Kildare’s brilliant year in both hurling and football has been further recognised by the Team of the Year awards in both the Tailteann and Joe McDonagh Cups. The county won the football championship in July, defeating Limerick in the final, having already claimed the hurling in June, against Laois.
The footballers claimed five places on the Tailteann selection for 2025. In the fourth iteration of the awards, this is the same total as their predecessors Down were awarded last year and three off the record haul of eight, picked up by 2023 champions Meath.
Full forward Darragh Kirwan, from Naas, is the only member of last year’s team to be reselected. He earned the MOTM accolade in the final.
His four team-mates, also honoured, are corner back Harry O’Neill, who was on the county’s under-20 All-Ireland winning team, wing back James McGrath, centerfielder Kevin Feely and centre forward Alex Beirne.
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Runners-up Limerick, who came extremely close to edging last July’s final, have four representatives: goalkeeper Josh Ryan, who made a crucial penalty save in the semi-final against Wicklow, veteran centre back Iain Corbett, scoring sensation James McNaughton – who earlier in the year scored a record 4-12 in the league against Waterford – at wing forward and Danny Neville on the other wing.
Four other counties are included, semi-finalists Wicklow, with Malachy Stone, consistently excellent at corner back and the evergreen centrefielder Dean Healy. Fermanagh, the other semi-finalists, whose full back Lee Cullen is honoured.
Inaugural Tailteann winners Westmeath return two, wing back Sam Macartan and corner forward Luke Loughlin. The other corner forward position goes to Wexford’s Seán Nolan.
In the McDonagh awards, Kildare took seven in recognition of winning a championship in which they had failed to win even a match up until this year. They will compete in next year’s Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time under the current championship structure.
Their award winners were: the Boran brothers Rian and Cian, Simon Leacy, James Burke, Cathal McCabe, David Qualter, the McDonagh’s top scorer and Jack Sheridan.
Finalists Laois receive five places, including goalkeeper Cathal Dunne, whose exceptional saves kept the final open for as long as it was and Paddy Purcell, who was also in the 2024 team.
The winners will be presented with their awards this Friday night at a special black-tie event at Croke Park where they will be guests of honour alongside members of the other grade winners, the Champion 15 – comprising players from the Ring, Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups.
The event will be streamed live by the GAA on YouTube from 7pm.
Tailteann Cup 2025 Team of the Year
Josh Ryan (Limerick); Harry O’Neill (Kildare), Lee Cullen (Fermanagh), Malachy Stone (Wicklow); James McGrath (Kildare), Iain Corbett (Limerick), Sam McCartan (Westmeath); Dean Healy (Wicklow), Kevin Feely (Kildare); James Naughton (Limerick), Alex Beirne (Kildare), Danny Neville (Limerick); Luke Loughlin (Westmeath), Darragh Kirwan (Kildare), Seán Nolan (Wexford).
Joe McDonagh Cup Team of the Year
Cathal Dunne (Laois), Paul Doyle (Carlow), Rian Boran (Kildare), Simon Leacy (Kildare); Pádraig Delaney (Laois), Cian Boran (Kildare), Diarmaid Conway (Laois); James Burke (Kildare), Cathal McCabe (Kildare); Paddy Purcell (Laois), Tomás Keyes (Laois), David Qualter (Kildare); Martin Kavanagh (Carlow), Jack Sheridan (Kildare), Chris Nolan (Carlow).
Champion 15 Team of the Year
Enda Lawless (Roscommon) (Nickey Rackard); Mark Ward (Roscommon) (Nickey Rackard), Conor Byrne (London) (Christy Ring), Oisín Greally (Mayo) (Nickey Rackard); Enda Egan (London) (Christy Ring), Conor Cosgrove (Roscommon) (Nickey Rackard), Ruairí Ó Mianáin (Derry) (Christy Ring); Daniel Huane (Mayo) (Nickey Rackard), Eamon Conway (Derry) (Christy Ring); Liam O’Brien (Cavan) (Lory Meagher), Seán Glynn (London) (Christy Ring), David Mangan (New York) (Lory Meagher); Seán Canning (Roscommon) (Nickey Rackard), Pádraig Doyle (Wicklow) (Christy Ring), Liam Lavin (Mayo) (Nickey Rackard).
