The All-Star list for 2020 was announced this morning and our run to December’s final sees us well recognised on it. In total we’ve twelve players nominated for the All-Star team, we’ve one player in the running for Footballer of the Year and, with all three nominees coming from within our ranks, we’re guaranteed to win the Young Footballer of the Year award.
Not surprisingly in light of our melding of youth and experience in the team last year, our list of All-Star nominees is a mix of older lads and fresh faces. Here’s the list of all our nominees for the different awards:
Goalkeeper: David Clarke.
Defenders: Oisin Mullin, Eoghan McLaughlin, Chris Barrett, Lee Keegan, Paddy Durcan.
Midfielders: Mattie Ruane.
Forwards: Cillian O’Connor, Kevin McLoughlin, Ryan O’Donoghue, Aidan O’Shea, Tommy Conroy.
Footballer of the Year: Cillian O’Connor.
Young Footballer of the Year: Oisin Mullin, Eoghan McLaughlin, Tommy Conroy.
The full list of the football nominees for 2020 is here. As expected, champions Dublin lead the way with thirteen, followed by us on twelve, Cavan with seven, Tipperary with four, Donegal (three), Galway (two) and one each for Cork, Limerick and Kerry.
The winners of the 2020 awards will be announced next month. Congrats to all the Mayo lads nominated and the best of luck to them in the selection process for the award winners.
Stephen Coen unlucky not to be nominated. Had a very consistent year.
We probably get three – Oisin, Paddy D and Cillian.
Diarmuid O’Connor also unlucky to miss out. He had a brilliant final.
Definitely Stephen Coen very unlucky to miss out, very very solid performance every Match, league and championship, and Diarmuid most certainly had a brilliant final…We are assured of the Young Player of the Year, it would be something else if Cillian walked away with the PotY award… The Mayo player that I hope the most wins an All Star award is Kevin McLoughlin, beyond doubt one of Mayo’s best players for over a decade now and definitely one of Ireland’s most underrated player’s… Good luck to all Mayo nominees.
I think David Clarke should definitely get the goalie All Star.
Great to see the 3 young lads up for young player of the year.
David, Paddy, Oisín, Eoghan and Cillian. I think those 5 deserve their All Stars this year.
no major surprises there
Diarmuid unlucky not to get a nom, Thought he was definitely in our top 5 performers all year and had a really good final. Indeed he was far more deserving than clifford, AOS and others.
Great that we are guaranteed young player of the year award too, a serious feather in the cap of the lads starting out.
Ray galligan nailed on for goalie, he was brilliant all year, playmaker, kickouts and clutch frees.Interesting to note that galligan has been outfielder for his club all his life, might be worth JH casting the goalkeeper net out to outfielders on the club scene also?
My allstar team:
R Galligan,
Mullin, Faulkner, Fitzsimons,
Durcan, Small, E McLaughlin
McCarthy, Fenton
Kilkenny, T galligan, Scully
Cillian, Sweeney, Callaghan
YPOTY: Oisin Mullin
POTY: Kilkenny
Chris Barrett gone:(
Yeah, just confirmed inside the last few minutes. This one cuts deep, given how much he was still involved in the first team. Not surprising, though, as he was another one of the Dublin-based contingent.
Hadnt seen the chris barrett news, thats a blow for sure. He was a big calming influence on that defence post lockdown. Some of the other retirees likely werent going to get minutes but barrett undoubtedly still had a role to play.
God only knows how he kept it going as long as he did, travelling from dublin to belmullet for years with his own business and starting a family seemed like an awful slog
His display in the final in 2017 will live long in the memory, he was possessed that day
…Worth digging out Barretts interview with colm parkinson on the gaa hour a few years ago when he talked about his average week, it required an incredible level of sacrifice, commitment.
The sacrifice to play county is substantial, but the sacrifice to commute from dublin as a county player is another level altogether.
Chris Barrett is one in a million, made of steel, and a proper defender. We will miss him in 2021.
I’ll do that, Supermac, when I put together the retirement piece on him later on. There was also an Irish Times interview piece on the same topic at the same time.
Mad to think that he’s announced his retirement the same day he gets nominated for an All-Star. I’d be fairly confident that never happened before now.
As a Galwayman I was a big fan of Chris Barrett.
Played the ball all the time, great tackler, no dirt. No headlines(I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak), kept at it when things were not going his way and always delivered in the All Ireland Finals.
I wathched the 2017 final over Xmas, he was superb all through.
Willie Joe – David Clarke retired before he was nominated for an all star. I wonder did that ever happen before.
We’ve lost some legends in the last few weeks, but in terms of impact on the team next season this retirement feels like the biggest blow.
Chris was one of the absolute best – seeing the way he handed Walsh in the League final was an amazing sight, to pick one of so many examples.
So sad to see Chris Barrett go, so solid a defender, clean tackling, no fuss.
Really stood up in the 2017 final. I also recall the couple of points before halftime in the 2013 semi final against Tyrone when we needed them.
He’ll be one of the hardest to replace.
I was wondering that too, SouthMayo Exile! Maybe with some of the old Kerry lads back in the day but I doubt it.
Chrissy Barrett the Denis Irwin of Gaelic Football, never gave a bad performance always a 7 out of 10 minimum, was a big loss in 2012 against Donegal and in 2014 in the 2 Kerry games. Could never understand why Tom Cunniffe and Kevin Keane were favoured over him in the earlier years of the decade. There was definitely a year or 2 left in him.
Chris was the real deal alright. Absolutely rock solid, never a worry.
Those gaps are going to be hard to replace.
Huge huge loss
Will be hard replaced
A fitting end to a depressing week 🙁
A massive blow. Other than Clarkey, I would have been reasonably sanguine about the retirements in recent weeks, for the simple reason that most of those sailing off hadn’t been starting in recent seasons. With Big Dave and now Chris gone, the capstone has been lifted off our defence ahead of the 2021 season. Experience is a huge thing in that part of the field and we could be in for a ropey transition now.
Barrett was always a dependable presence in our last line, not for nothing was he usually assigned the opposition’s trickiest forward. His performance in the 2017 All-Ireland final in particular will live long in the memory.
On a personal note, I played soccer with him for a brief period as a youth, at which he was also very talented. Rattled in two fine goals in an FAI Youth Cup final and could probably have played League of Ireland if he had been that way inclined. Their loss was our gain. Very nice fella too from what I remember.
Best of luck to him in his retirement.
Hopefully this will be the last such announcement for now.
Very sorry to see Chris Barrett retire as he definitely had another couple of years in him. Especially considering that he had made the full back position his own in this year’s championships having spent a lot of his time on the subs bench. But I suppose the thought of the long journeys from Dublin without his old buddies Tom and Seamus was a bit too much.
Congrats to all our All Star nominees. Stephen Coen was definitely unlucky to lose out but I think that consistency does not gain too many points for a nomination. One outstanding performance, especially in a game where most of the nominators are watching outweighs any number of consistent performances, esp. because most of the nominators are not watching most games.
I doubt if any county, even Kerry and Dublin, has had all three Young Player nominees until this year. Indeed if there had been room for four nominees Ryan O’Donoghue would probably have got that seeing as he is an All Star nominee. Sometimes an honour like this can go to a young man’s head but our young men have two good mentors in Cillian and Diarmuid. Standards have been set, largely by men retiring in recent times, and I have no doubt that they will be maintained.
This IS a really big loss, although I half suspected he could be one of the retirees, what with committing now to club football with Clontarf. An outstanding guy; if I have a stand-out memory, and there are many, his demolition job on Tommy Walsh in last year’s league final was a joy, real icing on the cake that one.
Looked at the archive (thanks again Willie Joe), and yes, he did play with that great U21 team of 2006, helping himself to a point in both the semi-final and final. Seamie, Boyler, and Keith all part of that team. When you consider another of the 2006 team, Mark Ronaldson, for example, it seems a long time since he donned the Mayo jersey (which he did with distinction). Yet, here are the above-mentioned warriors who have made it to 2020.
Keith and Boyler pleeeeeeeeeeeease stay!
Biggest loss of them all – will be sorely missed. Difficult to stomach the travel / location aspect which I’m sure was part of his decision when his ‘neighbours’ playing for Dublin have no such issues!
I’m intrigued Big Mike that you watched the 2017 final back, over Christmas at that. Just wondering if it was masochism or schadenfreude that drove you?
There are quite a lot of cases of retired before nominated for an All star.
Peter Canavan retired at the 2005 banquet.
Others who retired close to finals they were beaten in or won.
Chris Barrett was in my view our most consistent defender over the last ten years. With one more Chris Barrett we’d probably have a Sam or two extra by now. He was that good.
Am sad beyond words to see Chris stepping away. It’s the amount of effort he epitomised everything you need to know about Mayo… this Mayo team. Traveling so much, training, starting his business, starting his family and ferociously passionate as a player. God he was one man you simply had to be proud to call your own. I’ll miss you Chris but am so grateful for everything you have given Mayo GAA through the years. Best of luck and happiness for the future.
Congrats to all the nominees above and especially the three young lads. Thank God that Mayo spirit is still there in abundance. Long may it be so. Maigheo go deo.
Best wishes to Chris. Truly stellar performances for Mayo down the years. He simply never failed to impress in a game. 2017 performance at centre back- what a game. 2 points scored against Tyrone from corner back. Manners put on Comer more than once. And best wishes to David, Donie, Tom and Seamie and indeed Andy. Many fine days in the Green and Red. And appropriate also that on the year they retired, all 3 nominees for young player of the year are Mayo lads.
Another big loss, some career stretching back to 2008.
Would love to see our Kevin win one. He deserved it more other years and got nout but you just never know with these things.
Bizarrely Kilkenny most likely win POTY and may not have been nominated if Durcan had not gone off injured at HT in final….
Thanks so much for all the wonderful years of truly great football and never say die mentality, you were one of the finest Chris, the best of luck in the future to you and your family and the rest of the retirees.
Chris Barrett, a real man’s defender.
If there were ‘Player’s player of the year’ annual awards among the Mayo senior football squad, He’d have a few of them for his great commitment and consistent contributions, which would be recognised even more from within.
A fully fit and well Brendan Harrison will be even more important now for this year’s campaign.
Best of luck to the Mayo nominees for All Star awards. With all three shortlisted for Young Player of the Year, and the retirements, the average of the Mayo squad has fallen a lot. Important year for the more experienced lads to lead from the front!
A lot of experience dropped out of the team in the last couple of weeks. Hope that’s the end of it. We need some seasoned heads in there.
Sad to see Chris go. Thought he may have given it one more year considering he was still playing well. It is a hell of a commitment tho and he has given us so much already. I will never forget his performance in the 2017 final..absolutely brilliant on the day and if ever a man deserved his medal he did that day. He is a tough act to follow.m
a lot of defenders gone but look at whats still there,
Harrison Mullen Eoin O Donoghue/ O Hora
Keegan Durkan McLaughlin,
nothing wrong with that defence.
I’ve finally got around to changing that banner photo. The retirements are in hot pursuit, though – two of those in the new shot have since called it a day!