OPINION: Selecting my hurling Team of the Year for 2023 - Shane Dowling

TEAMS of the year always cause massive debate, and everyone will always disagree.

Just in case people were wondering how The Sunday Game Team of the Year is picked, its quite straight forward. There are eight votes, and whoever comes out with the most amount of votes gets the nod.

Anyway - for what it's worth, here is mine.

GOALKEEPER

Eoin Murphy

Straight shootout between the Kilkenny man and Limerick's own Nickie Quaid.

Yes the save (All-Ireand semi-final v Clare) comes to mind straight away, and I think that may just swing it.

FULL BACK LINE

Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor, Dan Morrissey

Barry Nash comes to mind as one who is possibly unlucky - he had a really good second half in the final but I thought he was quite subdued throughout the Munster Championship campaign.

I thought Clare's Adam Hogan was solid all year also, while Limerick's Mike Casey didn’t do much wrong all year.

HALF BACK LINE

Diarmaid Byrnes, William O'Donoghue, Kyle Hayes

While many will say that William O'Donoghue only played two games at no6, yes they will be right.

But Clare's John Conlon was poor in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final against Limerick, and also in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny, so I don’t see the case there.

The only other shout was Richie Reid of Kilkenny who was solid all year to be fair.

So William O'Donoghue was the only other person who played at centre back who you could put in the Team of the Year.

Notable mention to Cork defender Ciaran Joyce also.

MIDFIELD

David Fitzgerald & Darragh O'Donovan

I thought David Fitzgerald was immense all year.

I actually thought if he had a great All-Ireland semi-final he would be an outside contender for Hurler of the Year - I was surprised to see so much commentary around people wondering why he was chosen on Sunday Game Team of the Year.

HALF FORWARD LINE

Tom Morrissey, TJ Reid, Shane O'Donnell

Again, much debate over this one.

And to be honest for me it probably is 50/50 between TJ and TK. I think everyone would agree that Tom Morrissey and Shane O'Donnell are no-brainers, but it’s a matter of whether its Kilkenny star TJ Reid or Tony Kelly of Clare.

I think the reason Tony Kelly could be hard done by is because for the second year in a row he didn’t perform in Croke Park. In the Munster first round robin game against Tipperary he was seriously well marshaled by Cathal Barrett also.

Either way its hard to argue with either so it will be interesting to see who gets the nod.

I have to give a mention to Dublin's top-scorer Donal Burke also.

FULL FORWARD LINE

Conor Whelan, Aaron Gillane, Eoin Cody

I don’t think there is much debate here to be honest.

These three boys in the inside line of attack are certainties to pick up an All- Star later in the year.

TEAM OF THE YEAR

Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny); Mikey Butler (Kilkenny), Huw Lawlor (Kilkenny), Dan Morrissey (Limerick); Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick), William O'Donoghue (Limerick), Kyle Hayes (Limerick); David Fitzgerald (Clare), Darragh O'Donovan (Limerick); Tom Morrissey (Limerick), TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Shane O'Donnell (Clare); Conor Whelan (Galway), Aaron Gillane (Limerick), Eoin Cody (Kilkenny).

HURLER OF THE YEAR

Aaron Gillane

Again, like always a lot of commentary around this.

Sitting around the table in RTE last Sunday week for a finish it just had to be called because it was going on for ages.

For a finish, Kyle Hayes was given the nod.

I suppose the way it was looked at by the majority was he was just the most consistent throughout all the games over the course of the year. If I am being honest, I was in Hayes boat also.

But, I have to say, after listening to a lot of commentary over the last few days and listening to more voices, I would actually give it to Aaron Gillane.

I don’t think he got enough credit for the final. He did get two points, and won a free so rather than say Huw Lawlor beat him, it was probably more even-steven.

On top of this, he received little ball in the first half purely down to the breeze, and Kilkenny's intensity in the first 25-minutes.

So it's not as if he was consistently being beaten.

I have to say, if it was given to Darragh O'Donovan I would have no complaints. He has had a brilliant season.