Farragher collects Connacht award

Galway hot shot Ger Farragher has scooped the Connacht GAA Writers' Personality of the Year award for 2005.

The award, won in 2004 by Mayo footballer Ciaran McDonald and sponsored by the TF Royal Hotel and Theatre in Castlebar, crowns a brilliant year for the Castlegar clubman.

Farragher was an inevitable choice after scoring a record 3-57 in six SHC championship games last summer.

He knocked in 2-9 in Galway's epic All-Ireland semi-final victory over Kilkenny before scoring eight points in the Tribesmen's final defeat by Cork.

The 22-year-old was also central to Sligo IT's winning of the Ryan Cup, the CAO's secondary hurling competition, last spring.

His performances helped earn him a Datapac Hotshot award (third level All-Star), and Farragher repeated the trick in November, winning his first Vodafone GAA All-Star award as one of four Galway players honoured.

Farragher, a two-time All-Ireland minor winner in 1999 and 2000, said after collecting his Connacht award: "No one gave us (Galway) a chance last year but now the expectation is higher after reaching the All-Ireland final.

"The other counties will be aware of our style of play this season, but the experience we got last year will certainly stand to us."