Mayo, the 2026 All-Ireland football winners, has the highest number of nominations for this year All-Stars football team. Eleven Mayo players have been included on the 45-man shortlist, four more than vanquished finalists Kerry. Mayo also feature strongly in the individual awards with Ryan O’Donoghue and Jack Carney nominated alongside Kerry’s David Clifford for the Footballer of the Year award, which will be voted on by their inter-county playing colleagues.
Two of Mayo’s young stars, Darragh Beirne and Kobe McDonald, join Louth’s Dara McDonnell on the shortlist for the Young Footballer of the Year. All-Ireland hurling champions Limerick have 13 players included in this year’s list of hurling nominations and two Limerick players, Gearóid Hegarty and Diarmaid Byrnes along with Cork’s Brian Hayes are on the short list for Player of the Year award. Eight counties are represented in the nominations, with beaten All-Ireland finalists Galway next on the list with 11 players The football and hurling winners will be announced at a televised banquet in Dublin on Oct. 30.
WNT TAPS
SORENSEN
Former Everton Women’s manager Brian Sorensen was last week confirmed as Carla Ward’s new assistant manager with the Republic of Ireland women’s team. The 46 year-old Danish-born coach is Ward’s third assistant coach in just over 12 months. He will join the Irish squad for their World Cup semi-final play-offs against Kazakhstan next month. Sorensen began his coaching career in his native Denmark, where he enjoyed success with IK Skovbakken, Fortuna Hjørring and FC Nordsjælland, In 2022 he joined Everton in England’s Women’s Super League and led them to their best ever top-flight finish. After four years he left the Toffees and is now working as a technical advisor to Aston Villa’s Women. The Irish women are away to Kazakhstan in Astana on Oct. 9 in the first leg of their semi-final play-off, with second leg due to be played in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork on Oct 13.
CHAMPION HURDLER
HURRICANE FLY DIES
Hurricane Fly, the Willie Mullins-trained dual Champion Hurdle winner (2011 and 2013) at Cheltenham, died last week at the age of 22. Hurricane Fly, thoroughbred, won a record-breaking 22 Grade One races. He was retired in 2015 after a nine-year career to spend his days alongside other equine greats such as Faugheen, Hardy Eustace and Beef Or Salmon at the Irish National Stud. Mullins described the superstar hurdler as “awesome” and one of the biggest legends to pass through his Closutton yard. Regular jockey Ruby Walsh simply labelled him the perfect horse and the best jumper of a hurdle he ever rode.
CHARLES BROTHERS
STAR FOR N. IRELAND
Meanwhile Northern Ireland marked their return to Nations League B with a 1-0 win over Georgia in Tbilisi. Shea Charles’s 98th-minute winner gave Northern Ireland a first-ever win at this level of the competition with the midfielder poking home past Liverpool goalkeeper Mamardashvili. The late goal came only after Charles’s younger brother Pierce had saved a penalty from Paris St-Germain star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the second half. The QPR loanee also denied Otar Kiteishvili and Georges Mikautadze with second-half saves to preserve what was Northern Ireland’s first competitive clean sheet since October 2024. The North were playing at this level of the competition for the first time in six years after 2024 promotion from League C in a game that Uefa ordered to be played behind closed doors after crowd trouble at Georgia's home fixture with Armenia in March 2025.
On Monday, Northern Ireland followed up with a home 0-0 draw against Hungary.
EX-GAA GETS AUSSIE
RULES ‘GOAL OF YEAR’
Former Tyrone footballer Conor McKenna has attributed his Gaelic football skills to his ‘Goal of the Year’ win in Aussie Rules. The 2021All-Ireland winner’s soccer-style strike for Brisbane Lions against Collingwood on Matchday 24 earned him a AU$50,000 (€31,056) cash prize at the annual AFL Brownlow Medal end of season awards. McKenna blocked a clearance with his hand, the ball fell into his path and he simply side-footed the ball between he posts from close range. In his acceptance speech McKenna said: “A bit of my Gaelic skills came in there. I have my club Eglish back home in county Tyrone to thank for back to my young days. A few of the boys thought it was a fluke, but I did it again at the weekend against Hawthorn, so I guess it’s not really.” When asked what he will do with the prize money, McKenna replied: “If my wife asks it’s probably for the house, but if I get my way I will buy a horse but we will see how it goes.’’
BURNS SEEKS NEW
AFL PROTOCOL
GAA president Jarlath Burns says the thorny subject of player recruitment will be top of the agenda when the GAA meets AFL representatives in the coming days. Amid growing concern about the recruitment of young players by AFL clubs without their GAA club or county board's knowledge, the GAA president has expressed the hope that a more agreeable protocol can be found. Burns said: ‘‘The interest that the AFL has in our Gaelic players is something that we are keeping a very close eye on. We are in talks with the AFL about putting some sort of a protocol in place, possibly such as changing the category of player that goes from category B Rookie to category A and that might self-regulate it in time. But certainly we are meeting representatives of the AFL and this issue is going to be top of the agenda with us in the GAA.’’ But it’s not just GAA players that are moving to Australia. Leinster Rugby is losing one of their most highly-rated academy players Noah Byrne, who is joining Brisbane Lions where he will link up with former Kilkenny minor hurler Darragh Joyce. Byrne has previously played Gaelic football for Kilmacud Crokes and also for the Dublin minor footballers.
The exodus to Australia started in the eighties when inter-county stars like Jim Stynes of Dublin and Kerry’s Seán Wight were the first two to make the grade. They were followed by Kerry’s Tadhg Kennelly and Zach Tuohy from Laois, both of whom also played at the top level. Now it’s more women who are going and this year the total number of Irish women playing Aussie Rules is 46.
HRI’S ALL-WEATHER
TRACK OPENS OCT. 23
Horse Racing Ireland has pencilled in nine fixtures for its own new all-weather track at Tipperary during the last months of next year. The new circuit, Ireland’s second all-weather facility, is due to open on Oct. 23 next year HRI received Government approval last year to borrow €34 million to finish its construction. Work commenced on developing an all-weather track in February this year with the goal to stage a full winter race programme at the venue at the end of 2027. The track was previously known as Limerick Junction.
There are 396 race meetings scheduled in Ireland next year, an increase of six on this year. However, the long-term future of Thurles remains in doubt, with the arrangement between the Molony family and HRI set to expire in March. The Molony family announced in August 2025 that the track would be closing with immediate effect, but they came to an agreement with HRI that the fixtures would go ahead for the 2025-26 season under the stewardship of HRI. That short-term agreement was renewed in April, but the six fixtures scheduled for October onwards have an asterisk ‘‘to be confirmed’’ in the calendar. And we will have racing again on Good Friday next year with the Curragh hosting a meeting on March 26.
CAHILL FOR LIMERICK
Micheál Cahill is set to replace Jimmy Lee as the new manager of the Limerick footballers. Lee quit last month and accused the county's football board of a ‘‘disrespectful’’ lack of support to the management team and players in the process. Mungret clubman Cahill was previously part of the Clare football coaching team in a strength and conditioning role before joining Lee for the last two seasons with Limerick. He has also worked with American teams in a number of sports, including baseball’s LA Dodgers and soccer academies Houston and Dallas, helping them with speed work during his studies.
WEST’S AIR DOME’S
BACK FOR ACTION
Connacht GAA CEO John Prenty is delighted that the Connacht GAA Air Dome in Bekan, County Mayo is available for use again after being out of action for over a year and a half. The Air Dome was damaged by Storm Eowyn in January 2025 and has since undergone extensive repairs. Catering for football, hurling, camogie and ladies football, Connacht GAA is exploring the possibility of hosting FBD League and Connacht Hurling League fixtures at the venue again. Prenty said that the facility has been “wedged” since reopening. He added: ‘‘It was a very tough stint, we were without it for 495 days. There was a lot of stress and planning, dealing with insurers, manufacturers and our contractors. It was full on, almost 24/7 for a long time. In the past the Dome hosted games in the FBD Connacht football league and the Connacht hurling league. We will look at the Mayo situation, to see who they will be playing in the FBD League. Everyone in Mayo is excited at the minute, and I am sure they will still be excited when the FBD comes around.’’
JACKO MCDONAGH, 64
The death occurred last week of former Irish soccer international Jacko McDonagh, at the age of 64. Republic of Iraland manager Eoin Hand picked him for three games in the mid-1980s when at the height of his career as a Shamrock Rovers player. A native of Donnybrook, McDonagh started his career with the Shelbourne youths before making the switch to Bohemians. He played 60 times across three seasons with the Gypsies and then switched to Rovers where he was a vital cog in their four in-row League winning team. At the end of the 1984/85 season Jacko joined French side Nimes Olympique and later he played briefly for Derry City and for three years with Belgian club KSV Waregem.
