St James GAA Club named 2019 Celtic Ross West Cork Sports Star Team of the Year

AN incredible year for St James’ junior footballers has got even better as they have added another award to their growing collection.

The GAA story of the year in West Cork, St James captured the hearts and imagination of all when they won the Carbery junior A football title for the first time in the club’s history, to spark huge celebrations.

And now they have another reason to celebrate as St James’ junior footballers have been named the 2019 Celtic Ross West Cork Sports Star Team of the Year.

They will receive their award at the annual West Cork Sports Star gala banquet in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, on Saturday, January 18th, the biggest night in the local sports calendar.

‘It’s a fantastic honour for this team and this is one of the biggest awards that our club will ever receive,’ said a delighted St James’ club chairman Niall O’Sullivan.

‘The fact that this is a team award, it means that all 35 players have won this for the club – and it’s fantastic recognition of what this group has achieved in 2019.

‘This has serious benefits too for our underage section because when they realise what this group has won and what they have achieved for the club, they will look up to them more and more.’

St James’ junior footballers also went all the way to the Cork junior A football championship final, and while Kilshannig proved to be a step too far there, it doesn’t take away from a memorable 2019 campaign for this history-making band of brothers.

Preparations are in full swing for the annual West Cork Sports Star gala banquet in January, and RTÉ Sports presenter Jacqui Hurley (inset) will be the guest speaker on the night.

One of Ireland’s best and most well-known sports presenters, Hurley became the first-ever female anchor of RTÉ’s flagship show, Sunday Sport, on Radio One, in 2009, and in 2018 she also became the first woman to anchor World Cup coverage on RTÉ. Hurley, whose mother hails from Rosscarbery, has also covered two Olympic Games and was the MC in Skibbereen in August 2016 for Gary and Paul O’Donovan’s magical homecoming after their Olympic Games’ silver medal success in Rio.