Finally the first among equals for Wexford

All Star Awards: Ian O'Riordan talks to Mattie Forde, who has become Wexford's first football All Star.

The only thing better than winning a first All Star award is winning a first All Star award for your county. And with Mattie Forde becoming Wexford's first football All Star, only six counties remain without a similar honour to their name. His selection at left-corner forward on the 2004 All Star football team is significant on two counts: firstly, his talents are acknowledged as on a par with what can be unearthed in any other county, and, secondly, Wexford are another of the frequently termed weaker football counties that can be no longer termed weak.

Forde was labelled as potential All Star material from early in the season. He'd scored 8-36 during Wexford's league campaign and ended up with 3-38 during their championship run. On hearing word of his All Star award last night, Forde could at last let the winning feeling sink in.

"Well I always felt it was something to aim for," he said, "but I just never thought it would happen. For a start we'd only been playing Division Two football up until last year. And we hadn't had a championship victory for five years. All I was really trying to do was make progress like the rest of the team, so I never thought it would happen this quickly. But obviously when we managed to stay up in the league with a good run, and then win a few championship games, it helped an awful lot in me actually winning the thing."

Such a consistent scoring run meant he knew he'd be considered for an All Star: "Well of course I did. And I did have a very good league campaign as well. But I know it can take more than that to win an All Star. And the fact is we were out of the championship in early July, and there was still an awful lot of football to be played after that. I mean Wexford hadn't even made the quarter-finals. So to be honest I was a bit sceptical about the whole thing after that. I still didn't know how much the league campaign would count for by then."

At the age of 25 he has still to come into his peak, but clearly 2004 was his finest season to date. "I know so much of it has to go down to the display of the Wexford team. The whole team was fantastic this year, and the commitment they showed from day one was definitely the best I've ever experienced. And Pat Roe coming in was one of the main reasons why we got that commitment, so those two factors really worked out in my favour."

By becoming Wexford's first football All Star he hopes to inspire the younger generation of footballers in the county: "I know it's been an awfully long time coming. And obviously being the first is a great feeling. It was the same when I became the first Wexford man to play for Ireland. Hopefully it will also inspire a lot more younger players in Wexford, and also those playing football there now and over the past few years."

Forde has every reason to believe this could be his first of several awards. "Yeah, I'll be back next year trying as hard again, but first of all trying to win something for Wexford. If you pick up individual awards like this, it's a bonus, but winning with the team is what we're aiming for next year. We're heading to Thailand early on Sunday morning. But we'll have a good night on Friday."