"I Was Surprised To Get The Call, But It Was A Nice Surprise"

Portarlington's Ronan Coffey was named in the Eirgrid U-20 Championship team of the year.

Laois captain Ronan Coffey has been named as one of the top 20 performers in this season's Eirgrid U-20 Championship. 

The Portarlington man scored four points as the O'Moore county defeated Westmeath and then Kildare en-route to their second successive Leinster final last March.

They would ultimately come up short for the second time against Dublin with Coffey racking up another four scores.

Those performances haven't gone un-noticed. 

That good form translated to the club scene as the forward was a prominent figure in Portarlington's journey to the Laois SFC semi-finals, which have yet to take place. 

Coffey says he was delighted to receive the honour but is now focused on bringing silverware to his club:

An announcement of the list from the GAA said: 

Following the conclusion of the 2020 season, EirGrid, proud sponsor of the U20 All-Ireland Championship, has announced the top 20 performers from this year’s under 20 football championship with the annual 20 U20 awards. In addition, the recipients of the EirGrid U20 Football Championship player of the year and manager of the year awards have also been announced.

This is the sixth year of the player awards and second year of the EirGrid Manager of The Year awards with the recipients being selected by the Gaelic Writers Association. The awards are run by EirGrid to recognise the incredible talent, dedication and hard work displayed by those involved in this competition. EirGrid, the state-owned company that is delivering a cleaner energy future for Ireland, has been a proud partner of the GAA since 2015 when it first began sponsoring the U21 Football All-Ireland Championship before the competition evolved into to U20 grade.

Having played a critical defensive role in keeping Dublin’s top scorers at bay in the All Ireland final, Galway captain Jack Glynn was the tournament’s standout player and has been named the 2020 EirGrid Under 20 Football Championship Player of the Year.

Galway Manager Donal Ó Fátharta has been named as the EirGrid Manager of the Year after leading his squad to provincial and All-Ireland victories, despite it only being his first year in charge, and claiming the county’s first U20 title since 2013. Ó Fátharta worked tirelessly to grow and develop the skills of the young Galway team though this difficult year and his dedication paid off on the pitch.

The Tribesmen’s efforts in the competition have been reflected with six players from the All-Ireland winning panel selected as worthy recipients of a 20 U20 award. These are Conor Flaherty, Jack Glynn, Conor Raftery, Paul Kelly, Matthew Tierney and Tommo Culhane.

All-Ireland finalists, Dublin, have four players included in this year’s list. These are Lee Gannon, Mark Lavin, Lorcan O’Dell and Ciarán Archer as do Ulster Champions, Tyrone with Darragh Canavan, Cormac Munroe, Ethan Jordan and Tiernan Quinn making the top 20. Sean O’Brien, Dan McCarthy and Ruairi Ó Beaglaoich are representing Kerry on the panel with the remaining three slots going to Laois’s Ronan Coffey, Cork’s Blake Murphy and Aaron Doherty of Donegal.

Commenting on the awards, Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, John Horan said: 

“I commend all of the players honoured on this list but also all of those who competed in the EirGrid GAA Football U20 All-Ireland Championship in 2020 giving the testing set of circumstances everyone involved faced.

As ever with this grade of football the talent on show was difficult to ignore and I have no doubt that many of the names that feature on this list will have aspirations of further county representation in years to come.

“Thank you to EirGrid for their ongoing support of the GAA and their creativity in helping us to promote this competition and we look forward to working with them in 2021.”

Michael Mahon, Chief Infrastructure Officer at EirGrid,commented:

“On behalf of all at EirGrid, I would like to extend our congratulations to the 20 players honoured on today’s prestigious list. The talent we witnessed in the 2020 championship was incredible and each of these young players did their counties proud during such an unprecedented time. We are also delighted to give special recognition to the EirGrid U20 Player of the Year, Galway’s Jack Glynn, and EirGrid Manager of the Year, Donal Ó Fátharta, who are both part of the All-Ireland winning team.

Well done and thank you to all of those involved who made the EirGrid GAA Football U20 All-Ireland Championship a success. These awards allow us to acknowledge and reward some of the bright stars of the game and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for these outstanding footballers.”

EirGrid 20 U20

  • Conor Flaherty (Galway)
  • Darragh Canavan (Tyrone)
  • Jack Glynn (Galway)
  • Cormac Munroe (Tyrone)
  • Lee Gannon (Dublin)
  • Sean O’Brien (Kerry)
  • Dan McCarthy (Kerry)
  • Conor Raftery (Galway)
  • Paul Kelly (Galway)
  • Aaron Doherty (Donegal)
  • Matthew Tierney (Galway)
  • Tommo Culhane (Galway)
  • Mark Lavin (Dublin)
  • Lorcan O’Dell (Dublin)
  • Ciaran Archer (Dublin)
  • Ethan Jordan (Tyrone)
  • Tiernan Quinn (Tyrone)
  • Ronan Coffey (Laois)
  • Ruairi Ó Beaglaoich (Kerry)
  • Blake Murphy (Cork)

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