Waterford get one over on All-Ireland champions

All-Ireland winners Kilkenny find themselves in the slightly bizarre situation of having only one hurler nominated for the Vodafone All Star Player of the Year award, while the beaten All-Ireland semi-finalists Waterford have two.

In football, Kerry's total dominance is further reflected in their gaining of all three nominations, plus two of the three for young footballer of the year.

Six counties in total are represented, with the winners to be announced as part of the GAA All Stars banquet at Dublin's City West Hotel on October 19th.

The full list of nominations: Hurler of the Year - Ken McGrath (Waterford); Dan Shanahan (Waterford); Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny). Young Hurler of the Year - Mike Fitzgerald (Limerick); Séamus Hickey (Limerick); John Lee (Galway). Footballer of the Year - Colm Cooper (Kerry); Marc Ó Sé (Kerry); Declan O'Sullivan (Kerry). Young Footballer of the Year - Pádraig Reidy (Kerry); Michael J Tierney (Laois); Killian Young (Kerry).

Neither of last year's players of the year, Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin and Kerry's Kieran Donaghy, makes the shortlist this time.

The Cork midfielder Nicholas Walsh is one surprise omission.

Remarkably, neither Tierney nor Reidy received an All Star nomination yet both find themselves in the running for the young footballer award ahead of All Star nominations such as Dublin's Bernard Brogan, Cork's Michael Cussen and Tyrone's Raymond Mulgrew.

Meanwhile, Kilkenny's hopes of a third successive All-Ireland hurling title received another setback yesterday with confirmation their defender John Tennyson would be out of action for the next six months after rupturing the cruciate ligament in a knee while playing for his club Carrickshock last Sunday.

Tennyson (22) received the results of a scan yesterday and his worst fears were realised.

Although he didn't start in the All-Ireland final, he was an early replacement for the injured Noel Hickey and is still seen as one of Kilkenny's most valuable defenders.

Henry Shefflin, who sustained a similar rupture in the All-Ireland final win over Limerick, is recuperating from surgery and is already resigned to missing the league campaign.

Elsewhere, the Galway county board have confirmed the throw-in times of this weekend's two club hurling semi-finals in Athenry.

Surprise semi-finalists Kinvara will play one of the traditionally strong clubs, Castlegar, who hold a record 17 titles but are back looking for their first crown since 1984 - with a 2pm start.

The headline game follows at 3.45 between Athenry and Portumna, the champions of 2004 and 2005 respectively.

Portumna lost their title to Loughrea in controversial circumstances last year but are back this year with veteran defender Ollie Canning playing a key role alongside his younger brother Joe.

The Galway manager Ger Loughnane is still in the early stages of designing his panel for 2008 and the result of this game will no doubt have some bearing on that process - including a possible recall for the elder Canning brother.

Hurler of the Year - Shortlist: Ken McGrath, Dan Shanahan (Waterford); Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny)

Footballer of the Year - Shortlist: Colm Cooper, Marc Ó Sé, Declan O'Sullivan (all Kerry)