Stars align for cream of Cork club talent at Rearden's All-Stars

THE cream of the crop of club talent on Leeside was honoured at the sixth annual Rearden’s All-Stars.

A total of 60 players were recognised in this year’s scheme, with camogie and ladies footballers included for the first time.

The Player of the Year winners were also revealed, with Nemo Rangers’ maestro Luke Connolly, Imokilly playmaker Brian Lawton, Inniscarra sharp-shooter Joanne Casey and West Cork divisional ace Orla Finn – who was also outstanding for her club Kinsale in winning the intermediate title – landing the big prizes.

The Rearden’s All-Stars, which are selected by a panel of judges from the local media, are given out on the basis of displays in the senior grades of the club championships.

The county champions always feature heavily in the finalised teams, but this year’s hurling selection was interesting in that 15 players were getting their first awards.

That was a reflection of the fact four new teams reached the semi-finals, with Imokilly lifting the Seán Óg Murphy Cup for the first time since 1998 and Blackrock returning to the final after a gap of 14 years.

Paudie O’Sullivan was an All-Star winner having excelled for East Cork, which surely went some to way to offsetting three county final losses with his club Cloyne in the mid-noughties.

Nemo and St Finbarr’s shared 14 of the 15 positions on the football All-Stars after their pair of stone-cold classics in October, with Barrs powerhouse Ian Maguire and Cork star Paul Kerrigan among those included, while Avondhu’s Matthew Taylor nabbed a corner-back berth.

The queens of ladies football, Mourneabbey, landed five All-Stars, including three O’Sullivan sisters, Róisín, Ciara and Doireann.

Inniscarra led the way in camogie with four All-Stars – Cork legend Rena Buckley making the cut at centre-back – and county finalists Glen Rovers and Milford secured three each.

Players from St Catherine’s, Ballincollig, Douglas and Courcey Rovers were also picked.

Michael O’Sullivan, the general manager of Rearden’s, said they were delighted to see the awards go from strength to strength.

“It was fantastic to be able to bring in the camogie and ladies football teams this year. We’d always given out a Player of the Year, but there was a great interest in having an inclusive All-Stars and there was incredible talent in all four teams.”