By Kevin Egan

In 2021, and for several decades before this, the PwC All Stars have been a central part of the GAA calendar. As soon as the final whistle sounds on the All-Ireland football and hurling finals, straight away the conversation turns to those perennial questions: how many All Stars will the winners get, will the player who lit up the first half of the season but was done by the quarter-final stage get recognized, and who will win the big Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards?

Interest in the awards has even grown to the point that many media outlets like to keep tabs on their choices for All Stars as the year goes on, updating them after each week of championship games.  

Yet like all things that are now firmly locked into the sporting calendar, there was a time when the concept of individual awards was a new and novel thing in the GAA. The concept began with the Cú Chulainn awards, which ran from 1963 through to 1967, but while they ran aground, they set the stage for the first running of the GAA All Stars.

Séamus Cleere and Eddie Keher of Kilkenny share the record of being the only hurlers to win Four Cú Chulainn awards out of those five years, but long before he was named on the first ever All Star team in 1971, Keher knew that these new accolades had captured the imagination of the GAA public, and thus the players.

“Straight away the All Stars were a huge thing. They were preceded by the Cú Chulainn awards, sponsored by Gaelic Weekly. There was a function in the Gresham Hotel for those, but the people behind the creation of the All Stars and the backing they got for it meant it hit the ground running as an event” said the Rower-Inistíoge man.

“Mick Dunne (Irish Press), Paddy Downey (Irish Times), and John D Hickey (Irish Independent), got the idea of reviving the concept, and they got Carroll’s to sponsor it. That gave a huge boost to it, and for players at the time, it was very upmarket.

“With the GAA reporters on board, there was big publicity in the lead up and that helped create a sense of excitement among the general public. I can remember that nervousness as players waited for the announcement of the teams, and it was a great thrill to be selected”.

In many ways, the All Stars helped to bring about several aspects that are central to the modern intercounty world – the sense of connection between players across county boundaries and even between football and hurling, the recognition of the effort and commitment of those who don’t necessarily end up with All-Ireland or provincial medals, and of course, free gear!

“In 1971, Tipp were the champions and we were runners up, and it was a small measure of consolation and distraction after the final that some of us were hoping we might be selected. It seems very simple now, but a big thing for us is we were given blazers with the Carroll’s All Stars logo, we had never got anything like that before” said Keher.

“The league played a big part, because the championship was straight knockout. There was a big trawl to find players that played throughout the year, and there was recognition for men like Damien Martin of Offaly and Mick Bermingham of Dublin. I remember Andy McCallon of Antrim was chosen in the football, these were counties that didn’t necessarily have a lot of championship games but the effort was put in to make sure that players from all over Ireland was considered.

“We got to meet players from other counties at the awards as well. Back then very few played with their colleges so you never met lads only on the field. We also got to meet the footballers who we would have had no chance of meeting at all. We got to see all our heroes, men like Tony McTague, Seán O’Neill, who we would have followed like any supporter”.

However the six-time All-Ireland winner was in no doubt as to what was the most significant reward for selection on the All Star team.

“By virtue of being selected for the All Stars, you were automatically chosen for the trip to San Francisco. Some of us had been to the east coast of America, but going to San Francisco was a huge thing”.

“The trip took place in early 1972, we went out and stayed there with people of Irish descent, local families. That first year we stayed with Peter Byrne of Callan, then we were with a sister of Justin McCarthy, Una Ettinger in a quite luxurious part of San Francisco!

“All the neighbours took in players as well and they looked after us so well. We went to Vegas for a couple of days, we were staying with people with swimming pools in back yards and each house had parties at night time, it was fantastic”.

The trip featured four teams – the 1971 All-Ireland champions from Tipperary and Offaly, and the two All Star sides. Keher recalls that while the games started out as exhibition games, they soon turned quite competitive, as well as offering some very new experiences.

“It’s the same with any exhibition game, when you get out on the field, it becomes very competitive! The people that came enjoyed them, lots of Americans came to see it as well. It expanded to Los Angeles in subsequent years and I had another new experience then, my first time to play under lights. It was on a university pitch and it was a great experience”.

Fifty years on, Keher’s record on the field of play is still remarkable, with every possible accolade and medal secured in a stellar career with the Cats. However even as he reflects on that career, the five All Star awards are up there as some of his most special memories.

“Over time the meaning of it never faded, it was a huge honour to get selected” he says.

“Players now and people now, they wouldn’t realise how much it meant to us. In 1971, I won’t say it made up for the loss but it gave a new focus. At the time when you’re playing, there’s the All-Ireland championship, there’s playing club championship, then there was the All Stars and straight back into the league, you don’t really get time to think about what it all means. But when you look back on these things, to see these unique handmade trophies, it’s very special”.

• The 2021 PwC All-Stars Awards night will be held on Friday, December 10.