GAA
The Patrickswell man collected his fourth All-Ireland title in five years last weekend.
After being selected as the Sunday Game’s Hurler of the Year, Diarmaid Byrnes has won out on the Sporting Limerick vote for the same gong after a stellar season for his county.
With a couple of thousand replies, Byrnes was the clear winner with nearly half of the votes.
The Patrickswell man earned 46.5% of the 2,500+ votes beating out a number of his teammates.
Barry Nash came in second with 17.7% while Gearoid Hegarty was next with 13.2%.
Sporting Limerick HOTY Voting
- Diarmaid Byrnes 46.5%
- Barry Nash 17.7%
- Gearoid Hegarty 13.2%
- Declan Hannon 6.6%
- Aaron Gillane 6.3%
- Sean Finn 3.6%
- TJ Reid 3.6%
- Kyle Hayes 2.6%

In the real life odds, Byrnes is the unbackable favourite as he is priced at 1/5. The wing-back was in blistering form from the start of the campaign as he was awarded the Hurler of the Month award for April.
He continued in this vein, finishing with 0-36, breaking the record for points scored by a defender in a single championship.
Nash is next in the odds with a price of 5/1, level with TJ Reid. Aaron Gillane can be got at 16/1 while Gearoid Hegarty makes up the top five at 33/1.
The official winner will be announced at the All-Star awards which will take place prior to Christmas. Cian Lynch is the current holder of the award, having won his second at the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Byrnes’ teammate Gearoid Hegarty was the recipient in 2020. Hegarty and Lynch are the only Limerick players to win the current iteration of the award that begun in 1995.