1. John O'Leary - O'Dwyers/Dublin
2. Robbie O'Malley - St. Colmcilles/Meath
3. Tony Scullion - Ballinascreen/Derry
4. Kieran McKeever - Dungiven/Derry
5. Paul Curran - Thomas Davis/Dublin
6. Henry Downey - Lavey/Derry
7. Martin O'Connell - St. Michaels/Meath
8. Jack O'Shea - Cahirciveen/Kerry
9. Mick O'Connell - Valentia Island/Kerry
10. Trevor Giles - Skyrne/Meath
11. Ciaran McDonald - Crossmolina/Mayo
12. Pat Spillane - Templenoe/Kerry
13. Colm Cooper - Dr. Crokes/Kerry
14. Matt O'Connor - Walsh Island/Offaly
15. Maurice Fitzgerald - Cahirciveen/Kerry

No place for Sean Purcell, Darren Fay, Anthony Tohill, Enda Colleran, John Joe Reilly, Mickey Linden, Colm O'Rourke, Mikey Sheehy, Larry Tompkins, Keiren McGeeney, Dara O'Se, Peter Canavan, Tommy Murphy, Mattie Kerrigan, Ja Fallon and John Egan amongst many other greats.

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 22/05/2010 17:30:30    655427

tom langan and sean flanagan would surly be on the team

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11836 - 22/05/2010 17:34:32    655432

yew_tree
County: Mayo
Posts: 1053

655432 tom langan and sean flanagan would surly be on the team

Peter Solan is better then the two you mention in fairness.

paddyogall (Mayo) - Posts: 5110 - 22/05/2010 18:04:52    655448

And Sean Purcell is generally regarded as the best of all time so I think he wins the "should be included" award

jafallon (Galway) - Posts: 489 - 22/05/2010 18:22:11    655458

Loyal2TheRoyal......................U EITHER DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT FORMER GREATS OR YOU HAVENT SEEM MUCH FOOTBALL.........MC DONALD IN PLACE OF PURCELL??.....NEED ANYONE SAY MORE?

richiej (UK) - Posts: 1430 - 22/05/2010 18:32:11    655461

richiej
County: UK
Posts: 130

655461 Loyal2TheRoyal......................U EITHER DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT FORMER GREATS OR YOU HAVENT SEEM MUCH FOOTBALL.........MC DONALD IN PLACE OF PURCELL??.....NEED ANYONE SAY MORE?

Have you seen Sean Purcell play? or are you relying on hearsay?

paddyogall (Mayo) - Posts: 5110 - 22/05/2010 18:38:54    655468

paddyogall
County: Mayo
Posts: 2625

655468 richiej
County: UK
Posts: 130

655461 Loyal2TheRoyal......................U EITHER DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT FORMER GREATS OR YOU HAVENT SEEM MUCH FOOTBALL.........MC DONALD IN PLACE OF PURCELL??.....NEED ANYONE SAY MORE?

Have you seen Sean Purcell play? or are you relying on hearsay

I never saw Mick O'Connell play but i do know that he was better than Kevin Hughes,or in soccer terms,i never got to see Pele but i know that he was better than Kevin Kilbane.

orange and blue (Tyrone) - Posts: 1080 - 22/05/2010 19:10:43    655481

brian mullins and colm o rourke have to be on the team of the century

samforall (Dublin) - Posts: 36 - 22/05/2010 19:15:29    655485

orange and blue
County: Tyrone
Posts: 659

655481 paddyogall
County: Mayo
Posts: 2625

655468 richiej
County: UK
Posts: 130

655461 Loyal2TheRoyal......................U EITHER DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT FORMER GREATS OR YOU HAVENT SEEM MUCH FOOTBALL.........MC DONALD IN PLACE OF PURCELL??.....NEED ANYONE SAY MORE?

Have you seen Sean Purcell play? or are you relying on hearsay

I never saw Mick O'Connell play but i do know that he was better than Kevin Hughes,or in soccer terms,i never got to see Pele but i know that he was better than Kevin Kilbane.

How do you know he was better then Kevin Hughes if you never seen him play? your relying on hearsay.

paddyogall (Mayo) - Posts: 5110 - 22/05/2010 19:40:18    655497

Three from Derry, mmmm, interesting.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 22/05/2010 20:19:42    655517

Since its from 1884, Can I pick 18 players?

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 22/05/2010 20:37:12    655524

Loyal what the heck is the fascination with Derry? Those guys might find it hard to get on a Best Ever Derry selection. You are turning what could be an excellent thread into a bit of a joke.

For others out there Sean Purcell was the best centre half forward for the past 55 years while in my opinion the top centre field combination in that time was Jack O Shea and Brian Mullins. Mick O Connell was a terrific footballer with all the skills when Kerry were in front but when The Kingdom were behind it was a different matter.

And yes I have seen all on the field of play.

Auldfella (Meath) - Posts: 472 - 22/05/2010 20:52:35    655539

paddyogall
County: Mayo
Posts: 2628


Have you seen Sean Purcell play? or are you relying on hearsay

Videos help you know. I bet theres players around the country that you think are very good but have only seen them on the box

jafallon (Galway) - Posts: 489 - 22/05/2010 21:05:30    655548

is this a joke or what u can take off the first 6 for a start and whats the facination with mcdonald anyway the most overated player ever.those first 6 wouldnt make my second team.

chicago09 (Kerry) - Posts: 694 - 22/05/2010 21:33:47    655571

Surely the Derry lads aren't that much of a surprise. Potential other corner backs that could be included instead of Kieren McKeever would be Kenneth Mortimer, Sean Flanagan, Tomas Mannion, Tom O'Hare, Niall Cahalane, Robbie Kelleher and Enda Colleran. Anyone tell me who is the best corner-back listed there? As for great full-backs, well you have Mick Lyons, Darren Fay, Noel Tierney and Joe Keohane to choose from, maybe Fay should have been selected instead of Tony Scullion. Or even further back, Paddy O'Brien? After Colm O'Rourke, the Irish Independent deemed him the greatest Meath footballer of all time in their recent 125 greatest hurlers and footballers. The greatest centre-back is a tough one too. How do you pick one from Kieren McGeeney, Henry Downey, Gerry O'Malley and Seamus Moynihan? I put Downey down but anyone of the four could have been picked. Anyway I don't think there's anything surprising about any of the Derry players, maybe all three on the one team was stretching it a bit though.

Centre-forward was the hardest position to choose. The shortlist is a pretty long list but here are some of the names I have wrote down; Ciaran McDonald, Trevor Giles, Sean Purcell, Larry Tompkins, Mickey Kearns, Greg Blaney, Ogie Moran, Frank McGuigan, Martin McHugh, Ja Fallon, Eugene McKenna and Mick Higgins and I'm sure there are others that deserved to be mentioned too. In the end, I narrowed it down to McDonald and Giles and didn't like to leave either out. I hope Giles selection isn't considered controversial, seemingly McDonald's is? But as I say I couldn't leave him out. The definition of a Gaelic Footballer.

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 22/05/2010 21:41:55    655576

Loyal dont know if you are aware but Tony Scullion played the vast majority of his career as a corner back and a good one at that. He performed an adequate role for Derry in the number three jersey during 1993.

Auldfella (Meath) - Posts: 472 - 22/05/2010 21:52:01    655585

Goalkeepers: John O'Leary, Dan O'Keeffe, Billy Morgan, Martin Furlong, Johnny Geraghty

Full-Backs: Sean Flanagan, Robbie O'Malley, Joe Keohane, Enda Colleran, Robbie Kelleher, Tomas Mannion, Mick Lyons, Tony Scullion, Niall Cahalane, Tom O'Hare, Darren Fay, Noel Tierney, Kieren McKeever, Kenneth Mortimer

Half-Backs: Tommy Drumm, John Joe Reilly, Sean Murphy, Sean Og De Paor, Mick Deegan, DJ Kane, Martin O'Connell, Paudi O'Se, Tomas O'Se, Declan Meehan Keith Barr, Gerry O'Malley, Seamus Moynihan, Kieran McGeeney, Paul Curran

Midfield: Mick O'Connell, Tommy Murphy, Jack O'Shea, Brian Mullins, Anthony Tohill, Dara O'Se, John McDermott, Jim McKeever, Paddy Kennedy, Kevin Walsh

Half-Forwards: Pat Spillane, Trevor Giles, Ogie Moran, Martin McHugh, Mick Higgins, Sean Purcell, Larry Tompkins, Greg Blaney, Ciaran McDonald, Mickey Kearns, Sean O'Neill, Frank McGuigan, Graham Geraghty, Sean Cavanagh, Ja Fallon

Full-Forwards: Tom Langan, Mikey Sheehy, Eoin Liston, Colm Cooper, Kevin Heffernan, Mickey Linden, Colm O'Rourke, Padraic Joyce, Maurice Fitzgerald, Mattie McDonagh, Bernard Flynn, Dessie Dolan, Jimmy Keaveney, Matt Connor, Peter Canavan

Lots of mocking of the ONLY team on the thread. Maybe some help is needed for others to put up their selections.......

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 22/05/2010 21:53:51    655587

I saw Purcel at the end of his career and he was still better than mc donald at his best..... Also saw paddy Doherty and Sean o Neill and the Mc Cartans...Never saw Frank mcGuigan play centre half forward but saw him in midfield and full forward....Also saw jimmy barry murphy...and jim mckeever....loyal2theroyal dont post abt something you clearly no nothing abt.........tony scullion best full back?? your havin a laugh................henry downey best centre half?? your havin a bigger laugh................c mc donald best centre half forward?? now your showin your complete lack of knowledge...........even die hard mayo folk wouldnt agree ther.....

richiej (UK) - Posts: 1430 - 23/05/2010 10:23:07    655619

In addition to those (well, most of those - Dessie Dolan?), there are others as well that you'd need to consider Loyal. All those below were great footballers, and worthy of consideration in any debate like this.

Goalkeepers: Paddy Cullen

Full-backs: Joe Barrett, Pat Prendergast, Jimmy Deenihan, John O'Keefe, Donie O'Sullivan

Half-backs: Jack Higgins, PJ Duke, Bill Carlos, Pat 'Red' Collier, Kevin Moran, Eugene Mulligan, Stephen White, Glenn Ryan

Midfielders: Eugene McKenna, Larry Stanley, Pat O'Shea, Anthony Tohill, Dermot Earley Snr

Half-forwards: Paddy Doherty, James McCartan Snr, Jimmy Murray, Taghie Lyne, Mick Higgins, Padraig Carney, Packie McGarty, Ray Carolan

Full-forwards: Mick O'Dwyer, Iggy Jones, Dick Fitzgerald, Frankie Stockwell, Paddy Moclair, Peter Donohue, John Egan, Stephen O'Neill

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 23/05/2010 10:40:35    655627

Is this supposed to be the All Time team from 1884 - 2010 or is it the All Time team from 1984 - 2010.

Duffster (Meath) - Posts: 279 - 23/05/2010 11:17:23    655645