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Your votes have been counted (and recounted) and the Killarney Advertiser is delighted to unveil the Kerry Senior Football Championship Team of the Decade.

Unsurprisingly, Dr Crokes players dominate the final selection with 10 players in total making the cut. The Killarney club were by far and away the most successful team of the past 10 years, claiming an unprecedented seven titles between 2010 and 2019.

South Kerry, who were champions in 2015 and runners-up in 2017, have two representatives on the star-studded team while Austin Stacks, Rathmore and Dingle have one apiece.

A number of players were virtually universal picks but the voting was close on other positions. Two were decided by just a single vote.

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THE TEAM

Shane Murphy gets the nod between the posts having helped Dr Crokes to titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Murphy was won one of four Crokes keepers to win the County Championship in the 2010s. Kieran Cremin, Alan Kelly and David Moloney were the others.

It’s an all-Crokes full back line with seven-time winners John Payne, Mike Moloney and Fionn Fitzgerald all earning their spots at 2, 3 and 4. Payne earned a reputation as being one of the county’s toughest man-markers over the course of the decade and the tenacious defender was the top vote-getter amongst the backs.

Another seven-time champion, Eoin Brosnan, anchors the half-back line with Killian Young of South Kerry and Aidan O’Mahony on the wings.

The midfield pairing was an open and shut case as Johnny Buckley (Dr Crokes) and Bryan Sheehan (South Kerry) raked in the vast majority of the votes for that department.

The accomplished trio of Brian Looney, Colm Cooper and Daithí Casey form an all-Crokes half forward line with teammate Kieran O’Leary, Kieran Donaghy (Austin Stacks) and Paul Geaney (Dingle) rounding off the front six.

Gooch was the most popular selection overall with Looney, O’Leary, Buckley, Sheehan, Brosnan and Payne also accumulating a large percentage of the votes.

SELECTION

The Team of the Decade was voted for by readers of the Killarney Advertiser with sports editor Adam Moynihan also getting a regular, non-weighted vote.

Commenting on the final selection, Adam said he was happy enough with the team, although he felt that a few players could “feel a bit hard done by”.

“Dr Crokes were always going to dominate this team, and rightly so,” he said.

“They won seven out of 10 titles so 10 is probably a fair number; you could probably make an argument for one or two more of their players as well. But it’s important to recognise the other champions too and Bryan Sheehan and Kieran Donaghy in particular simply had to make the team.

“East Kerry are the only winning team not represented and I think that comes down to the fact that they only really came into the picture in the last two years. The future looks bright for them and who knows, they could well have a few players on the Team of the 2020s.”