There will be individual awards tonight for two of the top camogie players in Ulster when the annual Liberty Insurance Camogie All-stars’ goes virtual as all the nominees for the Junior and Intermediate Camogie Association/WGPA Players’ Player of the Year Awards 2020 from the province.
Two Down forwards and Antrim’s teenage sensation Maeve Kelly have been short-listed for the Intermediate award and all three were recipients of Irish News All-star awards back in January.
Irish News overall Player of the Year Niamh Mallon will be favourite to lift the title after shooting 2-3 in the final against Antrim to finish off top-scorer in the championship with 4-11 from four outings.
Her Down colleague Sara-Louise Graffin was also a regular goal-scorer in the competition and those strikes included a bullet to the Antrim net in the first half of the final. Ballycastle club player Maeve Kelly who turns 20 in a few weeks was also a goal-scorer in the first half of that final.
And the Junior award will also go to an Ulster forward with Armagh’s Donnelly sisters both nominated alongside Cavan’s Róisín O’Keefe.
From the 19 points Armagh scored in their Junior final win over Cavan, the Donnellys accounted for 17, Leanne’s two in each half more than eclipsed by 13 scores from her sister Ciara who has already picked up an Irish News All-star.
All six players should be in contention for places on the 2020 Camogie Soaring Stars team, while the three nominees for the Senior Player of the Year – Kilkenny’s Denise Gaule and Grace Walsh along with Galway defender Shauna Healy – should make it into the senior All-star team.
The Liberty Insurance Camogie All-Stars Awards will be streamed live tonight on the Association’s Facebook and YouTube channels, Killian Whelan getting the show under way at 7pm.
The running order will see the 15 Soaring Stars winners announced first followed by the respective Manager of the Year and the Players of the Year from each grade before finishing with the announcement of our 15 All-Stars Award winners for 2020.
The Players’ Player of the Year Awards nominees are as follows:
Senior Player of the Year Shortlist:
Denise Gaule (Kilkenny), Grace Walsh (Kilkenny), Shauna Healy (Galway)
Intermediate Player of the Year Shortlist:
Maeve Kelly (Antrim), Niamh Mallon (Down), Sara-Louise Graffin (Down)
Junior Player of the Year Shortlist:
Ciara Donnelly (Armagh), Leanne Donnelly (Armagh), Róisín O’Keeffe (Cavan)
