The 2026 All Star awards will be handed out at the RDS next Friday night, with All-Ireland football champions Mayo and their hurling counterparts Limerick likely to dominate the two selections.

Most players covet the Celtic Cross, but for some who haven't had the chance to play in an All-Ireland final, an All-Star award can be the highlight of a career.

Wexford is one of a handful of counties that has only ever won one football All-Star; it arrived in 2004, when Matty Forde was at the peak of his powers.

The Kilanerin-Ballyfad forward finished as the championship’s top scorer that season, despite only having five outings throughout the course of the campaign. His 2-10 haul against Offaly in a qualifier at Wexford Park was a particular highlight; he also notched the same tally in a league match against Sligo, before netting four goals in a single match against Galway that same spring.

His displays were also recognised when he was crowned as the 2004 GPA Footballer of the Year.

Reflecting on that memorable year on this week’s RTÉ GAA Podcast, Forde says he has more of an appreciation now for being included in that year’s All-Star team than he might have had at the time.

"Is there a sense of pride in it now? Absolutely," Forde said.

"It pops up this time of the year when the All Stars comes around and it does pop back into your head and some of the feelings you had around it

"It’s something I really cherish at this stage, probably didn’t enough when I actually won it but at that time, it’s about the next game and that’s only around the corner at that stage for most of the lads that are playing.

"But I think it gave Wexford and Wexford players a lift around that time as well."

Ironically, Forde’s inclusion in the football team came before Wexford really started to compete with the top counties in the country.

In 2005, they reached a Division One league final and, in the summer of 2008, went all the way to an All-Ireland semi-final, turning in a brave display against eventual champions Tyrone.

Forde believes winning an All-Star helped his outlook on the game, too, as Wexford chased an elusive Leinster title throughout the noughties.

"I did pick up injuries in the intervening years after that and probably didn’t get back to the same level again until probably 2008.

"The only way it kind of changes my perspective on football was that I wanted to redouble my effort and keep reproducing performances like this, that you do back it up and you’re not a one hit wonder.

"It was great learning for me [mixing with other All-Stars], picking lads brains to a certain extent around what they’re doing, not grilling or quizzing them, but you quickly do find out that you can compete with the very best players through winning the awards, but also then playing International Rules, playing with Leinster, that you’re up there and Wexford players are up there with the best in the game.

"It probably gave more than me belief, it probably gave other players in Wexford belief as well."

Forde’s career ultimately came to an end in 2010, but he has remained immersed in the game through coaching at club level.

That has given him a closer look at football’s new rules - something he says has helped forwards rediscover their spark.

"You would of course," Forde said when asked whether he’d like to be playing in this current era.

"The game is quick, there’s lots of space, you’re getting those one-on-one battles again, which forwards in particularly love

"Good forwards are being allowed to flourish again be it at club or county level, every team has that top scoring forward that everybody knows and everybody recognises, which probably got lost over the last eight or ten in years in particular."