Hegarty, Hayes and Byrnes nominated for Hurler of the Year award

23 Sep 2026, 05:30 by The 42 · The42

GAA GPA Hurler of the Year Nominees

Gearóid Hegarty (Limerick)
Brian Hayes (Cork)
Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick)

GAA GPA Young Hurler of the Year Nominees

William Buckley (Cork)
Jason Rabbitte (Galway)
Cillian Trayers (Galway)

LIMERICK DUO GEARÓID Hegarty and Diarmaid Byrnes, along with Cork’s attacking star Brian Hayes, are the three players nominated for the 2026 Hurler of the Year award.

The trio have been shortlisted after a brilliant series of displays throughout this year’s championship.

Hegarty and Byrnes are both previous Hurler of the Year winners, St Patrick’s clubman Hegarty taking home the honour for the 2020 season, while Patrickswell’s Byrnes was honoured in 2022, and also later nominated in 2023. Both Limerick players are four-time Allstar winners.

Hayes has not won the award before, but the St Finbarr’s forward makes the three-player shortlist for the second successive year, while he also claimed his first All-Star in 2025.

The young hurler of the year award will be contested by Galway duo Jason Rabbitte and Cillian Trayers, and Cork’s William Buckley, after they all enjoyed breakthrough campaigns.

Jason Rabbitte, William Buckley, and Cillian Trayers. INPHOINPHO

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The 42 View

- Declan Bogue

In keeping with their period of almost absolute dominance over the last decade, two Limerick players in Gearóid Hegarty and Diarmaid Byrnes stand to become two-time winners of the GAA/GPA Hurler of the Year award.

Their competition comes in the form of Cork’s Brian Hayes. An All-Star last year, the St Finbarr’s man carries a potent goal threat, hitting 11 goals throughout the season. It must be noted however, that three of those goals came in the 26-point win over Offaly in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

However, it would appear most likely that the honour will fall to one of the Limerick duo.
When Hegarty won his previous award in 2020, it was in the straight knockout fashion after the Covid pandemic, a period of downtime that Hegarty later revealed he spent a great deal of time sharpening his skills with a ball against a wall.

This was reflected in his 0-7 tally in the final against Waterford.

He has since evolved into a complete team player, evidence of which came in the All-Ireland semi-final when he did not score against Clare, but won man-of-the-match, such was his effectiveness under Nickie Quaid’s puckout.