These Are The Six Teenagers To Win A Football All-Star Award

Last weekend’s PwC All-Star awards saw one of the year’s biggest breakout stars join a short, esteemed list of Gaelic football winners.

19-year-old Finnbarr Roarty was named among the defensive cohort after an exceptional campaign with All-Ireland finalists Donegal.

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Roarty’s inclusion was never in doubt, but it is notable all the same, as he became just the sixth teenager in history to be named on an All-Star Gaelic football team.

The previous five form one of the most elite GAA lists you’re ever likely to see, and have 11 All-Ireland titles between them.

Here’s every teenager ever to win a PwC All-Star award in Gaelic football.

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Every teenager to win a Gaelic football All-Star award
Finnbarr Roarty (Donegal – 2025)
28 June 2025; Finnbarr Roarty of Donegal during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Monaghan and Donegal at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

The breakout star of the 2025 All-Ireland football championship, Naomh Conaill man Finnbarr Roarty was a rock at the heart of the Donegal defence.

Roarty claimed an Ulster title in his first senior inter-county season, and was named man-of-the-match in the All-Ireland semi-final as Donegal reached the decider for the first time in 11 years.

Though that final was to end in disappointment, a well-deserved All-Star hints that we will be seeing plenty more from Finnbarr Roarty in the years to come.

David Clifford (Kerry – 2018)
22 July 2018; David Clifford of Kerry celebrates after scoring his side’s first goal during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Final Group 1 Phase 2 match between Monaghan and Kerry at St Tiernach’s Park in Clones, Monaghan. Photo by Philip Fitzpatrick/Sportsfile

Need an introduction to this fella?

At just 19 years old, David Clifford was instantly the focal point of the Kerry attack when he made his debut in 2018. He scored 4-16 across the year, 4-14 of which came in the three ‘Super 8s’ games alone, and, even though Kerry did not even reach the semi-finals, his inclusion in the All-Star team was inevitable.

Five further awards, three seasons as Footballer of the Year, and two Sam Maguires are a fitting reflection of his brilliance ever since. It’s frankly terrifying that Clifford is still only 26.

Colm Cooper (Kerry – 2002)
22 September 2002; Colm Cooper of Kerry in action against Enda McNulty of Armagh during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Armagh and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Kerry fans have been spoilt for corner-forward wonderkids this century, with Clifford’s predecessor as king of the Kingdom also winning an All-Star as a teenager.

Like Clifford, Colm Cooper won his maiden All-Star during his debut season at senior inter-county level. Cooper gradually built his way up to being a pivotal player from his debut in the league, and started the All-Ireland final defeat to Armagh.

His twinkle-toed excellence was evident from the get go, and he would go on to finish with five All-Ireland crowns, and widely regarded as one of the greatest forwards of all time.

Maurice Fitzgerald (Kerry – 1988)
3 July 1988; The Kerry team, back, from left, kitman Leo Griffin, Jack O’Shea, Tom Spillane, Maurice Fitzgerald, Mick Spillane, Charlie Nelligan, Ger Lynch, Ambrose O’Donovan, Willie Maher and Dermot Hanafin, with, front, from left, Mick McAuliffe, Gerard Murphy, Pat Spillane, Connie Murphy, Tommy Doyle and Morgan Nix before the Munster Senior Football Championship Final match between Cork and Kerry at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Another legendary Kerry forward (would you expect anything less?) from a transitional period for the Kingdom.

The Kerry side of the late 70s and 1980s remains, for many, the greatest football team of all time, winning seven of nine All-Irelands between 1978 and 1986. Meath’s All-Ireland win in 1987 was the beginning of the end of that Kerry dynasty, and Cork’s victory over the Kingdom in the 1988 Munster final effectively confirmed it.

Despite defeat, there was one bright spark for Kerry. Of their 0-16 in that Munster final defeat, 0-10 was scored by a 19-year-old Maurice Fitzgerald, who finished the year with a well-deserved All-Star.

Fitzgerald would have to wait nine years to finally lift Sam Maguire in a green and gold jersey, but would finish his career with two, after one of the greatest careers of modern Kerry football.

Dermot McNicholl (Derry – 1984)

Derry’s Dermot McNicholl remains the youngest player ever to win an All-Star, made all the more impressive by the fact that it was his second season at senior inter-county level.

McNicholl would enjoy over a decade in a Derry jersey, and the wing-forward came on as a substitute in the 1993 All-Ireland final win over Dublin – a triumph which remains Derry’s sole Sam Maguire win.

Jimmy Barry Murphy (Cork – 1973)
13 October 2013; Jimmy Barry Murphy, member of the 1973 All-Ireland winning football team, is presented to the crowd before the game. Cork County Senior Club Football Championship Final, Nemo Rangers v Castlehaven, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE

What a name to round off this list.

There is no denying the fact that Jimmy Barry Murphy is better known for his hurling exploits with the Rebels, winning five All-Irelands and All-Stars as a Cork hurler.

However, he is also a titan of Cork football. Perhaps no teenager has ever announced themselves on the scene in more spectacular fashion than Barry Murphy did in the 1973 All-Ireland football championship.

The then-19-year-old St. Finbarr’s man scored 2-1 in the All-Ireland final win over Galway, Cork’s first All-Ireland title in 28 years, a sensational beginning to what could be the greatest inter-county career of all time.

Another All-Star award followed in 1974, before hurling took over the life of Cork’s greatest.

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