Proud night for O'Toole as All Stars take place

Westmeath's All Star nominee, Ronan O’Toole is looking forward to this evening's awards ceremony in Dublin and said it was an honour for him to receive the nomination.

O'Toole is the first player from the St Loman's, Mullingar club to receive such a nomination and he explained how proud a moment it was for him, his family and the club. The talented forward is looking forward to representing Westmeath and St Loman’s at the prestigious event.

“I found out about five weeks ago now. I had my dad beside me, so it was a nice moment for me and for my family as well. I feel I’m representing the players, Westmeath, and my club, St Loman's,” he remarked.

It will be the start of a big weekend for O'Toole and his colleagues, who face Naas in the Leinster club SFC semi-final at TEG Cusack Park on Sunday. The Westmeath champions have two victories under their belt in the provincial series to date but the challenge of Naas - who have dominated Kildare football in recent times - is a big step-up.

"We are taking it game by game. We had a tough game against Shelmaliers (Wexford) and it was a tough game against the Longford champions, Killoe at Pearse Park last Sunday week. We are now just looking forward to the semi-final and totally focused on that,” he remarked.

O'Toole is Westmeath's first footballer to be nominated since Kieran Martin in 2015 and is regarded as one of the best forwards in the country having scored 2-5 in this year's championship campaign, as well as a key orchestrator for Dessie Dolan's side. Westmeath produced some fine displays against Armagh, Galway and Armagh and O'Toole was a pivotal player throughout.

All in Westmeath wish O'Toole the very best ahead of this evening's banquet. He is in illustrious company and is one of 18 forwards nominated for this year's All Stars.

PwC Football All-Star Nominations

Goalkeepers (3)

Rory Beggan (Monaghan)

Stephen Cluxton (Dublin)

Shane Ryan (Kerry)

Defenders (18)

Jason Foley (Kerry)

Tadhg Morley (Kerry)

Tom O’Sullivan (Kerry)

Gavin White (Kerry)

Michael Fitzsimons (Dublin)

Lee Gannon (Dublin)

Brian Howard (Dublin)

Gareth McKinless (Derry)

Conor McCluskey (Derry)

Eoin McEvoy (Derry)

Conor McCarthy (Monaghan)

Karl O’Connell (Monaghan)

Seán Kelly (Galway)

Aidan Forker (Armagh)

Brian Stack (Roscommon)

Padraig Hampsey (Tyrone)

Rory Maguire (Cork)

Brendan McCole (Donegal)

Midfielders (6)

Brian Fenton (Dublin)

James McCarthy (Dublin)

Conor Glass (Derry)

Brendan Rogers (Derry)

Diarmuid O’Connor (Kerry)

Diarmuid O’Connor (Mayo)

Forwards (18)

Colm Basquel (Dublin)

Cormac Costello (Dublin)

Paul Mannion (Dublin)

Con O’Callaghan (Dublin)

David Clifford (Kerry)

Paudie Clifford (Kerry)

Seán O’Shea (Kerry)

Paul Cassidy (Derry)

Shane McGuigan (Derry)

Oisín Gallen (Donegal)

Conor McManus (Monaghan)

Enda Smith (Roscommon)

Darragh Canavan (Tyrone)

Rónán O’Toole (Westmeath)

Andrew Murnin (Armagh)

Jordan Flynn ((Mayo)

Ben McCormack (Kildare)

Damien Comer (Galway)

PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year Nominees

David Clifford (Kerry), Brian Fenton (Dublin), Brendan Rogers (Derry)

PwC GAA/GPA Young Footballer of the Year Nominees

Ethan Doherty (Derry), Eoin McEvoy (Derry), Conor Carroll (Roscommon)