Magnificent seven for Jackies at All Stars

Sun, 2nd December 2018

All-Ireland senior champions Dublin have been honoured with seven representatives on the 2018 TG4 All Star team.

Dublin’s haul is an all-time best on an All Star team selection – as the 2010 and 2016 selections each contained six Sky Blues.

The selection was revealed on Saturday night at the annual TG4 All Star awards banquet, in association with Lidl, at the Citywest Hotel.

Captain Sinéad Aherne received a seventh All Star award, and her third in a row, and there was a sixth in seven years for right-half-back Sinéad Goldrick, who will line out for Foxrock-Cabinteely in next Saturday’s All-Ireland Senior Club Final against Mourneabbey.

The Cork club have the O’Sullivan sisters – county captain Ciara and Doireann – included on the 2018 TG4 All Star selection.

It’s the second year in a row that a set of sisters was named on the All Star selection, as the Hegartys from Donegal, Ciara and Niamh, were listed on the 2017 team.

Aherne and Goldrick are joined on the 2018 list by Dublin team-mates Ciara Trant, Siobhán McGrath, Lauren Magee, Noelle Healy and Lyndsey Davey.

Dublin’s Sinéad Aherne was named as the 2018 TG4 Senior Players’ Player of the Year at the annual All Star banquet, in association with Lidl, at the Citywest Hotel on Saturday night.

Aherne captained the Sky Blues to a second successive TG4 All-Ireland Senior title in front of a record 50,141 attendance at Croke Park on September 16 – and the St Sylvester’s star scored 1-7 in the Final victory over Cork.

In total, Aherne bagged 5-31 in the 2018 TG4 Senior Championship, and she was the popular choice with fellow players to finally claim the coveted individual award.

It was the third successive year that Aherne, 32, had been nominated for the Senior Players’ Player of the Year award.

Cork’s Bríd Stack won the 2016 title, while the 2017 gong went to Aherne’s Dublin team-mate Noelle Healy.

But it was very much a case of third time lucky for prolific forward Aherne, who also claimed a 7^th TG4 All Star award on the night, and a third in as many years.

Aherne had been nominated for the Senior Players’ Player of the Year award alongside team-mate Lyndsey Davey and Cork captain Ciara O’Sullivan.

Trant wins an All Star for a second successive year, while McGrath picks up her first gong since 2010.

Midfielder Magee is one of five first-time recipients, 2017 Senior Players’ Player of the Year Healy wins her fourth All Star award, and a third in a row, while Davey is also honoured for the fourth time.

Trant, Healy, Aherne and Cork’s Emma Spillane are the only survivors from the 2017 selection, as TG4 All-Ireland Finalists Cork picked up four awards in total.

Ciara, now a four-time winner, and Doireann O’Sullivan, who collected her first, are joined on the team by Spillane and another first-time recipient, Róisín Phelan, who’s named at full-back.

Spillane received an award at right corner back in 2017 but this time she earns the left-half-back slot.

The remainder of the team is made up of players from Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Tyrone.

Donegal’s Treasa Doherty earns her first All Star at right corner back, while Sinéad Burke from Galway is also named for the first time on an All Star team at left corner back.

Tyrone’s 2018 TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship winning captain Neamh Woods collects her second All Star award, and first since 2008, at midfield.

And there’s a third award for Kerry sharpshooter and captain Sarah Houlihan, who was last honoured in 2013.

2018 TG4 Ladies Football All-Star team:

1. Ciara Trant (Dublin) – 2nd award

2. Treasa Doherty (Donegal) – 1st award

3. Róisín Phelan (Cork) – 1st award

4. Sinéad Burke (Galway) – 1st award

5. Sinéad Goldrick (Dublin) – 6th award

6. Siobhán McGrath (Dublin) – 3rd award

7. Emma Spillane (Cork) – 2nd award

8. Neamh Woods (Tyrone) – 2nd award

9. Lauren Magee (Dublin) – 1st award

10. Ciara O’Sullivan (Cork) – 4th award