Friday night saw the Devenish Antrim club All Star awards held for the third year at the popular west Belfast venue, and once again it was a great success.
The evening got underway with a display of Irish dancing by the highly talented Irish Entertainment Company.
With BBC’s Mark Sidebottom again the man on the mic the chat and banter flowed freely. Mark did an interview with two former Antrim GAA stars from both codes, Gearoid Adams and Terence Sambo McNaughton, both of whom had some great stories to tell of their playing days and of their views on the modern day game, though things did go off on a tangent at a time when Mark and Sambo got into a deep discussion about the origins of the German Shepard dog…. or should that be Alsatian???
Of course the main business of the evening was the presentation of the All Star Awards, which coverer the Junior, Intermediate and Senior players in both codes. As is always the case at these events the loudest cheers of the evening are always reserved for the players from the lower divisions who have been selected ahead of their senior counterparts.
Paddy Burke of Cushendall won the Hurler of the Year award after completing a great season with his club, while the evergreen Tomas McCann received the Footballer of the Year as Cargin’s dominance of the local game continues.
The Young Player of the Year awards both went to the championship winning clubs as well with Joseph McLaughlin, of Ruairi getting the hurling honour, while Cargin’s Conhuir Johnston got the big ball award
Back row, L-R, John McNabb (Cargin), Eoin Hynds (Con Magees), Tiernan O’Boyle (Rasharlin), Kevin McShane (Cargin), Niall McKeever (Portglenone), Conhuir Johnston (Cargin), Deaglan Smith (Dunloy), Eoin McFerran (Dunloy).
Pic by John McIlwaine
Back row, L-R, Paddy Burke, Declan McCloskey (Loughgiel), Paul Boyle (Loughgiel), James McNaughton (Loughgiel), Thomas Burns (Armoy), Niall Gillan (Cushendall), Ryan McCambridge (Cushendall). Front L-R, Joseph McLaughlin (Cushendall), Ryan McKee (Loughgiel), Dessi McClean (Gort na Mona(, Eoghan Campbell (Cushendall), Chris McKiernan (Cloughghills), CaolanMcKernan Sarsfields)Conor McCann (Creggan) – Missing from pic Neil McManus.
