The Gaelic Athletic Association-Gaelic Players' Association All Stars Awards (often known simply as the All Stars) are awarded annually to the best player in each of the 15 playing positions in Gaelic football and hurling. Additionally, one player in each code is selected as Player of the Year. The awards have since 2011 been presented jointly by the Gaelic Athletic Association and the representative body for inter-county players, the Gaelic Players Association.
Each player who receives a nomination is given a medallion marking the milestone.[1]
These are considered to be "the most coveted sporting award scheme in the country".[2]
Equivalent awards exist for ladies' football,[3] rounders and camogie.[4]
History and procedure[edit]
Since the 1960s there had been a tradition of annually selecting the best player in each position, in football and hurling, to create a special team of the year. Between 1963 and 1967 these players received what was known as the Cú Chulainn award. In 1971 these awards were formalised into the annual GAA All Star Awards. In 2006 the Gaelic Players Association launched a parallel award scheme entitled the GPA Gaelic Team of the Year (often referred to as the GPA Awards). An annual award was also given by the GPA to the Footballer of the Year and the Hurler of the Year.
In 2011 it was announced that the GAA All Stars Awards, which had been sponsored in recent years by Vodafone, and the GPA Awards would merge under the sponsorship of car manufacturer Opel. The move announced by Christy Cooney saw the achievements of players recognised jointly for the first time in October 2011.[5][6]
The All Stars team comprises the best player in each position, regardless of club or county affiliation. The composition of the All Star teams are decided on the basis of a shortlist compiled by a selection committee of sports journalists from the national media, while the overall winners are chosen by inter-county players themselves. The award is regarded by players as the highest accolade available to them, due to it being picked by their peers. The awards are presented at a gala banquet in November following the end of the Championship season. Both men's teams are honoured with a special holiday where they play an exhibition game. Since 1971 over 1,000 players have been honoured with All Stars Awards. Damien Martin of Offaly was the first ever recipient of the award, while in 2004 Paul Galvin of Kerry became the 1,000th winner of the award.
Carlow and Longford are the only county in Ireland not to receive an award in either sport.
In September 2017 PwC became the new sponsors of the All Star Awards on a four year deal, with the awards being re-named The PwC All-Stars.[7]
Winners[edit]
For a complete listing of all winners see the following articles:
- All Stars Footballer of the Year
- All Stars Hurler of the Year
- List of All Stars Awards winners (football)
- List of All Stars Awards winners (hurling)
- All-Time All Star Award (football)
- All-Time All Star Award (hurling)
- Ladies' Gaelic football All Stars Awards (Winners)
- Camogie All Stars Awards (Winners)
- Rounders All Stars Awards (Winners: Men / Women)
Records[edit]
Brothers[edit]
Twenty two sets of brothers have won All Star Awards in hurling. They are:
- Colm, Conal and Cormac Bonnar of Tipperary
- Tom and Jim Cashman of Cork
- Andy and Martin Comerford of Kilkenny
- John and Joe Connolly of Galway
- Jimmy and Joe Cooney of Galway
- Ollie and Joe Canning of Galway
- Johnny, Billy and Joe Dooley of Offaly
- Colm and Tony Doran of Wexford
- Liam and Ger Fennelly of Kilkenny
- Pat, Ger and John Henderson of Kilkenny
- Eoin and Paul Kelly of Tipperary
- Brian and Frank Lohan of Clare
- Willie and Eddie O'Connor of Kilkenny
- Seán Óg and Setanta Ó hAilpín of Cork
- Aidan and Bobby Ryan of Tipperary
- Martin and John Quigley of Wexford
- Michael and Colin Fennelly of Kilkenny
- Dan Shanahan and Maurice Shanahan of Waterford
- Pádraic Maher and Ronan Maher of Tipperary
- Noel McGrath and John McGrath of Tipperary
- Tommy Walsh and Pádraig Walsh of Kilkenny
- Cathal Mannion and Pádraic Mannion of Galway
One set of twins have won All Star Awards in hurling:
- Jerry and Ben O'Connor of Cork
Twelve sets of brothers have won All Star Awards in Gaelic football. They are:
- Matt and Richie Connor of Offaly
- Tomás and Liam Connor of Offaly
- Paul and Dermot Earley, Snr of Roscommon
- Seán and Brendan Lowry of Offaly
- James and Martin McHugh of Donegal
- Mark and Ryan McHugh of Donegal
- Anthony and John McGurk of Derry
- Tom, Mick and Pat Spillane of Kerry
- Tomás, Darragh and Marc Ó Sé of Kerry
- Kenneth and Conor Mortimer of Mayo
- Alan and Bernard Brogan Jnr of Dublin
- Seán Cavanagh and Colm Cavanagh of Tyrone
One set of brothers has won All Star Awards in hurling and football (with two different counties):
- Declan Carr won his hurling award while playing with Tipperary and Tommy Carr won his football award while playing with Dublin.
Father and son[edit]
Fifteen father and son pairings have won All Star Awards.
Twelve of these have been in football. Of the twelve, two fathers have each been followed by two sons, therefore a total of four father and son pairings:
- Bernard Brogan Sr and Alan Brogan & Bernard Brogan of Dublin.
- Martin McHugh and Mark McHugh & Ryan McHugh of Donegal.
The other eight father and son pairings are:
- Pat Reynolds and Paddy Reynolds of Meath.
- Dermot Earley Snr and Dermot Earley of Roscommon and Kildare.
- Liam O'Neill of Galway and Kevin O'Neill of Mayo.
- Frank McGuigan and Brian McGuigan of Tyrone.
- Tim Kennelly and Tadhg Kennelly of Kerry.
- Denis 'Ógie' Moran and David Moran of Kerry.
- Noel McCaffrey and Jack McCaffrey of Dublin.
- Barney Rock and Dean Rock of Dublin.
There have been three hurling father and son pairings:
- Fan Larkin and Philly Larkin of Kilkenny.
- Richie Power Sr and Richie Power Jr of Kilkenny.
- Ken Hogan and Brian Hogan of Tipperary.
Dual All Stars[edit]
One player, Ray Cummins of Cork, holds the unique record of winning a hurling and a football All Star in the same year (1971).
Three other players share the distinction of winning All Star awards in both hurling and football, but they did not win the accolades in the same year. These players are:
- Jimmy Barry-Murphy of Cork
- Brian Murphy of Cork
- Liam Currams of Offaly
Due to the pressures of the modern games it is unlikely that these players' feats will ever be repeated.[citation needed]
Top Winners[edit]
| # | No. of Awards | Name | County | Sport |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Henry Shefflin | Kilkenny | H | |
| 9 | D. J. Carey | Kilkenny | H | |
| Tommy Walsh | Kilkenny | H | ||
| Pat Spillane | Kerry | F | ||
| 8 | Colm Cooper | Kerry | F | |
| 7 | J. J. Delaney | Kilkenny | H | |
| Noel Skehan | Kilkenny | H | ||
| Mikey Sheehy | Kerry | F | ||
| Jimmy Barry-Murphy | Cork | F & H | ||
| 6 | Eoin Kelly | Tipperary | H | |
| Nicky English | Tipperary | H | ||
| Pádraic Maher | Tipperary | H | ||
| Joe McKenna | Limerick | H | ||
| Stephen Cluxton | Dublin | F | ||
| Peter Canavan | Tyrone | F | ||
| Jack O'Shea | Kerry | F | ||
| Ger Power | Kerry | F | ||
| 5 | Brendan Cummins | Tipperary | H | |
| Eddie Keher | Kilkenny | H | ||
| Joe Hennessy | Kilkenny | H | ||
| John Mullane | Waterford | H | ||
| Pat Hartigan | Limerick | H | ||
| Joe Canning | Galway | H | ||
| Joe Cooney | Galway | H | ||
| Pete Finnerty | Galway | H | ||
| John Fenton | Cork | H | ||
| Tony O'Sullivan | Cork | H | ||
| Ray Cummins | Cork | F & H | ||
| John Egan | Kerry | F | ||
| John O'Keeffe | Kerry | F | ||
| Páidí Ó Sé | Kerry | F | ||
| Tomás Ó Sé | Kerry | F | ||
| John O'Leary | Dublin | F | ||
| Seán Cavanagh | Tyrone | F |
Unique achievement[edit]
Tommy Walsh of Kilkenny won nine consecutive hurling All Star Awards in five different positions; a record unlikely to be equalled or surpassed. These were for playing at left corner back (1), at right half back (5), at left half back (1), at midfield (1) and at left half forward (1).
Henry Shefflin of Kilkenny holds the record for most All Star Awards in the one position with 7 at centre-forward.
Brian Fention and Brian Howard, both from Raheny and Dublin were the first midfield to be selected from one club.[8]
Shortly after his 90th birthday, Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh was awarded the only All Star of 2020.[9][10] No further All Stars could be awarded as competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and only completed that December.
References[edit]
- ^ Crowe, Marie (28 July 2019). "'Players just won't want to play in two-tier structure': Veteran Offaly footballer Niall McNamee feels players from top counties must speak out against creation of a 'B' championship". Sunday Independent.
'I think players in the lower divisions already feel they are being treated like second-class citizens and then to give them a second tier All Star - I wouldn't want one. I was nominated for an All Star in '06 and if you don't win one you get a medallion saying you are a nominee. It's still at home in my mother's house, it's tangible, it is the principal competition in the country and you are striving to be in that...'
- ^ Foley, Cliona (23 November 2006). "Players' chosen trio are overlooked in Allstars team as Kerry lead the way". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 23 November 2006.
- ^ Ladies' All Stars 2007 Archived 25 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Camogie All-Stars 2007
- ^ "All Star and GPA awards merger announced". RTÉ Sport. 7 September 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ "Award schemes to be merged". The Belfast Telegraph. 7 September 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ "Awards' programme to be renamed the PwC All-Stars". pwc.ie. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh Has Won The Only All-Star Of 2020 And People Loved It". Balls.ie. 5 September 2020.
- ^ "Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh is 2020's sole All-Star winner". Hogan Stand. 5 September 2020.
External links[edit]
- All Stars at the Gaelic Athletic Association
- 2007 at The Irish Times
- 2007 at the Sunday Tribune
