More joy for Galway U-20s as Ó Fátharta and Glynn take EirGrid awards

GALWAY have followed up their EirGrid All-Ireland U-20 football success by sweeping the boards in the end-of-season U-20 awards.

Skipper Jack Glynn, a pivotal defensive figure in their Croke Park triumph over Dublin last month, has been named EirGrid U-20 Footballer of the Year for 2020 while his boss, Donal Ó Fátharta, is the EirGrid Manager of the Year.

The young Tribesmen also lead the way in the ‘20 U-20’ awards to honour the top 20 performers in last year’s championship. Six Galway players (including Glynn) make the list alongside four each from beaten finalists Dublin and Ulster champions Tyrone, three from fellow All-Ireland semifinalists Kerry, and one apiece from Laois, Cork and Donegal.

This is the sixth year of the player awards and second of the EirGrid Manager of The Year, all selected by the Gaelic Writers Association.

Adhesive

Galway captain Glynn was deemed the tournament’s standout player – due in no small part to his adhesive man-marking of Dublin dangerman Ciarán Archer, who was held to just 0-1 in the final.

Ó Fátharta was honoured for leading his squad to provincial and All-Ireland victories in his first year, claiming the county’s first U-20/21 title since 2013.

Meanwhile, Glynn is joined among the 20 U-20 winners by five team-mates – goalkeeper Conor Flaherty, midfielder Conor Raftery and forwards Paul Kelly, Matthew Tierney and Tomo Culhane.

The selected Dubs are Lee Gannon, Mark Lavin, Lorcan O’Dell and Archer, the 2019 player of the year. Darragh Canavan, Cormac Munroe, Ethan Jordan and Tiernan Quinn all make the cut for Tyrone.

Seán O’Brien, Dan McCarthy and Ruairí Ó Beaglaoich represent Kerry with the other three slots going to Ronan Coffey of Laois, Cork’s Blake Murphy and Aaron Doherty of Donegal.

GAA president John Horan paid tribute to the award winners as well as all those who competed in the championship “given the testing set of circumstances everyone involved faced”.

Michael Mahon, chief infrastructure officer at EirGrid, commented: “The talent we witnessed in the 2020 championship was incredible, and each of these young players did their counties proud during such an unprecedented time.”

EIRGRID 20 U-20: Conor Flaherty, Jack Glynn, Conor Raftery, Paul Kelly, Matthew Tierney, Tomo Culhane (all Galway); Lee Gannon, Mark Lavin, Lorcan O’Dell, Ciarán Archer (all Dublin); Darragh Canavan, Cormac Munroe, Ethan Jordan, Tiernan Quinn (all Tyrone); Seán O’Brien, Dan McCarthy, Ruairi Ó Beaglaoich (all Kerry); Aaron Doherty (Donegal); Ronan Coffey (Laois); Blake Murphy (Cork).