Kerry All-Star nominees to miss awards ceremony due to Florida holiday

Several of Kerry’s seven All‑Star football nominees, including David and Paudie Clifford, will miss next month’s All‑Stars gala because of a pre‑booked team holiday in Florida.

The trip was arranged shortly after Kerry’s All‑Ireland final defeat to Mayo in July and was timed to coincide with the mid‑term break for the squad’s teachers. The party is scheduled to depart on 27 October, three days before the awards ceremony at Dublin’s RDS, and return on 5 November.

While a few Kerry players in contention will forgo the holiday, the Clifford brothers – who together hold ten All‑Star awards – are not expected to be among those staying in Ireland. Their break falls between the siblings’ involvement with East Kerry in the senior county championship and Fossa’s Munster intermediate semi‑final on 22 November.

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) raised the clash with the Kerry County Board last week, but no resolution has been found. A similar conflict arose with Limerick’s All‑Ireland winning hurlers, whose holiday was later altered to avoid the overlap.

Kerry’s 2026 All‑Star nominees are David and Paudie Clifford, Shane Murphy, Jason Foley, Mike Breen, Mark O’Shea and Dylan Geaney. Limerkey and Mayo also have team holidays scheduled for the same weekend, while Galway’s All‑Ireland SHC finalists plan theirs for the following week.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Anfisa Eremina / Pexels.