The minor footballer and hurler of the year were also announced.

Orla Cotter says she does not know if she will line out for Cork in next year’s Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship after recently moving to New York.

The Clare senior footballers will be without their two All-Star nominees next season as captain Gary Brennan has joined Jamie Malone in opting out of the squad.

Stephen Cluxton has been named Footballer of the Year for the first time in his career.

There is a curious notion doing the rounds. This notion imagines that the great challenge in making a success of the GAA’s new All-Ireland B Football Championship is one of marketing.

Dublin great Barry Cahill reckons the odds of both Jim Gavin and Stephen Cluxton remaining in their positions beyond Sunday’s All-Ireland final are only ‘50-50’.

The Minnesota Twins set an MLB record in their clash with the Texas Rangers while two teams played through an earthquake last night.

Donegal All-Star Ryan McHugh has admitted that last year’s championship campaign turned decisively against them once Paddy McBrearty suffered a season-ending injury.

Henry Shefflin has described talk of him inevitably succeeding Kilkenny manager Brian Cody as ‘disrespectful’ and claimed it would be ‘silly’ for him to contribute to the discussion.

Conor McManus has insisted that fellow All-Star Rory Beggan didn’t need to apologise for going for glory during their narrow All-Ireland semi-final defeat.

The NBA starts again on Tuesday night with a high-profile doubleheader.

His native Cork may not be contesting the All-Ireland hurling final but that doesn’t mean that Kevin Cummins wouldn’t have a certain amount of pride as he takes his seat in Croke Park tomorrow afternoon.

Under the Hogan Stand, TJ Reid stopped to chat. After scoring 2-2, it didn’t appear it would be a difficult request, and so it turned out, but his demeanour wasn’t one of delight but righteous indignation.

In 2004, Fiona McHale joined up with a Mayo team that had won four of the last five All-Ireland titles. She has long become the oil in the green and red engine, but the medal she presumed would come still hasn’t arrived. Tomorrow, against Dublin, she dreams again.

Philly McMahon says he won’t “lose any sleep” over the retirement of old rival Colm Cooper, saying they never met when the Kerry legend was in his prime.

All-Star midfielder Mattie Donnelly says individual awards are no compensation for Tyrone’s failure to back up their Ulster title with a serious bid for the All-Ireland.

13 years on and three acquaintances are in the running for TG4 Ladies Football All-Star Awards at the Citywest Hotel tonight.

Rugby country, Saturday afternoon. Population: 5,000. Probably less.

Galway forward Cyril Donnellan admits that halting Tipperary’s high-scoring attack will be a difficult task for Micheál Donoghue’s side this weekend.

Karl O’Dwyer still has the letter from Páidí Ó Sé congratulating him on his 1998 All- Star. 

Mayo footballer Aidan O’Shea has revealed he suffered six or seven concussions in his playing career, two of them coming within weeks of each other in last year’s Connacht final and All-Ireland semi-final replay.

Kerry’s Paul Murphy believes Tommy Walsh’s Kingdom return will bring with it positives that ripple far beyond the field of play.

It was from O’Neill’s pub in Vilamoura harbour on this weekend last year that Karl Lacey watched the All-Ireland final.

Galway camogie star Therese Maher has announced her retirement from the inter-county game after finally ending a 17-year wait for an All-Ireland title last year.

Brian Hanley and Liam Dunne have been reinstalled as managers of the Westmeath and Wexford senior hurlers respectively for the 2014 season.

Cavan footballer Cian Mackey and Dublin hurler Paul Ryan have been honoured as the GAA-GPA Opel Players of the Month for July at Croke Park today.

Sprint legend Usain Bolt says he is in shock over the arrest of fellow Olympian Oscar Pistorius, who has been accused of shooting dead his model girlfriend.

As John Mullane can testify, All Star awards can provide some succour for beaten All-Ireland semi-finalists.

Cavan manager Terry Hyland wished Seanie Johnston and Kildare the best of luck together and then delivered a damning assessment of both.

Following on from the retirements of John Miskella and Anthony Lynch, Cork football manager Conor Counihan has suffered another pre-season setback.

Leinster and All-Ireland SFC champions Dublin have been rewarded with six positions on the 2011 GAA GPA All-Stars Football team, which was announced at tonight's banquet event at the Convention Centre.

BOTH Cork and Tipp report strong hands for their eagerly-awaited Munster SHC opener this Sunday in Thurles.

2007 All-Star hurler Andrew O'Shaughnessy has played his last game for the Limerick senior team, it has been confirmed.

THE news yesterday that star forward Andrew O’Shaughnessy, not yet 27, has quit inter-county hurling has come as a blow in Limerick, catching his inter-county team-mates — current and former — completely by surprise.

AS has become the norm on these trips, the president of the GAA took an hour out of his day on the end-of-season All-Stars tour yesterday to survey the lay of the land for the association as one year draws to a close and another looms large.

All-Ireland champions Wexford lead the way in this year's Camogie All Stars team with eight players named in the side. Beaten finalists Galway take five positions, while Kilkenny and Cork share one a piece.

Kildare midfielder Dermot Earley is targetting a return for the Lilywhites, but it will not be until next June at the earliest.

WHAT an outstanding advert for the National Hurling League this was.