Dublin hurler is gaas hottest player

Paddy Power have conducted scientific research to uncover what they describe as football and hurling’s 'most shiftable individuals'.

Compiling the answers of over 1,000 American women, who haven’t a clue about the GAA and therefore no bias, the survey rated 645 county panellists purely on their physical attractiveness.

Dublin hurler Shane Durkin is their choice as the association’s most beautiful specimen with him topping the poll while Westmeath’s Paddy Holloway and Cork’s Eoin Cadogan won’t be getting kicked out of bed for eating Tayto having finished second and third respectively.

Surprisingly, regular poll topper and Dublin star, Bernard Brogan, only managed to finish in 42nd place while other well-known heartthrobs such as Joe Canning, Aidan O’Shea and Shane O’Donnell miss out on the top 100 entirely.

On the team front, the Tribesmen would appear to be popular amongst women stateside with the Galway footballers edging out Dublin’s hurlers and Sligo’s footballers to claim top spot.

However, on the other side of the table it would appear that Tyrone’s playing style is reflective of their looks with the Red Handers finishing in last place.

Féilim Mac An Iomaire, a spokesperson for Paddy Power, said “Fame and success tend to bias surveys like this this so we decided to remove it, and we genuinely believe that we have found the 100 players who would fare just as well in Coppers as they would in Croke Park.”

Paddy Power also asked the women a number of questions about themselves to break down the results in terms of demographics, which revealed:
• Over 60s adore Gary O’Donnell (Galway Footballers)
• Homosexual women found Niall McKeever (Antrim Footballers) to be the most attractive
• Eoin Cadogan (Cork Footballers) came out on top amongst women who have had plastic surgery
• Republican voters gave their support to Paddy Holloway (Westmeath Footballers) while Democrat voters opted for Shane Durkin (Dublin Hurlers)
• Women who think that 9/11 was a cover-up believed Kieran Joyce (Kilkenny Hurlers) to be the best looking

Interview with Shane Durkin

Q. How does it feel to be voted as the most beautiful man in the GAA?
A. When I was first contacted by Paddy Power I initially thought it was the lads playing a prank on me. However when I was assured it wasn't, I was quietly delighted and chuffed. The great thing about winning this award is that I've been able to donate the prize money to something close to my heart the Cian Durkin Foundation. We set this foundation up as a family some years ago after I lost my nephew Cian to cancer.

Q. What do you think your Dublin team mates will make of it?
A. I'm sure the Dublin lads will give me plenty of stick once they find out. However it'll be nothing that I've not heard before. They already give me plenty about taking too long to get ready after games and training. There'll be a few of them upset it wasn't them who won. Especially the younger guys who have plenty of notions about themselves no more than Mr Danny Sutcliffe! So by winning this award it'll put lots of them back in their boxes!

Q. You’re a happily engaged man, what does your fiancé think about you winning this award?
A. My fiancé Sinead has been giving me plenty of stick since I told her. However I secretly know she's delighted. She's still trying to claim that she's still the best looking in our house though!

The results

Top 5 Teams
1. Galway Football
2. Dublin Hurling
3. Sligo Football
4. Donegal Football
5. Galway Hurling

Bottom 5 Teams
39. Meath Football
40. Fermanagh Football
41. Leitrim Football
42. Laois Hurling
43. Tyrone Football

Clash of the codes
4.61 Footballers average score
4.58 Hurlers average score

Provinces (Ave. Score)
4.71 Connacht
4.63 Ulster
4.59 Munster
4.56 Leinster

Top 25 Players
1. Shane Durkin – Dublin Hurling
2. Paddy Holloway – Westmeath Football
3. Eoin Cadogan – Cork Football
4. Fergal Moore – Galway Hurling
5. Kieran Joyce – Kilkenny Hurling
6. Aidan Forker – Armagh Football
7. Paddy McBrearty – Donegal Football
8. Anthony Maher – Kerry Football
9. Stephen Cronin – Cork Football
10. Danny Cummins – Galway Football
11. Fiontán Ó’Curraoin – Galway Football
12. Patrick O’Connor – Clare Hurling
13. Paddy McGrath – Donegal Football
14. Anton Sullivan – Offaly Football
15. Ken O’Halloran – Cork Football
16. Gary O’Donnell – Galway Football
17. Dean Ryan – Clare Football
18. Jamie Malone – Clare Football
19. Patrick Cronin – Cork Hurling
20. Patrick McBride – Antrim Football
21. Kevin McDonnell – Sligo Football
22. Connor Burke – Antrim Football
23. Coalan O’Boyle – Derry Football
24. Diarmuid Masterson – Longford Football
25. Shane Hickey – Clare Football

Best looking football XV
1. Ken O’Halloran – Cork
2. Paddy McGrath – Donegal
3. Eoin Cadogan – Cork
4. Paddy Holloway – Westmeath
5. Stephen Cronin – Cork
6. Gary O’Donnell – Galway
7. Dean Ryan – Clare
8. Anthony Maher – Kerry
9. Fiontán Ó’Curraoin – Galway
10. Aidan Forker – Armagh
11. Anton Sullivan – Offaly
12. Jamie Malone – Clare
13. Patrick McBride – Antrim
14. Paddy McBrearty – Donegal
15. Danny Cummins – Galway

Best looking hurling XV
1. Stephen O’Keeffe – Waterford
2. Aaron Craig – Westmeath
3. Fergal Moore – Galway
4. Kieran Joyce – Kilkenny
5. Shane Durkin – Dublin
6. Joseph Cooney – Galway
7. Kieran Bergin – Tipperary
8. Aidan Walsh – Cork
9. Patrick O’Connor – Clare
10. David Burke – Galway
11. Darragh O’Connell – Dublin
12. Patrick Cronin – Cork
13. Dan Currams – Offaly
14. Charles Dwyer – Laois
15. David Treacy – Dublin

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*In July 2015, PaddyPower surveyed 1,061 female residents of the USA, asking them to rate the physical attractiveness of 645 GAA players from every Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy panel. The women, aged between 18 and 80 were provided with no additional information about the players and rated them solely on the basis of a head and shoulders photo.

In addition to collecting their player scores, the women were asked a number of questions about themselves in order to further break down the results in terms of demographics. The questions included: Age, Marital status, Sexuality, Race, Education level, Income, Political preference, Physique and Hair colour.