Brogan and Corbett announced as players of the year
Dublin's Bernard Brogan and Lar Corbett of Tipperary have been revealed tonight as the 2010 GAA Players of the Year in football and hurling respectively.
At the Vodafone All-Stars banquet in the Citywest Hotel, the sharp-shooting Brogan was announced as the Footballer of the Year - becoming the first Dublin player to win the award since it was introduced in 1995.
Indeed, he is the first player from a county that did not contest the year's All-Ireland final to claim the prestigious gong.
Meath's Trevor Giles, who was honoured in both 1996 and 1999, was the only previous Leinster winner of the award.
The other players nominated for the 2010 award were Down forward Danny Hughes and Cork's rock-solid defender Michael Shields.
Brogan scored 3-42 during Dublin's Championship run over the summer, and was a pivotal presence up front - most notably in a tight All-Ireland semi-final which just went Cork's way.
It was a memorable night for St. Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh clubman, who joined his father, Bernard snr, and brother, Alan, as an All-Star award winner.
He said afterwards: "Personal recognition is always great, but it's a team effort and this (Footballer of the Year) award is a tribute to the Dublin management and my team-mates.
"Work-rate was our motto all through the year. I was just at the end of the chain, taking the easy scores."
Lar Corbett, Tipperary's hat-trick hero from their All-Ireland final win, was a deserving winner of the Hurler of the Year award.
The 29-year-old attacking ace from Thurles beat off competition from his county colleague Brendan Maher and Kilkenny's Michael Fennelly, capping off a fine year for Tipp hurling.
It was the second year running that Corbett had been nominated for the top personal honour in hurling. He is the first Tipperary winner of the award since Tommy Dunne was selected in 2001.
Playing tribute to recently departed Tipp manager Liam Sheedy, who presented the award, Corbett said: "Liam came in and gave us the belief to become All-Ireland champions. Now we have that belief, all we want to do is keep it going and drive on."
Brendan Maher, the talented Tipp midfielder, has some consolation in being chosen as the Young Hurler of the Year.
He got the nod over his county team-mate and last year's winner, Noel McGrath, and Waterford's Noel Connors.
The Young Footballer of the Year award went to one of Cork's All-Ireland winning stars, midfielder Aidan Walsh. The 20-year-old Kanturk clubman, fresh from collecting his first All-Star award, was selected ahead of fellow nominees, Peter Kelly (Kildare) and Graham Reilly (Meath).
