued that any three of them could have won an Allstar. I’d also be of the view that two or three more could have been nominated and I was quite surprised.
“I don’t want to be seen to be begrudging anyone, but Monaghan picked up two awards when they didn’t make the league semi-finals in Division One. Listen, again it’s just an example and I don’t want to sound hard on Monaghan.
“To put the thing into perspective or give it a wee bit more balance, Galway, who took Cork to a replay in the Division One league final and won the Connacht championship, had five nominations and also didn’t get an Allstar. Explain the logic in that, how two provincial winners with eight nominations between them didn’t get a single Allstar award?"
