Shane Cunningham and Joey Holden, from the recently crowned All-Ireland champions Kilmacud Crokes and Ballyhale Shamrocks were this evening named as AIB Club Players of the Year.
Cunningham, who captained Kilmacud to their their football title against Glen from Derry, came out on top after a season during which his leadership was a recurrent factor in his team’s success.
Holden, an All-Ireland intercounty medallist with Kilkenny who he captained to the 2015 title, was an integral part of Ballyhale’s driven return to the top after losing last year’s final to Ballygunner in the dying seconds of the match.
That acute disappointment is a shared feature of the two winners, as Kilmacud also lost the 2022 All-Ireland final to a late goal in injury-time against Down’s Kilcoo.
Ciarán Murphy: Let’s not lose faith now in the need to reboot our game
Con O’Meara and Coolera-Strandhill hoping to cause an upset in Connacht
Alan Mangan and Castletown Geoghegan braced for Thomastown test
Seán Moran: Club culture in the new age - split season, fluctuating fortunes and anxious administrators
Cunningham showed leadership in the Dublin champions’ attack, never more so than in the final, scoring 0-2 from play and winning the vital, first-half penalty – converted by Shane Walsh – which got Kilmacud back into a match that started with a goal conceded in 40 seconds.
He had the same score in the semi-final win over Kerins O’Rahilly’s and fired in the early goal that put his side in control of the Leinster final against The Downs.
[ Seven Kilmacud Crokes footballers named in club team of the yearOpens in new window ]
[ Ballyhale Shamrocks dominate selection for club hurling team of the yearOpens in new window ]
Holden had been travelling in the US when he came home to be with his father, who was seriously ill and later died. He decided to stay on for the remainder of the club season and played a key role in the club’s success before resuming his travels.
Still abroad, his award was accepted by his mother Stasia and sister Katrina. Currently in Belize, he sent a video response which was shown at the ceremony in Croke Park.
He was outstanding at full back in the pivotal All-Ireland semi-final defeat of champions Ballygunner against whose highly rated attack he rose to the occasion, particularly in the second half.
This year was his fifth All-Ireland club title, which is more than any other club has won.
