With the dust settling on another record-breaking season of Ladies Football Championship action, the 45 nominees for the 2019 TG4 All Star team have been revealed.
Senior champions Dublin, who made history by claiming a third successive title in front of a record 56,114 attendance at Croke Park, lead the way with 13 nominations.
There are nine nominations each for Galway, the 2019 TG4 All-Ireland Finalists, and Mayo, who were beaten by their Connacht rivals in the provincial Final replay and at the All-Ireland semi-final stage.
Munster Champions Cork, who lost out to Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, have been acknowledged with seven All-Star nominations following a season that also saw the Leesiders claim the Lidl National League Division 1 title.
Tipperary, the newly-crowned TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate champions, have two players on the list, a tally matched by Tyrone, while Ulster champions Donegal, Armagh and Meath, the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Finalists, each have one player nominated.
Seven players from the 2018 All Star team are nominated for awards once again – and six of those are Dublin players, along with Galway’s Sinéad Burke, who received a first TG4 All Star award last year.
Dublin goalkeeper Ciara Trant is joined on the 2019 list of nominees by team-mates Sinéad Goldrick, Siobhan McGrath, Lauren Magee, TG4 All-Ireland Final Player of the Match Lyndsey Davey and three-in-a-row TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship winning captain Sinéad Aherne, who was also the 2018 TG4 Senior Players’ Player of the Year.
Dublin’s other nominees for 2019 are Éabha Rutledge, Niamh Collins, Martha Byrne, Aoife Kane, Olwen Carey, Carla Rowe and Niamh McEvoy.
Joining Burke from Galway on the list are goalkeeper Lisa Murphy, the Ward sisters, Nicola and Louise, Olivia Divilly, Megan Glynn, Mairéad Seoighe, captain Tracey Leonard, and her cousin, Róisín Leonard.
Mayo’s nine nominees are Danielle Caldwell, Éilis Ronayne, Ciara McManamon, Ciara Whyte, Sinéad Cafferky, captain Niamh Kelly and her sister, Grace, Sarah Rowe and Rachel Kearns.
Cork, meanwhile, have Eimear Meaney, Hannah Looney, Melissa Duggan, Shauna Kelly, Ashling Hutchings, Eimear Scally and Orla Finn on the list of nominations.
The efforts of TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Final Player of the Match Aishling Moloney and Tipperary team-mate Aisling McCarthy have been recognised with All-Star nominations, while Tyrone have Niamh McGirr and Emma Jane Gervin nominated.
Caroline O’Hanlon (Armagh), Geraldine McLaughlin (Donegal) and goalkeeper Monica McGuirk (Meath) complete the list.
Moloney (nominated for a third successive year), McCarthy and McGuirk are the Intermediate Championship representatives on the 45-player list.
One player will be chosen from the three shortlisted in each of the positions to make up the final selection, with the exception of midfield, where two from six will be chosen.
The 2019 TG4 All Star team will be announced at a gala banquet at the Citywest Hotel on Saturday, November 16, along with the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Players’ Player of the Year award winners, the Provincial Young Players of the Year and the 2019 inductee into the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) Hall of Fame.
2019 TG4 All Star nominations:
Goalkeepers:
Ciara Trant (Dublin)*, Lisa Murphy (Galway), Monica McGuirk (Meath)
Right corner back:
Sinéad Burke (Galway)*, Eimear Meaney (Cork), Éabha Rutledge (Dublin)
Full back:
Hannah Looney (Cork), Niamh Collins (Dublin), Danielle Caldwell (Mayo)
Left corner back:
Melissa Duggan (Cork), Martha Byrne (Dublin), Éilis Ronayne (Mayo)
Right half back:
Nicola Ward (Galway), Aoife Kane (Dublin), Shauna Kelly (Cork)
Centre back:
Ashling Hutchings (Cork), Sinéad Goldrick (Dublin)*, Ciara McManamon (Mayo)
Left half back:
Olwen Carey (Dublin), Ciara Whyte (Mayo), Niamh McGirr (Tyrone)
Midfield:
Lauren Magee (Dublin)*, Louise Ward (Galway), Caroline O’Hanlon (Armagh), Aisling McCarthy (Tipperary), Siobhan McGrath (Dublin)*, Emma Jane Gervin (Tyrone)
Right half forward:
Carla Rowe (Dublin), Olivia Divilly (Galway), Sinéad Cafferky (Mayo)
Centre forward:
Megan Glynn (Galway), Niamh McEvoy (Dublin), Aishling Moloney (Tipperary)
Left half forward:
Niamh Kelly (Mayo), Lyndsey Davey (Dublin)*, Mairéad Seoighe (Galway)
Right corner forward:
Sarah Rowe (Mayo), Sinéad Aherne (Dublin)*, Tracey Leonard (Galway)
Full forward:
Eimear Scally (Cork), Rachel Kearns (Mayo), Geradline McLaughlin (Donegal)
Left corner forward:
Grace Kelly (Mayo), Orla Finn (Cork), Róisín Leonard (Galway)
*(denotes 2018 TG4 All Star)
County by county breakdown:
Dublin 13
Galway 9
Mayo 9
Cork 7
Tipperary 2
Tyrone 2
Armagh 1
Donegal 1
Meath 1
Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
