All Ireland winners Dublin have dominated the football GAA/GPA All-Star awards, while Michael Darragh McAuley has been named Footballer of the Year. Six Dublin players were named following a year which saw them win the Allianz League Division 1 title and their second All-Ireland title in three years.
McAuley held off competition from Dublin teammate Stephen Cluxton and Mayo’s Lee Keegan to become the third player from the capital to win the award in the past four years.
Jack McCaffrey made it a clean sweep for the Dubs, winning the Young Footballer of the Year award, ahead of Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor and Dublin’s Ciaran Kilkenny.
Bernard Brogan, Stephen Cluxton, Michael Darragh McAuley, Rory O’Carroll, Cian O’Sullivan and Paul Flynn make up the All-Ireland winning backbone of the football side, with the remaining places shared between Mayo, Kerry, Tyrone and Monaghan, with the latter having two All-Stars in the one year for the first time since 1988.
Mayo are represented by Aidan O’Shea, Keith Higgins, Lee Keegan and Colm Boyle. Cillian O’Connor -Mayo’s most lethal weapon in attack during the summer, with two hat-tricks, against London and Donegal – didn’t make the final fifteen.
Colm Cooper, again Kerry’s most potent weapon this year, was rewarded with an eighth All-Star award, putting him just one behind fellow Kerryman Pat Spillane, who won nine awards over his career.
Monaghan duo Colin Walshe and Conor McManus won awards at full-back and full-forward, respectively, to cap a good year for the Ulster champions.
Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh – who spent a large portion of his summer at the centre of a controversy surrounding sportsmanship and cynical play in Gaelic football – won his fifth award.
2013 GAA/GPA FOOTBALL ALL-STARS FOOTBALL TEAM
Goalkeeper
1. Stephen Cluxton (Dublin)
Full-Back
2. Colin Walshe (Monaghan)
3. Rory O'Carroll (Dublin)
4. Keith Higgins (Mayo)
Half-Back
5. Lee Keegan (Mayo)
6. Cian O'Sullivan (Dublin)
7. Colm Boyle (Mayo)
Midfield
8. Michael Darragh Macauley (Dublin)
9. Aidan O'Shea (Mayo)
Half Forward
10. Paul Flynn Dublin)
11. Colm Cooper (Kerry)
12. Seán Cavanagh (Tyrone)
Full-Forward
13. James O'Donoghue (Kerry)
14. Bernard Brogan (Dublin)
15. Conor McManus (Monaghan)
