Philly McMahon disagrees with BBC panel over Footballer of the Year

After scoring 8-62 in this year’s championship, David Clifford is the hot favourite to land his third GAA Footballer of the Year award, after receiving the honour in 2022 and 2023.

The Fossa man is regarded by many as the greatest of all time, and would become the first player to win the award three times, with Dublin’s Brian Fenton and Meath’s Trevor Giles having won two.

RTÉ’s The Sunday Game chose him as their player of the year after yesterday’s All-Ireland SFC final between Kerry and Tyrone, and the BBC panel also discussed their choices, after the Kingdom cruised to a 1-26 to 0-19 win.

On the panel were presenter Sarah Mulkerrins, former Dublin footballer Philly McMahon, Monaghan great Conor McManus, and ex-Armagh player Oisín McConville.

Unsurprisingly, most of them went for Clifford, but McMahon, while admitting that the Kerry talisman will win it, plugged for his teammate Joe O’Connor, who won player of the match in the semi-final against Tyrone, and scored the Kingdom’s goal in the final.

Here’s what the panel said –

Sarah Mulkerrins: David Clifford, the obvious answer. Just because of his performance over the last couple of games. He has meant business this year and been on a different level.

Philly McMahon: Who do I want to win? (Joe) O’Conor. Who do I think will win? (David) Clifford.

Conor McManus: David Clifford. What’s he scored in the championship this year? 8-62, nine points today all from play in a game when there was so much pressure, but he delivered again.

Oisin McConville: Definitely an honourable mention for Joe O’Connor who has transformed this team in many ways and been the missing link they’ve needed. But for me, David Clifford because he’s brought it to a level and brought it to beyond that.