Kerry's Clifford and Tipperary's McGrath win GAA Player of the Year awards

07 Nov 2025, 20:55 by Fintan O'Toole · The42

DAVID CLIFFORD AND John McGrath have claimed the 2025 GAA player of the year awards for their inter-county displays.

Clifford and McGrath were honoured at tonight’s PwC GAA-GPA All-Star awards ceremony at the RDS in Dublin.

Donegal’s Finbarr Roarty (football) and Tipperary’s Darragh McCarthy (hurling) secured their respective young player of the year awards.

Kerry midfielder Joe O’Connor and Donegal forward Michael Murphy were the other footballer of the year nominees, while Cork’s Brian Hayes and Tipperary’s Jake Morris were the other hurler of the year nominees.

Tipperary’s Robert Doyle and Limerick’s Adam English were also in the running for the young hurler honour, while Armagh’s Oisin Conaty and Galway’s Matthew Thompson were also shortlisted for the young footballer accolade.

Tipperary’s John McGrath takes a selfie with family and friends from Loughmore. Tom Maher / INPHOTom Maher / INPHO / INPHO

It is the third time that Clifford has won the Footballer of the Year honour after previously being recognised in 2022 and 2023. He is the first footballer since the current GAA award system started in 1995 to win it three times (Brian Fenton and Trevor Giles both won it twice), while Kerry legend Jack O’Shea is a four-time winner of the Texaco Footballer of the Year award.

It is the tenth time that a Kerry player has won this award.

McGrath has won the Hurler of the Year honour for the first time, joining previous Tipperary winners Tommy Dunne (2001), Lar Corbett (2010), and Seamus Callanan (2019).