All-Stars in need of a revamp and player of the year awards ‘a popularity contest’ for McMahon

Philly McMahon doesn't have much time for the All-Stars and is of the opinion that the player of the year awards are mere 'popularity contests.'

The whole thing is in need of an overhaul according to the Ballymun man. It was put to Philly that, having only played three games for Dublin all year, Con O'Callaghan was a lucky man to be nominated and Philly agreed but saying that, having had his doubts about the All-Stars for many years, he wasn't surprised. “Don’t get me started on the All-Stars," the 35-year-old said. "I think the All-Stars need to be completely revamped. I don’t think there’s anybody that would argue that it doesn’t need to be changed, from the player’s point of view. "You could argue David Clifford as well, the amount of time he missed. He missed a couple of games as well," McMahon said, when it was put to him that Con O'Callaghan was fortunate to be nominated. "For me, it’s just hard," he continued. "There are a few things they need to get right there. Con would be the first one to sit in front of you right now and say he doesn’t deserve to [be nominated] with the amount of game time he’s had. He’s that honest and that’s the type of person that he is. "It’s the same every year. I remember the year that we played Donegal and there were full backs getting All Stars in the year that they created the mass defence. I remember thinking that you could have given Michael Murphy an All Star that year at full back, he was that far back defending. [caption id="attachment_226301" align="alignnone" width="1622"] Philly McMahon won two All-Stars during his Dublin career.[/caption] "Then there are other years where you get players that are [nominated in] positions that they haven’t played in. It doesn’t make sense. As we know, the players of the year are voted by the players so it’s a popularity contest," he continued. "There is a lot of stuff there that I just don’t agree with and when I was playing I got a dislike towards it. I don’t know if the All-Stars do this every year just to stir up something for the media. It comes across that way, some of the stuff is so obvious. I do think there’s a reshuffle needed there, it’ll start to lose its value if it keeps happening." As for his own football, Philly was disappointed to be left on the bench in Ballymun's final Dublin SFC group game against Cuala. They lost, were knocked out of the championship and having started most of their games in the full forward line this season, the eight time All-Ireland winner was disappointed that they changed tack on the big day.