No All-Star nominations for Wexford
WEXFORD WERE the only one of the top nine hurling counties not to feature when the shortlist for the PwC All-Stars was published on Saturday.
Diarmuid O’Keeffe and Lee Chin won awards in 2019, bridging a gap of 15 years in the process since Damien Fitzhenry was selected in goal for the hurlers while Matty Forde became the county’s first - and, to date, only - football winner.
However, after a brief and very flat championship campaign, featuring disappointing defeats to Galway and Clare respectively, there was no place for even one Wexford player on the list of nominees.
Eight counties are represented in total, with the 45 shortlisted naturally dominated as per usual by the All-Ireland finalists.
Champions Limerick have 14 players in with a chance, while ten Waterford men are in the running.
Seven hurlers from Galway are named, along with five from Kilkenny, four from Clare, two apiece from Tipperary and Cork, plus one from Dublin: leading scorer Donal Burke.
It means that Wexford and Laois are the only two counties that played in the All-Ireland championship series without a hurler nominated.
The hurler of the year award will go to either Limerick’s Gearóid Hegarty, Clare ace Tony Kelly, or Waterford’s Stephen Bennett, while those in contention for young hurler of the year are Jake Morris (Tipperary), Eoin Cody (Kilkenny) and Iarlaith Daly (Waterford).
The awards will be presented on TV on a date to be confirmed.