Kerry goalkeeper Ciara Butler still on a high after All Star

Winning a maiden TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship title ensured 2024 was already a special year for Kerry goalkeeper Ciara Butler, but the Castlegregory native has been given a couple of extra reasons to be cheerful since that final victory over Galway back on 4 August.

For her outstanding save to tip over an effort from Meath's Marion Farrelly in their TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship quarter-final clash with The Kingdom in Tralee on 6 July, Butler was awarded this year’s ZuCar Golden Glove.

She was presented with that personal accolade in Croke Park and a little over two months later, Butler was back in the capital at the nearby Bonnington Dublin Hotel for the TG4 All Star awards banquet.

From the 15 Kerry players that were nominated on the night, seven of them were ultimately selected on the All Star team with Butler herself named in the number one position.

"An All Star is obviously a lovely award to get at the end of a very successful year for the team. You probably don’t really realise how much of an achievement it is until you see how much it means to your family and friends," Butler said.

"Even here in the club, we lost Brenda Casey before the Munster final. She would have been nearly the backbone of Castlegregory LGFA for years and a massive Kerry ladies supporter. Speaking to her family, her husband and I’d be best friends with her daughter. They were just so joyful with our win, so it definitely makes it worthwhile.

"There was 15 of us up there and to be honest, nearly 30 of us could have been up there because we all put in the same amount of work. It kind ofjust happens that the starters probably get more of a recognition, but definitely all the girls deserved everything that came their way.