Kilkenny lead the way as Camogie All-Star format cuts out the positional controversies

Niall McIntyre

All-Ireland champs Kilkenny lead the way with 11 of the 36 nominees for the 2022 PwC Camogie All-Star awards.

Brian Dowling’s team won their second All-Ireland in three years back in August and having impressed right throughout the year, beating Galway in the semi-final and then Cork in the final, it’s only right that they’re on top.

Players from six different counties earned nominations, with Kilkenny’s eleven closely followed by Cork, who have ten nominees while Waterford (7), Galway (5), Dublin (2), Limerick (1) also feature.

All-Ireland winning Kilkenny goalkeeper Aoife Norris faces competition from Waterford’s Brianna O’Regan and Cork’s Amy Lee between the sticks.

Meanwhile, the outfield format makes a lot of sense, where players aren’t just as nominated as defenders/forwards, but as corner backs/full backs/wing backs/centre backs and vice versa in the forward positions.

There have been plenty of All-Star controversies in hurling and Gaelic football down through the years, with players given awards in positions they didn’t play as and, as you will see below, this is a good way to avoid that. While it will cut out the positional controversies, it may however lead to selection controversies with some players unlucky to miss out. You can never please everyone.

2022 PwC Camogie All-Stars Nominees announced!! ⭐🏆

For the complete list of nominees, follow: https://t.co/7QSsYhPUdR #PwCCamogieAllStars @PwCIreland pic.twitter.com/enqKOLaZXM

— The Camogie Association (@OfficialCamogie) October 5, 2022