Killarney accordionist Liam O’Connor has been named Multi-Instrumentalist of the Year 2025 at the Irish Entertainment Awards, held at the Great Northern Hotel in Bundoran, County Donegal.

O’Connor, who holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest fingers on the accordion, received the award from actor Patrick Bergin during a ceremony that celebrated leading figures in Irish music and entertainment.

Liam was joined by his talented family band; daughter Saoirse and sons Oisín and Cillian who also performed on the night. The O’Connor family were recognised for their outstanding contribution to Irish traditional and contemporary music.

The Irish Entertainment Awards, organised by Keltic Radio TV, brought together some of the biggest names in the industry, including Philomena Begley, Mary Duff, The Nolan Sisters, and the Dublin City Ramblers.

Speaking after the event, O’Connor said he was “honoured and humbled” to receive the award and thanked the organisers, his family, and his supporters. “It was a fantastic night of Irish music and talent and I’m so proud to represent Killarney on a stage like this,” he said.

After facing a backlash from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipperary players, Munster GAA have postponed their plan to keep Cork and Kerry separate in the 2026 Munster Football Championship.

The new seeding system – which gives the two highest ranked Munster teams in the National League byes to separate semi-finals – will now come into play in 2027, twelve months later than initially planned.

This will give Clare and Limerick a chance to earn promotion to Division 2 of the league, potentially overtaking Cork if the Rebels were to get relegated to Division 3.

Despite traditionally being the two main contenders for Munster football honours, Kerry and Cork haven’t met in a provincial decider since 2021. The Kingdom have won each of the finals since then (one versus Limerick and three versus Clare) by an average margin of 15.75 points.

More high-profile Kerry v Cork finals might be desirable for fans of those teams, businesses in Killarney and Cork, and neutrals alike but Munster GAA’s plans to effectively keep the great rivals on opposite sides of the draw understandably drew criticism from the other participating counties. A statement by the GPA confirmed that players from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipp had met via Zoom to discuss the matter. They were said to be “deeply disappointed and concerned” by the decision.

The 12-month delay will at least give two of those disaffected teams an opportunity to benefit from the new seeding process.

The draw for the 2026 Munster Football Championship will take place on November 27 under the old rules. As 2025 finalists, Kerry and Clare will get byes to the last four (but they will not necessarily be kept apart).

Nine members of Kerry’s squad are up for All-Stars at tonight’s awards ceremony in Dublin with Joe O’Connor and David Clifford also in contention for the prestigious Footballer of the Year award.