Mackessy and Nolan complete tremendous feats as Joe McDonagh All-Stars named

Niall McIntyre

Antrim lead the way with seven players on the Joe McDonagh Team of the Year for 2022.

The champions are closely followed by the beaten finalists Kerry, who have four players on the team while two Carlow men, a Down man and an Offaly man make up the remainder.

It rounds off a brilliant couple of days for Dunloy trio Ryan Elliott, Keelan Molloy and Conal Cunning, as they also won a county final with their club at the weekend. This is Molloy’s second time to make the team.

The Dunloy men are joined by Antrim team-mates Joe Maskey, Gerard Walsh and Eoghan Campbell on the team, while Fionan Mackessy won his third Joe McDonagh Cup All-Star in a row for Kerry. The St Brendan’s man was also named on both the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon All-Star teams this year, so this caps off a brilliant year for him.

Mackessy’s feat of winning a third successive All-Star at this grade is only matched by Carlow’s Chris Nolan, the Mount Leinster Rangers man having put in some sensational displays in this campaign, most notably against Offaly. Nolan was also selected on the Joe McDonagh ‘Champion 15’ in 2018, which means that, seeing as there were no All-Stars in the grade in 2019, he has won an All-Star every year the competition has had them.

Nolan is joined by Marty Kavanagh on the team while David Nally and Daithí Sands represent Offaly and Down respectively.

The awards will be presented this Friday evening in the Croke Park Hogan Suite in a black-tie ceremony streamed live on GAA.ie from 7pm.

The overall players of the year will be announced live on the night where the members of the Ring, Rackard, Meagher and Tailteann Cup Teams of the Year also honoured.

See the full team below.