Higgins and Gaule NY Sports Stars

THE New York Men's GAA selected its all-stars for 2008 this past week with teams being selected for junior football, senior hurling and football.

An annual event now in its fourth year, it rewards the premier players in all three divisions for the season gone by. While certainly the players are more than deserving for their work throughout the year, the function itself has been poorly attended in the last couple of years, and one would hope that this year's winners will embrace the function with open arms as it may be the last year of the awards if they are not a success.

The awards are presented each year to home-based players only, which means that the summer players are not eligible. The home based players are the grassroots of the association, and this season they put on some brilliant displays for the spectators at the Mecca.

Kerry, on the way to their fourth title in five years, were dominant in the playoffs with an outstanding defense that was rewarded with three players getting selected as well as one of their forwards.

Down, who stormed through the divisions over the last three years, have three winners, with keeper Mark Kelly a contender for player of the year. Pat Mahoney of Cork turned back the years with some outstanding fielding, while Dennis McCarthy was another player of the year contender.

Some players on the cusp of selection were Shane Clifford (Kerry), Declan Garvey, (St. Barnabas) and Liam O'Donnell (Four Provinces), Conor Downey (Derry), Fergal Shannon (Down), Roy Sweeney (Donegal) and Adrian O'Connor (Leitrim).

When it came time to pick player of the year a couple of players jumped off the pages of notes of the senior selectors, the local scribes in New York, Kieran O'Sullivan and Frank Brady, and this scribe from the Irish Voice - Declan Griffin (Kerry), the aforementioned McCarthy and Alan Foley (Leitrim) to name three.

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Nster.com