FIRST THINGS FIRST; this is not a list of who will win the official Footballer of the Year award. That award is voted on by the intercounty panels of 2023, after a shortlist is drawn up by the All-Star selectors.
Rather, this is my idea of who the best footballers in 2023 have been to date. Come at me. Give it your best shot!
*****
1. David Clifford (Kerry – Fossa)
To be fair, they could have handed him the crown at the moment he played that outrageous pass to Tony Brosnan – leading to Sean O’Shea’s goal – with Tyrone’s Ronan McNamee and Padraig Hampsey licking their lips at the prospect of putting him out over the sideline in the quarter-final.
It was complete genius. He was heading away from goal, towards the line, with no room to work with. And yet Brosnan only had to move a few steps to meet the flight of the ball without it bouncing once.
What he has achieved on the pitch this year, at the same time as his mother Ellen passed away and given the inevitable grieving process, has been absolutely remarkable.
2. Brendan Rogers (Derry – Slaughtneil)
Moved to a brand-new position of midfield, somewhere he had never even played for his club Slaughtneil, Rogers’ performances this season have been massive.
From the moment he went out to play Dr McKenna Cup, he has been posting 8.5/10 performances all season, the highlight being his domination of Brian Fenton in Derry’s league win over Dublin in Croke Park and getting through to kick the winning point.
A scoring threat and aerial asset, he hit two points in the All-Ireland semi-final and was one of the most prominent figures in the Ulster final. Such is the way of these things; he will not make the official shortlist.
3. James McCarthy (Dublin – Ballymun Kickhams)
A late-career upsurge in form, McCarthy has always been one of the leadership group of Dubs, urging the likes of Denis Bastick and Bernard Brogan to stick around for further years.
On the pitch he has shown his worth constantly over a long period, but there is something special about how he is exhausting himself in the cause this summer. While the game against Monaghan was his 78th championship game for Dublin, he is right there as good as ever with his athletic capacity.
Always there for the dirty ball and the brave stuff, he is the ultimate team mate.
4. Cormac Costello (Dublin – Whitehall Colmcille)
Having served a long, long apprenticeship to Dean Rock, Whitehall Colmcilles man Cormac Costello is now the most razor-sharp inside man for Dublin.
His performance against Monaghan set down the terms of engagement, hitting 0-7 points and giving his marker Conor Boyle a torrid time.
Having never started in a senior All-Ireland final before, Costello’s ability to spin and his unselfish nose for goal – witness how he set up Colm Basquel for a goal against Mayo – has made him an automatic pick for Dessie Farrell.
His direct running and angles he takes makes him extremely elusive and a strong final showing should confirm an All-Star.
5. Shane McGuigan (Derry – Slaughtneil)
There is no top-level team that relies quite as much as Derry rely on Shane McGuigan.
As things stand, he is the top scorer in the All-Ireland championship with 2-52 from seven games, though you can be reasonably confident that David Clifford will overtake the four-point shortfall in the final.
Scoring 0-6 against Kerry, 0-3 of it from frees, shows why he was relentlessly targeted by the Kingdom and in time, some might come to see the treatment as slipping below the standards of sportsmanship.
Also targeted in the Ulster final, he managed 0-7,0-2 from frees and nervelessly converted his penalty.
6. Brian Fenton (Dublin – Raheny)
Unruffled and cool, Fenton’s composure is often a good weather-vane of this Dublin team. He doesn’t get rattled; he doesn’t tend to play with a great deal of emotion.
When they were cruising through Division 2 and later the Leinster championship, he just maintained a steady but unspectacular run of form.
He came to life however in the big Croke Park moments of late, being the main figure in squeezing out Mayo in the third quarter of the quarter-final, and bending the game to his own will for the closing stages of the semi-final against Monaghan.
7. Sean O’Shea (Kerry – Kenmare)
Among the goals this year and his three-pointer against Tyrone was one of those rare occasions that everyone will forget the actual goal and remember instead the assist with David Clifford kicking that impossible ball to Tony Brosnan.
Game and competitive, the way he flicked the ball away from Gareth McKinless in the dying stages of their semi-final was an indication of how in the moment he was.
The last-minute against Dublin in last year’s semi-final has had an effect where nerves do not exist for the Kenmare man and he will add to his two All-Stars in a few weeks.
