IT’S AWARD SEASON in the GAA.
The All-Stars are taking place tomorrow night, as the elite players in hurling and football are honoured for their distinction in the championship this year.
The hurling All-Star team was named this morning, but the other accolades are still a mystery, including the recipients of the Young Footballer and Young Hurler of the Year awards.
Below, we take a closer look at each of the six candidates who have been nominated for the respective gongs.
Young Footballer of the Year Nominees
Eoghan McEvoy (Derry)
A member of the 2020 All-Ireland minor winning team, rising Derry defender Eoghan McEvoy is among the nominees for Young Footballer of The Year. Having only captained St Mary’s Magherafelt to MacRory Cup glory in 2022, McEvoy found a home at full-back with the back-to-back Ulster champions this year.
His arrival in the defence allowed Brendan Rodgers advance to a midfield position where he excelled to such a standard that he has been included in the Footballer of the Year shortlist.
Already considered one of the best defenders in Ulster, McEvoy has been entrusted with marshalling some of the most dangerous forwards in the game. He kept Cork’s Steven Sherlock scoreless from play in the All-Ireland quarter-final, before repeating the feat when up against Kerry’s Paul Geaney in the semi-final.
McEvoy is capable of transitioning from defence to attack with ease, which underlines the versatility in his game.
Conor Carroll (Roscommon)
An emerging goalkeeper, Conor Carroll is originally from Galway but switched allegiances to Roscommon through his uncle Brian Carroll who is also the Roscommon chairman.
He still plays for his local side Oranmore-Maree. He also played at minor level for Galway, and was a member of Pádraic Joyce’s U20 panel, but it is under the tutelage of Davy Burke that Carroll has thrived as a shot-stopper at inter-county level.
Like many goalkeepers in the modern game, Carroll has adopted the role of fly keeper and enjoys getting involved in the play away from the posts. He started six of Roscommon’s seven Division 1 outings in the 2023 league before making his championship debut for the county against Mayo.
He conceded a goal against Dublin in their exciting Croke Park encounter during the summer, but was part of the late fightback that secured a memorable draw against the eventual All-Ireland champions. Carroll is regarded as a considerable loss for Galway while Roscommon have found a secure first-choice goalkeeper going forward.
Ethan Doherty (Derry)
A Derry team-mate of McEvoy’s, and one of last year’s nominees, Ethan Doherty has distinguished himself once again as one of the best breakthrough talents in football.
He missed a portion of the league due to his commitments with Glen, and was to the fore once again for his club last weekend as he kicked a late point to assure their safe passage back to the Ulster semi-final.
Doherty has brought his prosperous club form into the county side and will be an exciting prospect for Mickey Harte to work with when he takes over as Derry boss in the new year.
No player from either Derry or Roscommon has ever won the Young Footballer of the Year award before, meaning the eventual recipient is guaranteed to make history with the 2023 gong.
Young Hurler of the Year Nominees
Adam Hogan (Clare)
The 20-year-old from Feakle has earned his selection on the Young Hurler of The Year nominees after an impressive campaign for Brian Lohan’s side.
In 2022, he was part of the St Joseph’s, Tulla’s side who captured a first-ever Harty Cup title in 2022. Prior to that campaign, the Clare school had never won a game in the Munster Colleges A competition.
Hogan progressed with the Clare seniors, producing some impressive defensive displays as the Banner retraced their steps all the way back to the All-Ireland semi-final. He marked TJ Reid for some of that absorbing contest before being switched on to Eoin Cody, who struck for a late 1-2.
The calibre of player that he has been assigned to mark demonstrates the value that Lohan places on the young star defender. His consistency is also enough to keep more experienced defensive options like Séadna Morey out of the starting line-up.
Ciarán Joyce (Cork)
The Castlemartyr defender has enjoyed a fruitful few years in the Cork jersey, earning a second successive nomination for this individual accolade. The two-time Munster and All-Ireland U20 winner made his senior debut last year.
He has already developed into a hugely influential defender for Pat Ryan’s Cork senior side, establishing himself as an option at either midfield or centre-back. And considering Cork were without Mark Coleman due to a knee injury in 2023, Joyce soared in his absence.
Powerful in the air, Joyce also has the ability to advance forward and get crucial scores. An example of this was his terrific long-range effort on the run to help inspire a comeback victory against Limerick during the league.
Mark Rodgers (Clare)
The Scariff native featured for Clare in the 2022 campaign, but 2023 was when he made his imprint on the team. He earned his first championship start for the side and marked the occasion with two well-taken goals against Tipperary in a Munster round-robin thriller.
His scores were desperately needed by Lohan’s side as they were sliding towards a heavy beating before Rodgers struck the net twice in two minutes. Tipperary still emerged with the win that day but Rodgers was off the mark.
He picked off three points against Limerick, including a brilliant sideline-cut, and added another 1-2 when the sides were reunited again in the Munster final. For the second year in a row, his side just came up short in their attempt to end a long wait for provincial glory.
Rodgers fleeced Dublin for 1-11 in the All-Ireland quarter-final and finished his inter-county season with an impressive 10 points in their narrow semi-final loss to Kilkenny.
Who do you think will pick up the respective awards? Let us know in the comment section below.
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No excuses tonight, just beaten by a much better and quicker side. Fingers crossed they can win the tie in Dublin and do well in the Conference group stages.
@Brian Murphy: was a freeroll anyway group stages already secured.
@John Kelly: I’m sure they’d rather be in the Europa Leage group stages though. Plus, a hiding like that is not good for confidence.
@John Kelly: that kind of attitude is why Irish teams do so poor in Europe
@Paul Doyle: it’s a step up in fairness to play the likes of ferencavros Paul obviously Europa would of been better but guaranteed conference won by Roma last year and some really good teams is not too shabby as a consolation don’t you think
@Brian Murphy: of course they would I’m not disputing that but they can have a good craic off them in tallaght and again in the conference group. Another great achievement for the club.
@John Kelly: That’s literally what I said in the comment you replied to. We’re agreed so!!
@Brian Murphy: I actually didn’t meant to reply to your comment just meant to post mine :) but yea totally agree either way it Was a win win imo
@John Kelly: Ha, that explains that. Anyway, agreed.
@Paul Doyle: Irish teams have historically done poor in Europe because Irish barstool fans would rather go to Liverpool or Manchester than support their local team
@Declan Clancy: It’s slightly more complex than that!
Christ it was a tough watch, rovers at the back were shambolic its a miracle it was only 4 nil realistically shud of been 8 or 9.cant knock rovers for gety9ng this far but a hiding like that just shows how far the league of Ireland is behind pretty much all other European leagues.
@Sean Mccabe: apart from maybe the other leagues that Irish clubs have knocked out the teams from those leagues. Surely that makes us better than them?
@Sean Mccabe: Jesus Christ… are they not in the conference league group stage no? I’m bohs fan defending rovers here, yea they were poor tonight but the objective was already achieved. Look at the teams just in the conference playoff rd and rovers already there. Credit where it’s due sean
@Kevin: I wasn’t gonna mention North Macedonia come on now,im thinking along the lines of Hungary,Turkey,Greece,Bulgaria to see if we could match up against them those leagues are hardly world beaters now r they.irish league is light years behind any half decent league in Europe and that’s just the hard truth we were never gonna be them tonight.
@John Kelly: I was giving them credit I said they did really well to get this far.ya can’t deny thst was painful to watch tonight,irelands best team getting mauled by some minnows themselves it just highlights how far irish football is behind others.theres no shame in that just a tough watch
@Sean Mccabe: what are you on about? West Ham, Fiorintina AZ Alkmaar Villarreal FC Tewnte are all still trying to qualify for a tournament rovers are already in the group stage for….. thunk about it
@John Kelly: come on now look at who rovers have played 99% of people wud never of heard of them. I say again I give them credit for getting this far but they were like U 12′s out there tonight out muscled and outclassed. Tallaght cud be even worse
@Sean Mccabe: I kind of agree with you, but in our defence we were missing a good few key players. When Jacko came on he made a big difference. I think Burkie was sorely missed too.
@Sean Mccabe: minnows? They were in the champions league group stages two years ago. Had a crowd of nearly 20,000 there tonight. Bought a player for nearly 2m recently. Why on earth do you think Irish teams should be able to compete against that? Seriously.
@Sean Mccabe: but your not listening it doesnt really matter much. Yes no Europa league but they have 6 more games in Europe 3 home and 3 away against possibly some big European heavyweights that I’ve already mentioned. That’s 6 more chances to showcase the league of Ireland on the big stage and how much it’s progessing. Again think about it for a minute…. But unfortunately we have people like you always willing to pull it down
@Sean Mccabe: Conference League is what Irish clubs can reasonably hope for. If we has 2/3 teams getting to the league stages it would bring much needed money into our league.
Probably once in decade a team could make the Europa given a favourable.
@John Kelly: take off the blinkers pal call a spade a spade that was shocking out there tonight judge tonight’s game not that they have 6 more to come be real that wasn’t a good advertisement for us tonight now was it
@TL55: I agree pal that is our level rite now and that’s a harsh truth but that’s the best we can hope for, that rovers team is shit hot but my god they were woeful tonight
@Kevin: so ur telling me you knew full well rovers were gonna get spanked bad before a ball was eve kicked tonight
@Philip Fox: Jack Byrne tried his best just struggling big time with injuries but he’s a deadly player when 100 %. Shocking at the back tonight they shud of had 8 if they took there chances
@Sean Mccabe: They played poorly and took a hiding but it doesn’t detract from all the excellent results Irish teams have enjoyed in recent years, including Rovers this year. Even good teams play really poorly some times, no point in writing off the whole LOI because of one result.
@Brian Murphy: not writing them off pal just a harsh reality check on were our league lies in European standards hard to watch but it’s been a good adventure for rovers so far.lets hope they can avoid a drubbing though next week
@John Kelly: I think you are overplaying the objective already achieved card by getting to Conference League group. That’s giving them a free pass for poor performance. Their objective was to get to Europa League group stages and they will be gutted to have failed.
@Sean Mccabe: I think they made woeful errors and learned that you can’t hope to compete with a much better side in Europe with no pace in side. They have a chance to rectify in Conference League group stages and will no doubt get a result or two that will make us rethink that place in European standards. Fingers crossed.
@Brian Murphy: I’m just defending the league more than anything else Brian.
@John Kelly: I’m with you on that one!
@Brian Murphy: yes mate nail on the head
@Brian Murphy: only joining this conversation late I honestly thought Rovers did well and missing 5 serious players it could have been a tighter game
@Sean Mccabe: wouldn’t call them minnows look at the facilities they have beautiful stadium and a squad valued at €40million
@ed: never heard of them. Wikipedia nails it though. – Ferencváros has been the most successful Hungarian club in European football competitions having won the 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
I think that says it all really.
@Bernard Connolly: They were torn apart. Had more ball in second half but never threatened and Ferencvaros looked like scoring every time they broke. They were happy to give them ball at times as Rovers were so slow and doing nothing in possession. A hiding.
R.T.E . Euro jinx strikes again.
In fairness Tetteh looked very good when he came on, and only 17
I’m afraid Rhasida Adeleke(not sure of spelling),is the only one in tallaght who can cope with best in Europe,but the rest try their best
Genuine question what is the last big game for rovers against half decent European opposition that they haven’t bottled?
@Sean Newberry: genuine question, who do you support? Didn’t see you comment on any of the articles over the past few weeks when rovers were winning games.
@Kevin: Against the mighty shkupi and hibernians unreal. Time to close the gap tomorrow.
@Sean Newberry: Ditto most LOI teams down the decades. Exceptions I can think of : Athlone v Inter, Limerick v Real Madrid and Dundalk v Liverpool. No victories there but good shows and entirety amateur players not semi-pro like Rovers today. Says a lot !!
Playing high calibre opposition makes loi sides look poor at times….valuation of each ferencvaros player is double what the opposite rovers player is…pity with the result but is it a big surprise?