How many think Erling Haaland should have got it this year? Therein lies the beauty of these awards, they are about people’s opinions and the real fun is in the debates and discussions they generate.

Some All-Stars can get lucky with little competition for a positional slot, while others may have to contend with a plethora of stars shining in their preferred role. Selection hangs disproportionately on how successful your team has been and how the number of awards are panning out between the finalists and semi-finalists.

For those of us on the outside, everyone can guess eight to ten sure bets, it’s the remaining spots where the real debate heats up. The criteria for the places outside the finalists/semi-finalists can be complex and is really in the lap of the gods.

The awards, chosen by a panel of Gaelic games correspondents from across, print, radio, TV and digital media, in a meeting chaired by Uachtarán CLG, broke it down to the All-Ireland winners Dublin with five, runners up Kerry with four, and semi-finalists Derry and Monaghan with four and one respectively.

Then we have the outlier — Roscommon getting Enda Smith selected, although they did not make it out of the group stages. To some, it may be a strange decision. To others, it’s a celebration of what the All-Stars should be about.

From this armchair, Dublin’s Brian Howard and Paul Mannion are unlucky. Howard’s season rose to a crescendo with an amazing first half in the final. Mannion is just class in every aspect of the game. I also get the sense that Kerry full-back Jason Foley can count himself unlucky. 

He was a stalwart all year for Jack O’Connor. Maybe he had a slight fade towards the end of the season, which possibly cost him. His partner in crime, the slicing point-scorer Tom O’Sullivan probably edged him for the Kerry spot in the full-back line with Conor McCluskey and Mick Fitzsimons.

Midfield was the biggest lock of all time, Fenton and Rodgers truly outstanding for Dublin and Derry respectively. Nothing to see there, move on.

Up front David and Paudie Clifford, Shane McGuigan, Colm Basquel and Seanie O’Shea are no great surprise, but that is certainly not the case for Smith.

Enda is a great footballer whose inclusion is important. If we paint the picture a little, the rationale becomes clearer. Enda has been a serious footballer for Roscommon for some time, exceptional at times. 

He is swashbuckling in his approach and takes memorable scores, usually at the end of ferocious slaloming runs through the middle. The only thing missing previously was consistency of performance from Roscommon teams, to get him into the discussion.

This year saw Roscommon have a successful league campaign, third in Division 1, a huge change from their league form since 2011. Since then, Roscommon have played in all four divisions of the league and only once in that time have they managed to stay in Division 1 for two seasons in a row. Smith was the driving force behind their 2023 league, and he represented change for the Rossies.

In the championship, his penalty and point from play led them to victory over Mayo in McHale Park, and he was again very influential in their draw in the group stages with Dublin.

He spearheaded the demolition of Sligo in the next round hitting 0-5. He was also strong in the defeats to Kildare and Cork. Along the way, he picked up multiple man of the match awards, player of the week awards and general recognition. A talented footballer that no one can realistically begrudge of this recognition. For the public, outliers are vital to generate debate.

There is another interesting aspect to the All-Stars now - has it become more difficult to individualise selections on the basis of how the game is now played? The nature of Gaelic football is making individual performances harder to evaluate. 

As there are so few individual battles, where you can reasonably state with any certainty that X outplayed Y and/or X was excellent, while Y was poor. It’s a debate for another day, but where systems hinder risk creativity and one-on-one battles, the evaluation of players is more complex.

One last point from the season is the fact Stephen Cluxton was not in contention for Player of the Year. While James McCarthy, Brian Fenton and David Clifford are amazing players, Stephens’s impact on the Dublin squad and the whole All-Ireland championship was considerable. Ask the question: would Dublin have won this year’s All-Ireland without Cluxton? I would argue not.

In every game, he brought a composure and resolve that has been absent from Dublin teams for the last few years. The culmination of his season was his performance in the All-Ireland final which was possibly the most influential display ever from a keeper. 

He kicked two frees and with his composure and presence, effected calm all around him. He nailed his kickouts and made saves as well as distributing possession effectively. An exceptional year, with an amazing impact on every member of the Dublin team - a colossus of our sport.