Cathal Cregg
Roscommon star Cathal Cregg is the GAA.ie Football Player of the Week after his starring role in the stunning victory over Kerry in Killarney on Sunday.
Cregg was outstanding in Roscommon's superb victory, kicking four points from play and driving his team over the line. He picked up 42 per cent of the vote on the GAA's official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, leaving him comfortably ahead of his nearest challengers.
Donegal's Odhrán MacNiallais finished second, with Dublin's James McCarthy a distant third.
GAA.IE FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK RESULTS
**1. **Cathal Cregg (Roscommon) - 3,141 votes (42%)
2. Odhrán MacNiallais (Donegal) - 2,605 votes (35%)
3. James McCarthy (Dublin) - 1,683 votes (23%)
Western Gaels man** Cregg** was immense in the driving wind and rain that buffeted Fitzgerald’s Stadium. Cregg may have been black-carded in the 61st minute, but prior to that no other Roscommon man was his equal – Seán McDermott gave him a run for his money in defence - in terms of the leadership he showed in trying conditions, while the four points he scored from play were instrumental in a narrow win. Cregg is the undisputed leader of a young Roscommon side and he stepped up to the plate spectacularly to help deliver an unexpected but hugely deserving win on the road. He romped home with 42 per cent of our vote.
In second place on 35 per cent was MacNiallais. One of just a few players who has managed to break into the Donegal starting team since the 2012 All-Ireland win, Mac Niallais is turning into a complete player. Just as good in the half-forward line or in midfield, Mac Niallais bossed matters in the engine room against Cork in Ballyshannon. Finished his goal coolly in the second half, slotting past a covering defender and Cork goalkeeper Brendan O’Connell, but it was his languid point-taking from further out the field that really caught the eye. 1-4 from play is a spectacular return for a midfielder.
In third place was McCarthy. Jack McCaffrey may have got most of the plaudits in the Dublin half-back line last year, but it’s very easy to take James McCarthy’s quiet brilliance for granted. On a night for defenders in Elverys MacHale Park, McCarthy did his primary duties to his usual high standard, but it was his lung-bursting runs out from the back with the ball in hand that marked out his display in the two-point win over Mayo. Kicked one supreme point from play, but he was immense in every facet of the game, his performance prompting gasps of appreciation from the locals in Castlebar and leading one local journalist to describe him as a ‘Rolls Royce of a wing-back’.
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