Well ogormanmahon if you think DJ was better than Sheflin it would be hard to have repect for you views that Ring was better Shefflin. DJ never played well in a A Final, where as shefflin has been doing it constanely over the last 10 years. Also DJ never managed to get the better of Brian Whealehan in all their battles. DJ got all of allstars on reputation alone and in my views was very much overrated!!!

jacko123 (Offaly) - Posts: 36 - 10/11/2009 15:30:07    480366

Mick Mackey scored 5 (five) goals against Tipp once in a league game.The Tipp backs did not make it easy for him though and a fair bit of ash was splintered on him as he made his way through to scoring goal no. 5. On his way back out Mackey tapped his chest with the boss of his hurl and roared ' theres no fuckin ash in Tipperary will break that' . I don't recall ever seeing 'King Henry' doing anything like that.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 10/11/2009 20:25:24    480636

Jacko, you're wrong.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6177 - 10/11/2009 22:23:01    480661

Jacko,don't be bitter my friend

Duffy89 (Wexford) - Posts: 3320 - 10/11/2009 23:35:33    480729

Agree with pudders that you cannot really compare hurlers from one generation with the next as the standards style and fitness and skills are just miles apart. I have heard a lot about Ringy and there is no doubt that he was a great hurler and i have also been told that he was held in games, just as Carey was held, usually by Whelehan, especially at underage! Theree ar many stories also about Mackey nd i enjoyed the one posted about his 5th goal against Tipp!

This fascination with Shefflin as being the greatest... i have watched him and he has great physical strength and is a fantastic ambassador for the game, but i think that people should suspend judgement about him until after he retires. For me the best i have seen who has retired is Carey, beyond a doubt, and Whelehan a close second. I look forward to enjoying Shefflin and all the other great hurlers, Kelly, the 3 Walshes, Tommy Eoin and Brick and many others!

If Ciaran Carey, an inspirational hurler from Limerick has been left out, then THAT is a disgrace. Ciaran was a really great and inspirational hurler who was loved by all Limerick people.

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1870 - 10/11/2009 23:48:14    480747

Where was Gary Kirby ?

Duffy89 (Wexford) - Posts: 3320 - 10/11/2009 23:51:10    480753

No Ja Fallon??????

buzzmerchant (Galway) - Posts: 24 - 10/11/2009 23:53:33    480757

If the best 15 from the current crop of hurlers played the best 15 from the 1950s the current team would not have a chance. They might be faster but that would be it. They could not match the power and strength of the players from then. They never had to do weights as they were all as strong as oxes and they could hurl.

lochgarmanabu (Wexford) - Posts: 1022 - 11/11/2009 00:32:20    480793

Canavan ahead of Fitzgearld in my opinion is wrong. Canavan was a class act but Fitzy was different gravy. Silly List

galwaybhoy (Galway) - Posts: 83 - 11/11/2009 08:45:38    480842

I would like to know if the people who picked this were ever at a hurling game. How they could leave Ciaran Carey or Gary Kirby out of 125 players is ridiculous.

MARNELL (Westmeath) - Posts: 728 - 11/11/2009 11:53:23    480977

ant cork in it? i didnt see it?

rebelsrock (Cork) - Posts: 550 - 12/11/2009 20:42:01    482487

lochgormanabu... yes i would love to see the Wexford team of the 50's against say the Tipp or Kilkenny team of this year. What a game it would be. The great Nicko against Shefflin or Kelly... the great wiry Jim English against Eoin Larkin. and Nicky Rackard against either Maher or J.J!

Bobby and Billy and Ned Wheler all great hurlers and a team of real class, but its a fantasy and difficult to come to any conclusions as regard what team would come out on top. Players today are fast and their first time rising of all balls would contrast totally with the first time pulling of the 50's team. Just impossible to determine what team would come out on top, too many differences in style and the fitness of players, very different opinions on this also to come to a definite view regarding who would fitter. But nice to dream !

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1870 - 12/11/2009 23:25:43    482618

canavan was better than fitzgerald...

proevo (Meath) - Posts: 296 - 13/11/2009 00:13:52    482653

old yeller, sorry for the delay. Yes I am going to Croke Park since the early 50s and yes, in my opinion of the hundreds of truly great players, in football, nobody outdone Mick O'Connell for cleanly bringing the ball 'out of the clouds' everytime and for that 'inch perfect' kicking and passing with both feet. And he did everything with so much natural style and ease that no matter how bad a game was, it was a pleasure just to watch the man from Valentia Island display all the skills of gaelic football.
In hurling there's no dispute either in my opinion. Ring was pure magic right through his very long playing carreer. There never was a dull moment while he was on the field. I saw him once playing for Munster in Croke Park. He was down injured in front of the Hill 16 end of the Cusack Stand. The St John's Ambulance men were attending to him as he was stretched out on the pitch. A long ball comes in his direction. He literally jumped out of the medics' hands, grabbed the ball and headed for goal. As the net rattled, he was back on the flat of his back again to have his treatment completed ! He was so unpredictable and his record tells it all.
I do not like comparing players of the past with those of today. I think it is a futile exercise and not fair to either set of players. And newspapers sell themselves with that kind of speculation. But there are exceptions to every rule and Ringey in hurling and Mick O'Connell in football are the exceptions for me. Those two do stand out at least during the second half of the 125 years of the GAA....And mind you, while I live in Cork, I am neither a Corkman or a Kerryman.

michael (Cork) - Posts: 381 - 13/11/2009 02:02:26    482675

old yeller, you also mentioned Mackey and Doyle along with O'Connell and Ring and asked whether they were as good as they were made out to be. I'll give you my answer in Obama clarity: Yes, they were ! But there were others, many others down through the years and there ARE others tody. Who is to say who was better than who ? Except, I stick to my two exceptions : nodoby played better gaelic football than Mick O'Connell and noboody bettered Ring in hurling. My opinion !

michael (Cork) - Posts: 381 - 13/11/2009 02:14:11    482680

indo got it right no one can touch the "KING"

richiescats (USA) - Posts: 420 - 13/11/2009 04:51:56    482702

Jacko I have to agree 100% with you, DJ was one of the most over rated players of his generation! He went missing it in every all Ireland he played in. Scores a few goals against weaker teams when Kilkenny were lording it and made a name for himself in this way. Who will every forget some of the inspiring points Ciaran Carey scored for Limerick when the chips were down.. He did not have as many good men around him as DJ but still produced some awsome performances over the years. How he did not make it is a complete farce!

f smyth (None) - Posts: 17 - 13/11/2009 07:40:49    482714

Great to see a Ballycastle man is the best Mayo player ever and 16th overall. Makes me proud to be from Ballycastle.

Spoddgy (Mayo) - Posts: 660 - 13/11/2009 20:37:52    483321

king henry best active player dj best ever ring most over rated, now lory meagher was best of all before 1950's

richiescats (USA) - Posts: 420 - 14/11/2009 00:59:22    483498

No Paul Flynn in the list... The best player ever to play for Waterford this makes the list a complete joke

Rex (Waterford) - Posts: 74 - 14/11/2009 08:57:46    483524