Cork GAA was well represented at last weekend’s annual PwC GAA/GPA All-Stars Awards Dinner with four hurlers from the county being recognised among the country’s elite for their outstanding performances throughout the 2025 season. Three of the players, Seán O’Donoghue, Ciarán Joyce and Brian Hayes were receiving their first All Star, but for Charleville’s Darragh Fitzgibbon it was his third time to be honoured, a remarkable achievement.
Darragh has had a star-studded career, starting with Charleville GAA and later with C.B.S. Charleville and UCC, while also being brought into the Cork set-up at minor and U21 level before being called into the senior set-up in 2017. In that year and the following one he won Munster titles with the Rebels, and he also won his first All Star in 2018, and last year (2024) he received his second All Star. This year he was a starring member of the Cork team that won through to the All-Ireland Final, only to lose out to Tipperary, but his all-round excellence still saw him win an All Star.
As well as the hat-trick of All Stars, Darragh has been named on the Sunday Game Team of the Year on three occasions. At 28 years of age, Darragh surely has several years ahead of him, and hopefully he will go on to add an All-Ireland medal to his many accolades.