JAMES DOYLE - Hurling

It is just as well there are no transfer markets surrounding GAA players. If so this year’s Nationalist Hurling Sports Award winner would be a leading figure at transfer window time.

On the other hand, if the St Mullins man was living in Galway, Limerick or Kilkenny there is every chance that he would have a Senior Hurling Championship medal.

Yet, James is Carlow out and out. He has two Joe McDonagh Cup medals and a Christy Ring Cup where his winning record in Croke Park with Carlow is right up there with any hurler in the country.

Carlow plied its trade with the very best this year and while they didn’t win the league they qualified for the final where Laois came out on top in the final that day.

And so it was on to Leinster. Highlight of the Carlow campaign was a draw with Kilkenny in Netwatch Cullen Park with James and his team mates mixing it and matching it with the very best in the land.

As the Leinster campaign ended it was back to club fare for the players.

It was a superb Carlow championship with the best hurlers in the county showcasing it at club level. None more so than James who ended up with an amazing 5-42.

St Mullins had to dig deep to come through their semi-final replay against Bagenalstown Gaels with the championships leading scorer notching a vital goal.

The same in the replay of the county final where St Mullins dug deep in the first game and in the replay where this award winner knocked over three points. While he is a free-scorer, it is not this which defines James. His competitive instinct, his intensity on and off the ball and his ability makes him one of Carlow’s greatest ever club and intercounty players.