The Irish News Ulster GAA All-Stars 2017

Irish News Ulster All-Stars Honoured

The 23rd Irish News Ulster GAA All-Star team were unveiled last night in the Armagh City Hotel

The uniqueness of the Irish News Ulster All-Stars is that the player selection is entirely based on fan choice – readers select in their opinion the 15 players of the Championship.

Commenting on the success of the Irish News Ulster All-Stars, Noel Doran, editor of The Irish News said: `We set out to recognise the outstanding performers in ladies football, camogie and hurling, as well as naming the men’s football team of the year, as voted by our readers, and the overall Ulster player of the year, so this is one of the most important events in the GAA’s calendar. Standards are higher than ever, as the intensity of the Ulster Championship proved. There is enormous excitement surrounding our entire programme.’

Ulster GAA President Michael Hasson added, ‘We had a great Ulster Championship with numbers attending games up on last year and that is down to our players and I am delighted that we have recognised some of those players here in the Irish News Ulster All-Stars.’

Included in the line-up are nine Tyrone players, three Down players, two Armagh players, and one Monaghan player.

Four additional awards will be given out on the night to reflect the importance of all codes within the GAA family: Hurling Excellence award x2, Camogie Excellence award and Ladies Football Excellence award. There was a further two presentations to Paddy Tally for on behalf of the Sigerson Team for their massive success. Also a Lifetime Career Award was presented to Sean Cavanagh for his many contributing years to the GAA.

The evening was hosted by Joanne Cantwell, RTE Sport presenter, with Sports Legend and Champion Jockey A.P. McCoy

The Irish News Ulster All-Star team of 2017 is:

Niall Morgan- Tyrone
2. James Morgan – Armagh
3. Ronan McNamee – Tyrone
4. Darren O’Hagan – Down
5. Tiernan McCann – Tyrone
6. Padraig Hampsey – Tyrone
7. Darragh O’Hanlon – Down
8. Colm Cavanagh – Tyrone
9. Kieran Hughes – Monaghan
10. Mattie Donnelly – Tyrone
11. Niall Sludden – Tyrone
12. Peter Harte – Tyrone
13. Mark Bradley – Tyrone
14. Connaire Harrison – Down
15. Jamie Clarke – Armagh