GAELIC GAMES/Hurling 2007 All Stars nominations:The nominations for this year's Vodafone hurling All Stars reflect the increasingly elitist nature of the game at senior intercounty level. Among the 45 nominations there are only eight counties represented - one less than less year - and that's surely another ominous sign that success is being further restricted to the traditional hurling counties, while everyone else falls further behind.

At the same time, the hurling nominations possibly reflect a more conventional shape than the football list announced yesterday. All-Ireland champions Kilkenny inevitably top the list with 11 nominations, surprisingly two less than last year, followed by beaten 2007 finalists Limerick, who boast 10 nominations, and then Waterford and Cork, who gained nine and seven nominations respectively.

The other four counties to gain nominations are Tipperary (three), Wexford (two), Galway (two) and Laois (one), which means the total of eight counties represented is among the lowest ever. Among the more traditional hurling counties to miss out are Clare and Offaly, while Dublin and Antrim will also feel a little hard done by to be overlooked after a season that appeared to mark some progress.

However, the selections are based on championship performances, and Kilkenny's 11 nominations are fully deserved after another summer of domination. Their All-Ireland winning captain Henry Shefflin is assured of his seventh award, as he closes in on the record of nine All Star awards, jointly held by his former team-mate DJ Carey and former Kerry football star Pat Spillane.

Team-mate Tommy Walsh, who has won four consecutive awards, is again nominated on the half-back line and is not only assured of his fifth award but is a real contender for hurler of the year.

Walsh is the only Kilkenny player nominated in the half-back line. Kilkenny claim three of the full-back line nominations (Michael Kavanagh, Noel Hickey and Jackie Tyrrell); two midfield (James Fitzpatrick and Derek Lyng); two half-forwards (Eoin Larkin and Martin Comerford); and three full forwards (Willie O'Dwyer, Eddie Brennan and Shefflin).

The winners will be announced on October 17th, two days before the All Star banquet on October 19th, when the football All Stars will be announced, and the players of the year.

The football nominations, announced on Wednesday, at least displayed a little changing of the old guard, with Monaghan having four players in the running, while Sligo received two nominations on the back of their first Connacht title in 32 years. Donegal, Louth and Kildare were also represented on that list despite ultimately disappointing championships. Twelve counties in total were represented.

The hurling nominations follow more usual lines, with Limerick's 10 nominations the only notable break on recent trends. Last year Limerick received only one nomination in Damien Reale, who is back in the running with goalkeeper Brian Murray, defenders Séamus Hickey, Stephen Lucey, Mark Foley and Brian Geary, midfielder Donal O'Grady, and forwards Ollie Moran, Mike Fitzgerald and Andrew O'Shaughnessy.

While Waterford's season climaxed in the heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Limerick they still gain a healthy nine nominations, two more than Cork's, which include Sarsfields forward Kieran Murphy, namesake of captain Kieran Murphy of Erin's Own, who lost his place during the summer. Tipperary's three nominations are notable by the fact they don't include forward Eoin Kelly, who had won five awards in the last six years, but endured a major loss of form this year.

Perhaps the only surprise inclusion is Laois forward James Young, who gains a second consecutive nomination despite the fact his team didn't win a championship match, although his scoring record, which saw him notch up 2-32 in four games, is hard to argue against.

Nine of last year's All Stars are back in the running for another award - Cork's Donal Óg Cusack, Tony Browne of Waterford, Jerry O'Connor of Cork, Dan Shanahan of Waterford and the Kilkenny quintet of Walsh, Shefflin, Fitzpatrick, Comerford and Brennan.

Under the provision introduced last year nominations have to be arranged according to the lines of the field, and no player can be switched from the line in which he is nominated.

The whole awards process was brought forward this year, the result of the revised All Star tour dates. While that tour has in recent years taken place in late January, it was brought forward to early December this year to limit the conflict with team holidays. Alternating between football and hurling selections each year, this year's tour is the turn of the hurling winners, with the 2006 and 2007 selections set to play an exhibition game in New York on December 2nd.

ALL STARS HURLING SELECTION COMMITTEE: Martin Breheny (Irish Independent), Jim O'Sullivan (Irish Examiner), Brian Carthy (RTÉ Radio), Michael Lyster (RTÉ TV), Eamon O'Hara (Irish News), Peter Sweeney (The Star), Martan Ó Cladhra (RnaG); Seán Moran (Irish Times), Alan Milton (Irish Sun); Vincent Hogan (Irish Independent), Denis Walsh (Sunday Times), Enda McEvoy (Sunday Tribune), Cian Murphy (Sunday Star), Damien Lawlor (Sunday Independent), M Clifford (Irish Daily Mail).

2007 All Stars hurling nominations

GOALKEEPERS:Damien Fitzhenry (Wexford); Brian Murray (Limerick); Donal Óg Cusack (Cork).

FULL BACKS:Michael Kavanagh (Kilkenny); Noel Hickey (Kilkenny); Jackie Tyrrell (Kilkenny); Séamus Hickey (Limerick); Stephen Lucey (Limerick); Damien Reale (Limerick); Declan Fanning (Tipperary); Aidan Kearney (Waterford); Keith Rossiter (Wexford).

HALF BACKS:Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny); Tony Browne (Waterford); Ken McGrath (Waterford); Mark Foley (Limerick); Brian Geary (Limerick); Eamonn Corcoran (Tipperary); Conor O'Mahoney (Tipperary); Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (Cork); John Lee (Galway).

MIDFIELDERS:Michael Walsh (Waterford); James Fitzpatrick (Kilkenny); Derek Lyng (Kilkenny); Tom Kenny (Cork); Jerry O'Connor (Cork); Donal O'Grady (Limerick).

HALF FORWARDS: Ollie Moran (Limerick); Mike Fitzgerald (Limerick); Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny); Martin Comerford (Kilkenny); Stephen Molumphy (Waterford); Dan Shanahan (Waterford); Alan Kerins (Galway); Ben O'Connor (Cork); James Young (Laois).

FULL FORWARDS:Andrew O'Shaughnessy (Limerick); Willie O'Dwyer (Kilkenny); Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny); Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny); Eoin McGrath (Waterford); Séamus Prendergast (Waterford); John Mullane (Waterford); Neil Ronan (Cork); Kieran Murphy (Sarsfields, Cork).