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Ryan O'Donoghue and Gearóid Hegarty.
From The 42honoured
Mayo’s O’Donoghue and Limerick’s Hegarty win GAA player of the year awards
Mayo’s Darragh Beirne and Galway’s Jason Rabbitte won the respective young player of the year awards.
RYAN O’DONOGHUE AND Gearóid Hegarty have claimed the 2026 GAA player of the year awards for their inter-county displays.
The All-Ireland-winning duo were honoured at tonight’s PwC GAA-GPA All-Star awards ceremony at the RDS in Dublin.
Mayo’s Darragh Beirne (football) and Galway’s Jason Rabbitte (hurling) secured their respective young player of the year awards.
O’Donoghue is the first Mayo man to collect the award since current manager Andy Moran in 2017. Lee Keegan (2016) is the other footballer from the county to take the trophy since it was inaugurated in 1995.
In a vote of inter-county players, full-forward O’Donoghue outpolled three-time recipient David Clifford and his Mayo teammate Jack Carney, who were the other nominees.
Limerick half-forward Hegarty joins a select band of players who have won the Hurler of the Year award on two separate occasions.
The 2020 winner matched his teammate Cian Lynch in doing so after edging out 2022 Hurler of the Year Diarmaid Byrnes and Cork’s Brian Hayes.
Limerick have collected all six of their Hurler of the Year awards in the past nine seasons, with Aaron Gillane their previous winner in 2023.
Mayo also scooped the Young Footballer of the Year prize, with All-Ireland final goalscorer Darragh Beirne seeing off the claims of his AFL-bound teammate Kobe McDonald and Louth’s Dara McDonnell.
'It was all down to Andy, giving us that freedom to express ourselves' Darragh Beirne is the The PwC GAA/GPA Young Footballer of the Year 📺Watch the All-Star awards, live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player #RTEGAA #GAA #Football https://t.co/1iUOQU6eqJ
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) October 30, 2026
Oisín Mullin was the county’s most recent winner of the award in 2020 and ‘21.
Meanwhile, Galway’s Jason Rabbitte took home the Young Hurler of the Year award after a memorable breakthrough year.
'It's very enjoyable, Micheál Donoghue gives us confidence' Jason Rabbitte is the The PwC GAA/GPA Young Hurler of the Year 📺Watch the All-Star awards, live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player #RTEGAA #GAA #Football https://t.co/rqBQrjnRQ1
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) October 30, 2026
He follows 2017 recipient Conor Whelan who was the last Galway player to be honoured. Their teammate Cillian Trayers and Cork’s William Buckley were the other nominees.
Written by Stephen Barry and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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