GAA All-Stars: Galway’s Conroy wins Footballer of the Year, while Shane O’Donnell wins hurling award

Galway midfielder Paul Conroy has been named the GAA’s Footballer of the Year, while Clare striker Shane O’Donnell has won the Hurler of the Year award.

Conroy beat teammate John Maher and Armagh’s All-Ireland winner Barry McCambridge for the football prize.

It is the third time a Galway player has won the GAA’s top individual football award, following Jarlath Fallon (1998) and Declan Meehan (2001).

Conroy’s success follows confirmation on Thursday that he was one of five All-Star winners among the All-Ireland runners-up.

Armagh’s All-Ireland winner Oisin Conaty took the Young Footballer of the Year title, ahead of Galway’s Johnny McGrath and Donegal’s Ciaran Moore.

O’Donnell, meanwhile, has become the fourth Clare player to win the hurling title, following Brian Lohan (1995), Jamesie O’Connor (1997) and Tony Kelly (2013).

The full-forward played for Banner County as they won the All-Ireland Hurling title for the first time since 2013, beating Cork in an epic final.

O’Donnell defeated Cork midfielder Darragh Fitzgibbon and Limerick defender Kyle Hayes to become the first non-Limerick player to win since Tipperary’s Seamus Callanan in 2019.

His teammate Adam Hogan was named Young Hurler of the Year, beating Cork’s Eoin Downey and Limerick’s Cathal O’Neill.

O’Donnell and Hogan are two of six Clare players included in the season’s Hurling All-Star team, with losing finalists Cork accounting for five players and Limerick claiming four All-Stars.