Unlike that annus horribilis, 2007 merely raises question marks, not exclamation marks. Question marks there are though. While Tyrone received an overly-generous eight awards in '05, Conor Gormley's contribution to 2007 should have been acknowledged. Marc O Se was the only iron-clad defensive certainty you would have had ahead of Gormley; how another five were chosen in front of Gormley is baffling. People seem to forget but Tyrone won this year's Ulster championship and the one-man fire brigade that's Gormley was a major reason why.

That Gormley is a previous winner would have made his omission easier. A similar thought process would have been at work with the other real quibble we'd have . . . the absence of Nicholas Murphy.

The O Ses are probably the greatest ever football family and Darragh's standing as the greatest midfielder of his generation is secure, but it's still not a good enough reason for a third All Star last Friday.

Murphy might have allowed himself to be again bullied by Darragh O Se and until such time as he bosses O Se in Croke Park, it's something that will blight his career, but that career still deserves a second All Star. Darragh might have had one of his best-ever leagues but if the league carried such weight, then John Doyle . . . who also happened to have the championship's highest average tally from play . . . would have been an automatic selection in attack. Darragh might have beaten Murphy in the biggest game of them all but Murphy had to excel in a lot of others for Cork to even play in it. Darragh, with his superior supporting cast, never had to. In short, Murphy played the better in 2007.

Elsewhere we'd have no real complaints. Stephen Cluxton is again a tad fortunate but the other Dubs . . . especially Ciaran Whelan . . . are deserving. Up front the selectors picked as we would have had, accommodating Stephen Bray and finally rewarding Thomas Freeman and Paddy Bradley.

Other hard-luck cases have the chance of being atoned in the GPA awards. While that scheme has made the error of being overly-rigid by nominating three players to every position like the old All Star scheme, it's one upside is Gormley only has to see off Ross O'Donovan and Karl Lacey while Canty, Darren Fay and McCloy slug it out for the number-three spot.

2007 Football All Stars Stephen Cluxton (Dublin); Marc O Se (Kerry), Kevin McCloy (Derry), Graham Canty (Cork); Tomas O Se (Kerry), Aidan O'Mahony (Kerry), Barry Cahill (Dublin); Ciaran Whelan (Dublin), Darragh O Se (Kerry); Stephen Bray (Meath), Declan O'Sullivan (Kerry), Alan Brogan (Dublin); Colm Cooper (Kerry), Paddy Bradley (Derry), Thomas Freeman (Monaghan)