This year’s PwC All Star football team features a whopping 11 first time award winners.
The emergence of Galway and Derry to win their respective provincial championships, with Galway going on to the All-Ireland final sees them win seven first time winners in total, with the Tribe landing five to the Oak Leafers two.
Four of the inaugural winners come from All-Ireland champions Kerry - goalkeeper Shane Ryan and defenders Jason Foley, Tadhg Morley and Gavin White.
Read more: From Gormley to 'Geezer' - Ulster’s best All Star footballers of the last 20 years
That also reflects Kerry’s defensive power in a year where they conceded just three goals across all competitions with Morley as a sweeper, Foley at full back and White at wing back.
Morley is the Templenoe club’s 14th All-Star, with Pat Spillane winning nine, Tom Spillane three and Mick Spillane one.
The other Kerry winners were the Clifford brothers - Paudie and David - and Sean O’Shea.
This is David Clifford’s fourth award in five inter-county seasons at just 23 years of age.
The Fossa star is already well on the way to surpassing Pat Spillane’s football record of nine All Stars.
Paudie Clifford and O’Shea both landed their second awards with Clifford making it back to back All Stars.
All-Ireland finalists Galway have five first time winners in defenders Liam Silke and John Daly, midfielder Cillian McDaid and forwards Shane Walsh and Damien Comer.
Comer and Walsh missed out narrowly in 2018 when Galway reached the League final and All-Ireland semi-final, losing both times to Dublin.
John Daly gets into the team for his footballing ability at number six and some huge displays with Morely accommodated on the wing.
Corofin All-Ireland winner, Silke is rewarded for some huge man marking jobs on the likes of Sean O’Shea and Shane McGuigan in the All-Ireland final and semi-final.
McDaid turned in some huge displays at midfield for Galway, hitting four points in the All-Ireland final against Kerry and scoring the winning goal in extra-time of the All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Armagh.
The other two first time winners are from Derry, with Chrissy McKaigue and Conor Glass honoured following the Oak Leaf county’s first Ulster title victory since 1998 and a first All-Ireland semi-final appearance since 2004.
Interestingly, both McKaigue and Glass were with Australian Rules clubs, as was McDaid.
Derry’s last All Stars were Kevin McCloy and Paddy Bradley, both awarded honours a decade and a half ago (2007).
McKaigue is the Slaughtneil club’s first All Star, while Glass joins fellow Glen winner from the Derry 1993 All-Ireland winning side Enda Gormley, who won two All Stars.
Glass was Derry’s midfield anchor this year, operating alongside a series of partners, including Brendan Rogers, Gareth McKinless and his club mate Emmett Bradley.
The other player who made the team was Dublin’s Ciaran Kilkenny, who equalled Stephen Cluxton’s record capital record of six All Stars.
Kilkenny is 29 now but could well pass out Cluxton as he continues to show remarkable consistency despite Dublin’s run of six All-Irelands in a row coming to an end.
No player from outside the four All-Ireland semi-finalists made the side with Armagh’s Rian O’Neill and Ethan Rafferty missing out.
Rafferty - a former forward - brought goalkeeping to a new level this year, scoring two points against Tyrone in Armagh’s qualifier win.
O’Neill slotted a magnificent equaliser against Galway from a long range free and was superb in the qualifier victory over Donegal as the fulcrum of the Armagh attack.
The other players who were unfortunate to miss out were Derry’s Brendan Rogers, who had a big shout in defence and midfield, and his fellow Oak Leaf defender Conor McCluskey.
Slaughtneil dual star Rogers was named the Player of the Ulster Championship after a huge Ulster final in which he kicked three points from play.
Kerry’s Tom O’Sullivan was unfortunate too, suffering for a Shane Walsh tour de force in the All-Ireland final, having been a Footballer of the Year candidate going into the decider.
It didn’t help O’Sullivan, Rogers and McCluskey that the hottest competition this year came in defence.
Gavin White got the nod at wing back after enjoying big games in the All-Ireland semi-final and final against Dublin and Galway with his lightning counter attacking play a key to Kerry’s game.
Jason Foley has been a coming force for Kerry at full back and his marking job on Comer in the All-Ireland final sealed his first award.
McKaigue was touch tight all year in the Derry defence, putting the shackles on the likes of Monaghan’s Jack McCarron, Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty, Clare’s Keelan Sexton and Galway’s Robert Finnerty.
The Ulster Championship winning captain turned 33 back in July and is one of the oldest first time All Stars.
Goalkeeper Ryan has been a model of consistency for Kerry in recent years.
He had a massive final against Galway, losing just four restarts, and was unflappable late on when Dublin applied the pressure in the All-Ireland semi-final with a high press.
The last Kerry goalkeeper to land an All Star was Brendan Kealy back in 2014. The only winners from last year’s team were Ciaran Kilkenny and the Clifford brothers.
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