Derry's best 15 of the past 50 years

The Irish Independent has an excellent supplement in today's paper, where it picks every county's best Championship 15 of the last 50 years. With players being picked from the fairly arbitrary period of 1962-2012 (although no more arbitrary than the 'post-war' timeframe that people randomly add to certain statistics), it means that selectors of the Derry football team didn't have to concern themselves with the All-Ireland Final side of 1958.

That makes this exercise seem pretty irrelevant, especially when the team is picked by southern journalists who would not have seen as many Derry performances over the last 50 years than some closer to home. However, nothing gets a bit of debate going like the selection of a greatest ever team, so here is the Oak Leaf side that was picked:

Damien McCusker
Kieran McKeever, Tony Scullion, Sean Martin Lockhart
Anthony McGurk, Henry Downey, Gary Coleman
Anthony Tohill, Brian McGilligan
Sean O'Connell, Mickey Niblock, Dermot McNicholl
Enda Muldoon, Enda Gormley, Paddy Bradley

Not a bad effort from the Independent's selectors there, and certainly a good case can be made for all fifteen.

Damian McCusker's main competition for the goalkeeper spot would have come from John Somers, but McCusker has an All-Ireland medal, which generally holds some sway during the picking of these types of teams.

Not a bad full back line. The opposing forward line certainly wouldn't get much change out of them. According to the accompanying article, Hugh Francis Gribben was also considered for the full-back berth.

Some contention over the half-back line in that Anthony McGurk - who won All-Stars at both corner forward (1973) and centre half-back (1975) - was selected at right half-back. Jim McKeever (in the article) reckons McGurk played his best football there. Fair enough, but younger brother Johnny might feel hard done by. Downey and Coleman were probably the first names on the sheet. Joe Irwin and Gerry O'Loughlin might have been considered.

No controversy over the midfield partnership either. Between McGilligan and Tohill that pairing had it all. And they delivered Sam. Jim McKeever was at his best before 1962, while Tom McGuiness could have been another option. A more recent possibility is Fergal Doherty, who had ten exellent years in an Oak Leaf shirt.

The half-forward line has always been our achilles heel. Even in 1993. But the Irish Independent journalists have done a good job in finally finding us a good one. O'Connell, Niblock and McNicholl? What a strong, powerful and athletic half-forward line that would have been. They would have taken a score or two as well. There would have been no arguments if Gerry McElhinney, who won an All-Star award at right half-forward in 1975, was named in the fifteen. At 19 years old, he was then the youngest ever recipient of an All-Star award. Ironically, Dermot McNicholl then became the youngest recipient in 1984.

There was always going to be some debate over the full-forward line. Enda Gormley was a simply brilliant forward and we haven't yet replaced him, so it's good to see him selected (although maybe him and Enda Muldoon could swap). It's at the expense of Joe Brolly however, who'll never write for the Independent now. Bradley and Muldoon simply couldn't be left out. Great forward line.

And a great team all-round. But we'd likely still lose in the Ulster semi-final.