Ryan O'Donoghue and Gearóid Hegarty win 2026 GAA All-Star player of the year awards

Footballer of the Year

Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue was named GAA-GPA Footballer of the Year for the first time at the PwC GAA-GPA All-Star awards in the RDS Centre in Dublin on Friday, 30 October. The 28-year-old full-forward from Belmullet also collected his second All-Star. His display in the July All-Ireland decider, which Mayo won against Kerry to end a 75-year wait for the Sam Maguire, earned him the match award. Across eight championship games he contributed 2-56. O'Donoghue is the third Mayo footballer to win the award, after Lee Keegan in 2016 and current manager Andy Moran in 2017. He beat teammate Jack Carney and Kerry's David Clifford, who has won the award three times.

Young award winners

Mayo's Darragh Beirne took the Young Footballer of the Year prize, ahead of his teammate Kobe McDonald, who has since begun his Australian Football League career, and Louth's Dara McDonnell. Beirne hit a seven-point haul against Cork in the quarter-final and scored goals in the semi-final against Louth and in the final, where he also found the net in Mayo's 1-20 to 1-17 win over Kerry. In hurling, Galway's Jason Rabbitte was named Young Hurler of the Year, beating Cillian Trayers and Cork's William Buckley. His father Joe won All-Stars in 1993 and 2000. Rabbitte is the first Galway recipient of the award since Conor Whelan in 2017.

Hegarty and the hurling honours

Limerick forward Gearóid Hegarty, who is 32, won Hurler of the Year for a second time, having also won it in 2020. He finished ahead of his teammate Diarmaid Byrnes and Cork's Brian Hayes. The award was his fifth All-Star. In an interview with the Irish Examiner, he said the All-Ireland title meant more to him than the individual honour.

“Us winning the All-Ireland is everything.”

RTE reports that Hegarty is one of only three players to win the award more than once since its launch in 1995, alongside Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin and Limerick's Cian Lynch.

Limerick's hurling haul

The hurling team, announced during the ceremony, has 15 players from four counties. Limerick take nine places, Galway three, Cork two and Clare one.

Limerick9

Galway3

Cork2

Clare1

Limerick

9

Galway

3

Cork

2

Clare

1

Data from the article text

Galway's three is the lowest return for an All-Ireland finalist since 2021, when Cork received none. Limerick's nine is their largest return since 2021, when they collected 12. Nickie Quaid won his fourth award and Kyle Hayes earned his sixth. Peter Duggan, eight years after his first All-Star, is Clare's sole representative and was selected for the second time.

Football team and first-time winners

The football team, chosen by GAA correspondents from print, TV, radio and digital media, was revealed on Thursday, 29 October, and the selection meeting was chaired by association president Jarlath Burns. Eight counties are represented, the most since 2010, and 11 players are first-time winners, the most since 2022. Six Mayo players made the team. Ulster is represented by Jarlath Óg Burns of Armagh, Conn Kilpatrick of Tyrone and Stephen O'Hanlon of Monaghan. Seven of the 15 hurling picks are first-time winners, among them Limerick's Adam English, Aidan O'Connor and Cathal O'Neill, Galway's Darren Morrissey, Tom Monaghan and Jason Rabbitte, and Cork's Niall O'Leary.