Search icon

Sport

20th Jul 2015

The GAA-mmys: JOE’s Weekly Championship Awards (Week 10)

A great weekend for Kerry, Monaghan and Mayo

Conor Heneghan

Forget the All-Stars, these are the awards that GAA players really want to win.

The Maurice Fitz award for the score with the most outrageous curl of the week

It’s not the curl that’s important this week, it’s emphasising Bryan Sheehan’s absolute mastery of the dead ball once again.

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as Maurice Fitz, Sheehan was described at the weekend as the best free-taker in the history of Gaelic Football by Colm O’Rourke and being honest, it’s hard to argue with such a claim.

This sort of free-taking might just win Kerry another All-Ireland this year.

The ‘business at the back and sides, party up front’ championship haircut of the week award

The award this week has to go to Mayo man-mountain, Aidan O’Shea, who stamped his mark all over yesterday’s Connacht Final in a manner that only the truly great players can.

Aidan’s hair was as impressive as his overall display yesterday and if he keeps up his current form, we’ll be seeing a lot more of it between now and the end of the Championship.

Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship Final, Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon 19/7/2015 Mayo vs Sligo Mayo's Aidan O'Shea celebrates winning five Connacht title's in a row Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Donall Farmer

The GAA shtyle statement of the week

We’re soon going to have to narrow this category down to The Sunday Game only, as the analysts keep pulling out all the stops week after week.

Last night, it was the turn of Dessie Dolan, who somehow managed to stop himself from saying ‘Go f**k yourself, San Diego’ despite wearing a jacket straight out of Ron Burgundy’s closet.

The ‘did he get that from the soccer?’ showboat of the week

There’s no denying that Brendan Kealy’s save from Stephen Cronin in Killarney was straight out of the top drawer, but there was certainly an element of ‘for the cameras’ about it all the same.

The dramatic nature of the save was increased by the ball hitting the post and Aidan O’Mahony putting his body on the line to avert danger immediately afterwards.

Fair play to Brendan, if you’re going to make a spectacular save, you might as well go all out to make it look spectacular.

Sign that the GAA is getting soft award

Brian McIver might have gone a little over the top in his criticism of Conor Lane’s refereeing display in Galway’s victory over Derry, but the decision to give Brendan Rodgers a black card in the first half was harsh to say the least.

Deliberate trip? Nope. Deliberate pull down? Nope, again. Everyone makes mistakes but a little consistency from the men in the middle would be nice.

Only in the GAA moment of the week

Marty Morrissey being mobbed by a hen party on Ulster Final day in Clones in the 2fm Roadcaster.

Where would you get it?

JOE’s Guaranteed Irish Sports’ Star of the Week Award, a tribute to the tradition of incredibly long names for award titles in the GAA

It was going to take some man to claim the award ahead of Aidan O’Shea this week, but given their significant achievement in toppling a formidable Donegal side in Clones, Monaghan captain Conor McManus just shades it.

McManus led by example and kicked some wonderful scores to guide the home side to their second Ulster title in three years, despite the attentions of Neil McGee who stuck to him like sh*t to a blanket throughout.

Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship Final, Clones, Co. Monaghan 19/7/2015 Monaghan vs Donegal Monaghan's Conor McManus celebrates scoring a point  Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan

A magnificent display by a truly magnificent player.