Football All-Stars to be announced on February 19
GAA news
With seven Cavan players nominated for All-Star awards, interest in the upcoming ceremony will be at unprecedented levels in the county.
The national All-Star awards will take place on February 20, with the winning football selection set to be released publicly the previous day. It is expected that there will be a live television show on RTE as per the norm, although details of how players are to be presented with their awards and so on have yet to be confirmed.
Cavan have a record seven nominations and hopes are high that the county will add at least two if not three recipients. Currently, Cavan have two All-Stars, Ollie Brady (1978) and current selector Dermot McCabe (1997).
The team’s achievement in winning the Ulster Senior Football Championship from the preliminary round was recognised when a record 12 Cavan players picked up Irish News Ulster All-Stars at last Thursday night’s online ceremony.
In addition, Lacken midfielder Thomas Galligan was awarded the Player of the Year accolade for his high-impact performances in all matches.
The 12 Cavan players honoured were Raymond Galligan, Padraig Faulkner (above), Jason McLoughlin, Luke Fortune, Killian Clarke, Ciaran Brady, Gerard Smith, Thomas Galligan, Oisín Kiernan, Gearóid McKiernan, Martin Reilly and Conor Madden.
The awards were chosen by an online public vote based on nominations put forward by the Irish News’ selection committee. In 2019, despite making the Ulster final, no Cavan players made the final cut; 12 selections this time speaks to the strides made in 2020.
The last Cavan winners in the Ulster All-Stars, which began in 1994, were Raymond Galligan and Conor Moynagh in 2016 while Killian Clarke, Cian Mackey, Eugene Keating and Martin Dunne were all honoured in 2013.
Thomas Galligan becomes the second Cavan player to win the Ulster Player of the Year award since the inception of the modern-day scheme following on from Gowna’s Bernard Morris in 1997.
Elsewhere, the All-Ireland senior football and hurling finals look set to be moved back until August, it has been reported.
"There's no decision made on a return date yet," Alan Milton, the GAA's Head of Communications told the Irish Independent.
"However, it's hard to see how the league can start as planned given the training the players have missed up to this point. We'll follow public health advice and our advisory committee."
This year’s All-Ireland finals had been due to be played on July 11 (hurling) and the weekend of July 17/18 (football).
Although inter-county football and hurling is permitted under Level 5 restrictions, the GAA took the decision themselves to ban all activity until case numbers come down.
Milton indicated that there was no ‘magic number’ that would prompt the GAA to begin their season and that the GAA would be led by health advice. The Independent reports that the GAA are also now “fully anticipating” a second full inter-county championship played behind closed doors.