Following the second round of games in the 2016 Allianz Hurling League, it's time to select the GAA.ie Hurling Player of the Week.

Despite the awful conditions, there were a number of spectacular individual performances, but who stood out for you?

James Maher (Kilkenny), Austin Gleeson (Waterford) and Shane Dooley (Offaly) are all nominated for this week's award, the second of the 2016 season.

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, February 23 and the winner will be announced on GAA.ie.   

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Shane Dooley (Offaly)

Scoring 0-12 of his side’s 1-17 total in the victory over Laois, Shane Dooley demanded inclusion in this week’s nominations. On a difficult day for hurling, Dooley was masterful from placed balls, landing seven frees and a 65, as well as four points from play, all of which were brilliantly taken in the gluepot conditions. “Shane is really coming into his own. He is getting fitter every week and he is a class act. He took his scores well,” Offaly manager Eamonn Kelly said of his star man after the game. Dooley’s extraordinary talents can sometimes be taken for granted, but it is fair to say his side would not have beaten Laois without him in Tullamore on Sunday. 

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James Maher (Kilkenny)

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“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” was the way James Maher began his interview with TG4’s Micheál Ó Domhnaill after being named man-of-the-match on his full senior debut for Kilkenny. Maher came on as a sub against Waterford in the first round but this was his chance to impress Brian Cody in a big game in front of a big crowd at Nowlan Park. And the manner he grabbed it was, well, unbelievable, as he put it himself. Maher led St Kieran’s College to an All-Ireland title in 2014 and he showed all his class against Tipperary, giving the experienced Brendan Maher a torrid time. Scored four points, all from play, but it was his work-rate and his fetching ability under puck-outs that marked his performance out from the rest in a high-quality game. With Richie Power retired and Ger Aylward injured, Cody couldn’t have timed the blooming of this rosebud any better.

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Austin Gleeson (Waterford)

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Last week’s Player of the Week, it says a lot about the start to the season Austin Gleeson has enjoyed that he is nominated for the second time in six days. After an eventful week, the Mount Sion man was, perhaps, lucky to avoid further sanction for a 56th minute challenge on Aidan Walsh, but it doesn’t detract from the sheer quality of the performance in Páirc Uí Rinn from the ever-maturing 20-year-old. Playing in a slightly more advanced midfield role, Gleeson delivered a man-of-the-match winning performance packed with all the things we have come to expect from him: huge energy, ball-winning ability in the middle third and, of course, his box of tricks that allows him to bamboozle opponents. The profligacy and skittishness of shooting that detracted slightly from his display in Walsh Park six days earlier was all but eradicated six days later. 

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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.