All-Ireland senior football champions Armagh have received six All Stars in a team of the year with 14 first-time winners.
Tyrone’s Niall Morgan is the only previous recipient of the 15 players named in the 2024 GAA PwC All-Star football team of the year.
A total of five counties are represented on the selection with Armagh (six) leading the way, followed by beaten All-Ireland finalists Galway (five), Donegal (two), Tyrone and Louth (one each).
It is the first time since 2003 that an All-Star football team has had no player from either Dublin or Kerry.
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Armagh’s six inclusions in the team of the year is the Orchard county’s first since Ronan Clarke in 2008.
Craig Lennon also becomes Louth’s first All Star since Paddy Keenan in 2010, andthe county’s second in history.
Armagh have winners in defence, midfield and in attack – but goalkeeper Blaine Hughes and defender Aaron McKay can feel unfortunate to miss out.
Morgan’s previous All Star was garnered in 2021 after starring in Tyrone’s All-Ireland success that season, and he gets the nod this term ahead of Hughes and Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton.
His creative ability and willingness to get on the ball further out the field added an extra threat to Tyrone’s play this season, while his accuracy from kickouts was significant in retaining possession and generating attacking plays.
Morgan remains a goalkeeping pioneer and evolved his game again during the 2024 season, setting him apart from his counterparts in the race for the All Star.
McKay is probably the unluckiest of all the 45 nominees not to make the team of the year. The Dromintee clubman was a rock in the Armagh defence and was a vital cog in their rearguard system and also got up the field to slap home the crucial goal in the All-Ireland final.
The full-back line is comprised of Galway’s Johnny McGrath, Armagh’s Barry McCambridge and Donegal’s Peadar Mogan.
McGrath has also been nominated for the Young Footballer of the Year accolade while McCambridge is on the shortlist for Footballer of the Year, the winners of which will be announced at Friday night’s gala event at the RDS.
Mogan was best known this season for his marauding forays forward, primarily from the half-back line, but he did also operate from corner back at times and has been selected at number four on the All-Star team.
The half-back line is made up of players from three counties – Galway’s Dylan McHugh, Armagh’s Aidan Forker, and Louth’s Lennon.
McHugh was a menace for opposing defences all summer, thundering forward from the Galway half-back line and putting the opposition on the back foot, while Forker captained Armagh – the county’s second All-Ireland winning captain after current manager Kieran McGeeney in 2002.
Lennon was one of the most dynamic wing backs in the country during the championship, with the St Mochta’s clubman scoring 4-7, all from play. His ability to get up and down the field, carrying the ball with purpose, was central to Louth qualifying for a first ever All-Ireland senior football quarter-final.
Indeed, it was Lennon’s surging run forward in the dying moments of their All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final against Cork at Inniskeen in June that created the historic match-winning free, scored by Sam Mulroy.
Unsurprisingly, Paul Conroy is one of the two midfielders selected – but given the length of his intercounty career, having made his debut in 2008, it is perhaps surprising this is the 35-year-old’s first All Star. Conroy has also been nominated for Footballer of the Year.
Alongside him at midfield is Armagh’s Ben Crealey, who gets the nod ahead of his Orchard counterpart Niall Grimley. Dublin’s Brian Fenton might also consider himself unlucky to miss out.
John Maher has been selected in the half-forward line, where he is flanked by Armagh duo Rian O’Neill and Oisín Conaty. Maher’s versatility saw him become the ultimate middle-third player this summer, his physicality and desire to work for the good of the team set him apart as one of the championship’s standout performers, and he would have been as worthy of a position at midfield as he is in the half-forward line.
O’Neill was one of Armagh’s leaders this year, especially in the latter stages of the championship. Conaty was a consistently strong performer for Armagh, peaking in the final, scoring three points .
The full-forward line is made up of Galway’s Rob Finnerty, Donegal’s Oisín Gallen and Armagh’s Conor Turbitt.
Finnerty was arguably Galway’s best score-getting forward during the championship and his injury early in the All-Ireland final was a real blow to the Tribesmen.
Gallen finished the summer as the joint-fourth top scorer in the championship while Turbitt was Armagh’s leading inside forward for much of the season.
Mulroy, who was the championship’s second top scorer with 3-43, accounting for 39 per cent of Louth’s total scores, is unlucky to miss out while Dublin’s Con O’Callaghan also merited consideration.
The 2024 All-Star football team will be presented with their awards at the RDS on Friday night, when the hurling team will also be revealed.
2024 ALL-STAR FOOTBALL TEAM OF THE YEAR
- Niall Morgan (Tyrone)
- Johnny McGrath (Galway)
- Barry McCambridge (Armagh)
- Peadar Mogan (Donegal)
- Dylan McHugh (Galway)
- Aidan Forker (Armagh)
- Craig Lennon (Louth)
- Paul Conroy (Galway)
- Ben Crealey (Armagh)
- Rian O’Neill (Armagh)
- John Maher (Galway)
- Oisín Conaty (Armagh)
- Rob Finnerty (Galway)
- Oisín Gallen (Donegal)
- Conor Turbitt (Armagh)
