Kelly and Corkery honoured with top football and camogie awards

WEXFORD’S Kate Kelly and Cork’s Briege Corkery were yesterday named the Vodafone GAA Camogie and Ladies’ Football Players of the Year for 2007.

Camogie Association President Liz Howard, Ladies Football Association President Geraldine Giles and Vodafone’s Head of Corporate Affairs Rosemary Steen, honoured the two players at the awards function in Dublin’s Westbury Hotel.

Kelly was honoured for her leadership as Wexford ended a 32-year wait for All-Ireland senior glory, defeating a Cork team containing dual player Corkery in the All-Ireland final.

She scored 1-40 in this year’s championship, with 15 points coming from play. Already a winner of two Allstar awards she has been named Wexford Camogie Player of the Year and Ladies Footballer of the year, a unique achievement.

Meanwhile, Corkery continued Cork’s domination of this award when following in the footsteps of Valerie Mulcahy and Juliette Murphy who were honoured in 2005 and 2006 respectively. In September she collected her third consecutive All-Ireland senior medal as an essential part of the all-conquering team.

Honoured as the Irish Sportswoman of the Year in 2005, Briege has continued to perform spectacularly on a number of stages, collecting two All-Ireland Senior Camogie medals to add to her impressive collection.