By Shaun Casey

ALL-IRELAND winner Conor Turbitt has backed club and county colleague Barry McCambridge to pick up the Player of the Year gong at Friday night’s All-Star ceremony.

The pair have both been awarded All-Stars following Armagh’s All-Ireland winning season alongsider four of their teammates – Aidan Forker, Oisin Conaty, Ben Crealey and Rian O’Neill.

Armagh’s go-to man-marker McCambridge faces stiff opposition from Galway pair Paul Conroy and John Maher for the Player of the Year award. No Armagh player has received the award since Steven McDonnell back in 2003.

McCambridge had a sensational season in the Armagh rear-guard and chipped in with plenty of crucial scores, particularly his goals against Roscommon and Kerry, along with picking up the opposition’s dangermen in the likes of David Clifford and Shane Walsh.

“He’s my Player of the Year anyway. Given the performances that he put in coming down at home stretch to win the All-Ireland, he deserves it in my opinion,” said Turbitt after Clann Éireann won the Armagh SFC on Saturday evening.

Turbitt is one of 11 players from Kieran McGeeney’s All-Ireland winning squad that were nominated for All-Stars. The sharpshooter didn’t have the best of days in the All-Ireland final but was a major reason why the Orchard County collected Sam Maguire this year.

He carried that sensational form into the club campaign and picked up the Player of the Match award in the county final, kicking a personal haul of 0-8, as his side saw off their Lurgan rivals Clan na Gael by seven points.

“It’s the stuff of dreams of course,” added Turbitt, reflecting on a historic year. “I feel like every game I’m playing in at the moment is a massive knockout game and they’re the ones you want to be playing in as footballers. We want to be going in and competing for what’s on offer and what a year it’s been for everyone involved.”

Clann Éireann last won the county championship back in 2021 but failed to follow up on that success in the intervening seasons. They lost to Mullaghbawn in the opening round of the 2022 knockout championship, while Clan na Gael beat them in the semi-final last year.

“It’s amazing, I’m delighted for all the boys, and I’m delighted for the management team.

“Over the last couple of years, I don’t think we represented ourselves the way we would have wanted,” added Turbitt.

“That defeat last year probably sat on us and to put in a performance like we did in the final, it’s massive for us.

“It was tough, physical, everything that you would expect from a Clans team.

“But I thought the performance, just from everybody and the subs coming in, was exactly what we prepared for.

“We probably saw it coming because of the preparation that went into it. We were very meticulous and everything that we were practising came to fruition.”