Sport

David Clifford has been nominated for the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year award and is expected to win it

KERRY'S DAVID CLIFFORD has been nominated for the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year award.

The 23-year-old will compete for the award with Galway's Cillian McDaid and Shane Walsh.

Clifford is regarded as the best footballer in the country. He led from the front in Kerry's All-Ireland win this year.

He is now the favourite to take home the Footballer of the Year gong.

Shane Walsh had an excellent All-Ireland final too. He scored 9 points for Galway, while McDaid shot four points from midfield

Derry’s Chrissy McKaigue and Kerry’s Sean O’Shea have missed the final cut.

The winner will be decided at a gala banquet at the end of October by a vote determined by GPA’s inter-county membership.

The @PwCIreland 2022 Football All-Stars nominees have been announced

— The GAA (@officialgaa) September 7, 2022

Clifford is also one of 12 players from Kerry that have been included on a 45-strong All-Star nominations .

The list goes like this Kerry (12), Galway (8), Derry (7), Dublin (6), Armagh (5), Cork (2), Limerick (1), Clare (1), Monaghan (1), Kildare (1) and Mayo (1).

The five counties to miss out on a nomination were last year’s All-Ireland champions, Tyrone, Donegal, Roscommon, Louth and Meath.

This means that 11 of the 16 counties eligible for nominations received at least one.

In the football category, the Young Footballer of the Year award is between Derry’s Ethan Doherty, Dublin’s Lee Gannon and Galway’s Jack Glynn,

All-Star list

Goalkeepers

Ethan Rafferty (Armagh), Shane Ryan (Kerry), Evan Comerford (Dublin)

Defenders

Jason Foley, Tadhg Morley, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Graham O'Sullivan, Tom O’Sullivan, Gavin White (all Kerry); Liam Silke, Seán Kelly, John Daly (all Galway); Chrissy McKaigue, Conor McCluskey, Brendan Rogers (all Derry); James McCarthy, Lee Gannon (both Dublin); Lee Keegan (Mayo); Jarlath Óg Burns (Armagh); Seán Powter (Cork); Cian Sheehan (Limerick)

Midfielders

Paul Conroy, Cillian McDaid (both Galway); Conor Glass, Gareth McKinless (both Derry); Brian Fenton (Dublin); Jack Barry (Kerry)

Forwards

David Clifford, Seán O’Shea, Paudie Clifford, Stephen O’Brien (all Kerry); Shane Walsh, Damien Comer, Robert Finnerty (all Galway); Rian O’Neill, Stefan Campbell, Rory Grugan (all Armagh); Ciarán Kilkenny, Con O’Callaghan (both Dublin); Shane McGuigan, Ethan Doherty (both Derry); Ben McCormack (Kildare); Eoin Cleary (Clare); Steven Sherlock (Cork); Jack McCarron (Monaghan)