Opel Award: Not surprisingly All-Ireland champions Kilkenny dominate the nominations with 13 from a possible 45 for this year's Opel Team of the Year for hurling.
Kilkenny simply blew away Wexford in this year's All-Ireland final with many suggesting the current three-in-a-row winning side are one of the best, if not the best, hurling side ever. Wexford for their part received four nominations.
The selection panel picked three players for each position before the team is finalised ahead of the awards ceremony on November 7th.
A total of nine counties - Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork, Waterford, Clare, Offaly, Wexford, Dublin and Galway - were represented on the shortlist.
"These type of awards are entirely subjective and don't always attract universal approval but the over-riding aim is to get the best 15 players for the 15 individual positions," said Donal O'Grady, chairman of the selection committee.
"Those of us on the committee feel that objective can be achieved from the 45 players we have chosen for the nominations."
Kilkenny pair Eddie Brennan and Eoin Larkin plus Tipperary's Shane McGrath were also nominated today for the Opel Player of the Year award for hurling.
"While Kilkenny obviously dominate, there was still a high level of competition for places in this year's team and that is reflected in the calibre of candidates which represent a variety of counties," added Dessie Farrell, Chief Executive Gaelic Players' Association.
2008 Shortlist for Opel Gaelic Team of the Year for hurling:
1. Brendan Cummins (Tipperary), Clinton Hennessy (Waterford), PJ Ryan (Kilkenny)
2. Shane O'Neill (Cork), Michael Kavanagh (Kilkenny), Pat Vaughan (Clare)
3. Paul Curran (Tipperary), Noel Hickey (Kilkenny), David Kenny (Offaly)
4. Jackie Tyrell (Kilkenny), Brian Murphy (Cork), Conor O'Brien (Tipperary)
5. Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny), Michael Jacob (Wexford), Tony Browne (Waterford)
6. Conor O'Mahony (Tipperary), Brian Hogan (Kilkenny), Ronan Fallon (Dublin)
7. JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), Sean Óg Ó hAilpín (Cork), Shane Maher (Tipperary)
8. & 9. Shane McGrath (Tipperary), Derek Lyng (Kilkenny), Tom Kenny (Cork),
James."Cha".Fitzpatrick (Kilkenny), Brian O'Connell (Clare), Colin Lynch (Clare)
10. Ben O'Connor (Cork), Niall Gilligan (Clare), Brian Carroll (Offaly)
11. Seamus Callinan (Tipperary), Diarmuid McMahon (Clare), Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny)
12. Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny), Jonathan Clancy (Clare), Stephen Doyle (Wexford)
13. Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny), Eoin Kelly (Tipperary), David O'Callaghan (Dublin)
14. Eoin Kelly (Waterford), Lar Corbett (Tipperary), Joe Bergin (Offaly)
15. John Mullane (Waterford), Aidan Fogarty (Kilkenny), Joe Canning (Galway)
Nominees for Christy Ring Cup player of the year:
Keith Higgins (Mayo), Sean Kavanagh (Carlow), Brendan Murtagh (Westmeath)
Nominees for Nicky Rackard Cup player of the year:
Keith Raymond (Sligo) and Diarmuid Murphy (Louth)