The All Star hurlers will be announced later today, with the football XV to follow on Friday evening at the annual awards ceremony in the Citywest Hotel, although GAA president SeáKelly will not finish his weekend duties there.
On Saturday, Kelly returns to Croke Park to present awards of a similar nature to the players who excelled in this year's Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups.
The new hurling competitions select their "Champion 15" on a different format to the All Stars by ignoring field positions. To ensure every county is represented, after every game this season managers were asked to nominate two players from opposing teams.
"It is different, in that the best player from every county gets recognised under this system," said GAA head of games Pat Daly.
"These awards took a different angle, as the All Stars are sometimes left open to complaints and criticism from the public in counties that failed to be recognised."
The Ring Cup champions, Westmeath, will receive three awards, for Enda Loughlin, Killian Cosgrove and Andrew Mitchell, while runners-up Down and semi-finalists Carlow and Kildare have two each.
Rackard Cup winners London also have three players - Fergus McMahon, Michael O'Meara and Jim Ryan - selected.
The hurling development committee (HDC) will meet before the awards ceremony to discuss whether to continue the search for a national director of hurling. Having failed to find a suitable candidate for the role, after former Tipperary player and manager Nicky English turned it down, the HDC may opt to move forward without a figurehead.
"Twenty full-time appointments and 18 part-time, including four full-time Leinster coaches, and a hurling co-ordinator in Ulster and Connacht have already been appointed, so that may have altered the landscape. The HDC will decide on Saturday," added Daly.
HDC chairman Pat Dunny has not ruled out seeking a nationwide director. "I'd like to think it the idea wouldn't be shelved," he said.
CHRISTY RING CUP
Enda Loughlin, Killian Cosgrove and Andrew Mitchell (Westmeath), Garret Johnson and Martin Coulter (Down), Pat Coady and Robert Foley (Carlow), Mattie Dowd and David Harney (Kildare), Gregory Biggs (Derry), John Mike Dooley (Kerry), Keith Higgins (Mayo), Joey Toole (Meath), Mike Keaveney (Roscommon) and Joe Murphy (Wicklow).
NICKY RACKARD CUP
Fergus McMahon, Michael O'Meara and Jim Ryan (London), Trevor Hilliard and Paul Dunne (Louth), Paddy McArdle (Armagh), Paul Sheridan (Cavan), Danny Cullen (Donegal), Kevin McGarry (Fermanagh), Clement Cunniffe (Leitrim), Garrett Ghee (Longford), Pat Walsh (Monaghan), Paul Seevers (Sligo), Paul Hughes (Tyrone) and Martin Morrissey (Warwickshire).
