DERRY’S ALL-STAR defender Chrissy McKaigue and Kilkenny forward TJ Reid along with All-Ireland winners Emma Duggan (Meath) and Grace Walsh (Kilkenny) have been named Football, Hurling, Ladies’ Football and Camogie Personalities of the Year for 2022 respectively at tonight’s Gaelic Writers’ Association (GWA) Awards.
The awards took place on Friday night at Dublin’s Iveagh Garden Hotel.
There were also four inductees to the GWA Hall of Fame: Mary Jo Curran (Kerry), Linda Mellerick (Cork), Willie Bryan (Offaly) and Cyril Farrell (Galway).
Elsewhere, RTE’s long-time Gaelic Games correspondent and commentator Brian Carthy was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award while Sligo’s Padraig McKeon was named PRO of the Year.
McKaigue won the award having been a key figure in Derry’s Ulster Championship triumph, while Reid was again an outstanding performer in a year tinged by defeat, losing the club All-Ireland final with Ballyhale and then the All-Ireland senior hurling championship final to Limerick. He rounded out the year by helping Ballyhale retain their Kilkenny and provincial crowns, and then avenged the All-Ireland club final defeat earlier this year.
Emma Duggan, meanwhile played key roles in Meath’s quarter-final and semi-final wins over Galway and Donegal before starring in the final against Kerry. She later helped her club, St Peter’s of Dunboyne, to the Meath senior title.
Grace Walsh was an integral part of Kilkenny’s All-Ireland-winning camogie team, successful across a path which included a semi-final dethroning of champions Galway in the semi-final and a one-point victory over Cork in the final.
The full list of winners from the Gaelic Writers’ Association Awards for 2022, supported by EirGrid:
- Football Personality of the Year – Chrissy McKaigue (Derry)
- Ladies Football Personality of the Year – Emma Duggan (Meath)
- Hurling Personality of the Year – TJ Reid (Kilkenny)
- Camogie Personality of the Year – Grace Walsh (Kilkenny)
- Football Hall of Fame – Willie Bryan (Offaly)
- Ladies Football Hall of Fame – Mary Jo Curran (Kerry)
- Hurling Hall of Fame – Cyril Farrell (Galway)
- Camogie Hall of Fame – Linda Mellerick (Cork)
- PRO of the Year – Padraig McKeon (Sligo)
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Brian Carthy (RTE)
