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GAA.ie Footballer of the Week nominations

Paul Geaney.

Paul Geaney.

Sunday's All-Ireland SFC Semi-Final between Dublin and Kerry was one of the truly great matches of the modern era as Jim Gavin's team came from five points down at half-time to win by two.

Both teams produced a tremendous collective effort, but the individual contributions of Dublin's Kevin McManamon and Jonny Cooper, and Kerry's Paul Geaney stood out and sees them make the shortlist for this week's Footballer of the Week nominations.

The voting process is simple: retweet the image of your chosen player on the GAA's official Twitter account (@officialgaa) or like their image on the GAA's official Facebook and Instagram pages. Voting will close at 10am on Tuesday, August 30 and the winner will be announced on GAA.ie.

Footballer of the Week nominations

Paul Geaney - Kerry

The Kerry full-forward was their most threatening forward throughout the match as he finished with a tally of 1-4 from play.

There was a touch of class about all the points he scored as he swung them over under pressure in tightly confined spaces without hardly looking at the posts.

His predatory instincts were to the fore again when he scored Kerry's second goal just before half-time by following in a high ball from Anthony Maher and rising high above Stephen Cluxton to get a hand to it that just about got it over the goal-line.

Kevin McManamon starred for Dublin.

Kevin McManamon starred for Dublin.

Kevin McManamon - Dublin

Kerry must be sick of the sight of McManamon by now because once again he was a decisive influence in a big game between these two rivals.

He scored two points of the very highest quality, the second of which was a left-footed effort in injury-time from an outragous angle.

There was a lot of debate afterwards as to whether the massive hit he put in on Peter Crowley deep in injury time as Kerry came looking for an equaliser was legitimate, but it was certainly crucial from a Dublin point of view because they went down the field from there to score the insurance point through Diarmuid Connolly.

Jonny Cooper

Jonny Cooper

Jonny Cooper - Dublin

The Dublin was tested in way it hasn't been before for a very long time on Sunday, but corner-back Jonny Cooper emerged from the searching examination with flying colours.

He made a number of brilliant interceptions that defused potentially very dangerous situations and his tackling was typically teak-tough.

He had the better of Colm Cooper in the first-half, and then when he was moved onto Kerry danger-man Paul Geaney in the second-half he limited his influence too.


Players of the Week are decided based on votes cast by followers of @officialgaa on Twitter, on the Official GAA Facebook Page and on the Official GAA Instagram page.