The All-Stars and the illusion of the individual

ILLUSION OF THE INDIVIDUAL: David Clifford’s genius has been, and will continue to be, enough to win singular games. It was never a sustainable path to claim successive championships. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

It is not only in the afterglow of success that the raw components required for it reveal themselves. But that is how it often goes. Only after the adventurer has scaled the summit do we trace, belatedly, the route that carried them there.

One of the most enduring images to emerge from last year’s All-Stars event was the collection of interviews with friends and family of the victorious Armagh outfit. Tommy Coleman is one of those stalwarts who has fulfilled every role within Clann Éireann GAC. His unfiltered pride burst from the screen as he reflected on the fact his club, who never had an All-Star before, suddenly had two.

“This was written when this lad was nine, maybe ten years of age,” he said, holding up a page inscribed with a classroom exercise: My Future. A Move of My Life.

The scenes were sketched out like a child’s prophecy: Play for Armagh. Win All-Ireland. Be an All-Star.

“Everything wasn’t straightforward for this lad. But eventually, his dream came through. That lad is Barry McCambridge.” 

As the footage played at the top of the RDS, a nearby table of Armagh representatives spun to each other in wonder. Maybe they had never heard this story. It is likely it had parallels with their own. The point of the night was to honour their individual brilliance and here was a bright reminder of where the work started and all the things that needed to go right to get from that point to the top.

This has never been in question. It takes a village. David Clifford’s genius has been, and will continue to be, enough to win singular games. It was never a sustainable path to claim successive championships. That is the law of team sport. In the battle of individual versus collective, more often than not the collective will triumph.

Anyone who invests in Gaelic football can attest to that reality. Goals and points matter. Breaking ball and kickout wins pave the way for them. The sport should never be reduced to score tallies. Nor should the All-Stars. So, Clifford gets his sixth gong. Gavin White is every bit as deserving of his second, especially after a final that included three points, four assists, four kickout wins, and the relentless tone set from both throw-ins. He was deservedly named Man of the Match after that display.

Proof of a perfect system, so? If only.

For the coaches, analysts and players who dedicate themselves to the improvement of an inter-county team, the array of pieces that must click into place are the moving parts of their daily sporting lives. Take a single kickout. A crucial part of Kerry’s eventual triumph, and their turnaround from the Meath loss, was their ability to secure a steady supply of ball. They were not going to allow centrefield to be conquered again.

It takes a team of analysts to identify these issues, a team of coaches to devise solutions, and a group of players to enact them, so that Paul Murphy can break left and dart away from Michael Murphy to secure those invisible short restarts. Everyone in that network has their own chain of support behind them. It was a significant tactical component in the decider. How does the All-Stars reflect that? Does one award for Shane Ryan do it?

Sometimes defeat demonstrates just how much has to go right. At the GAA National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown last Saturday, there was a gathering for the Setanta College-run ‘Coaching for High Performance’ event.

It was, thankfully, an engaging and thoroughly insightful day. These coaching clinics can be exercises in self-congratulation at times, polite exhibitions of the great things they did, the great people they did them with and the great moments they achieved together.

PJ Wilson, the Head of Education at Setanta College, opted for a different approach. In the past, Wilson has worked as the Head of Athletic Performance with Munster rugby and Cardiff City. A fascinating career led him to Mayo this year, where he worked as Head of Athletic Performance.

It was evident that Wilson absolutely adored being involved in elite sport. If you aspire to be involved in it, he explained, you will become brutally familiar with pain. There will be more defeats than victories. More failures than successes. Then he pressed play.

The footage was the final few minutes of the most gutting defeat of the 2025 championship. One he was part of and witnessed from the line. Fergal Boland looked to have secured his county’s safe passage to the knockout rounds with a spectacular kick in Dr Hyde Park, only for Ciaran Moore to break their hearts with a final kick. Here was one of the most painful blows that a coach can experience and he was willing to bear it so a room of enthusiasts could take something of real benefit away with them.

There were clips from Mayo training. Segments about how their game model had to steer everything, including their training model. A memory of a goalkeeping coach drilling Colm Reape again and again to scramble back fast if committed to an all-out press. “How the heck did he recover there?” asked Ger Canning as Reape somehow managed to recover and deny Paddy McBrearty what looked a certain goal. That was how.

Boland practiced that kick religiously. That Mayo group did a lot right, they reached a league final, lost a Connacht final by a point and ran the Ulster champions to a last-gasp curler. He held his hand up. It wasn’t enough. They still got too much wrong. It was a reminder of how this sort of honest review is essential to improve and a glimpse of what Meath GAA will benefit from now that Wilson has made a move.

The point is this: the numbers of moving parts in Gaelic football now is mind-bending. Should the All-Stars take consideration of that? How?

The extension of the championship, with its proliferation of extra games, should have complicated the process. Instead it simply diluted it.

There should be a consideration at the midpoint of the championship. Performances in the league should be given more value; it is a vital competition to certain teams and should be to others. This would be a small means of redressing that.

There were 64 championship games this season. How many should be viewed before selecting an All-Star team? In what way should each performance be weighted? Is it possible to reflect the interdependence of a unit in an individual honour?

Conor Glass operated in a Derry side that didn’t win a game in 2025. He finished the league as the second top scorer from play. His championship displays against Armagh and Galway in particular were immense. Robert Finnerty was Galway’s top scorer and second top assister. He stood up in vital games against Roscommon, Dublin, Derry, Armagh and Down as the west’s previous two main forwards struggled with injury.

Ultimately, they both excelled despite their teams’ struggles. Have they been punished for that? Should they be?

There are so many moving parts in Gaelic football now that no player truly stands alone. This is as true in victory as it is in defeat. Every award last night is also a tribute to the people who prepped them, challenged them and made it possible. In this game, brilliance is never a solo act.

Maurice Brosnan was a member of the all-Stars selection panel.