IRELAND HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt was on hand to present the honours at yesterday evening’s Ulster Bank League Awards at the Aviva Stadium, with Cork Constitution captain Niall Kenneally named Division 1A Player of the Year.
Kenneally and Cork Con were victorious in the 1A final against Clontarf earlier this month, and the ex-Munster man had another superb season in the midfield for Brian Hickey’s side.
Hickey himself was among the winners yesterday as he took the Coach of the Year award after leading Con to glory.
Indeed, Cork Con dominated the top awards, with out-half Tomás Quinlan earning the Rising Star of the Year honour and also collecting his Top Points Scorer trophy.
Former Ireland U20 international Quinlan, who spent a season in Munster’s academy, had an outstanding campaign in Con’s 10 shirt, suggesting that he has a bright future in the game.
Lansdowne’s Daniel McEvoy won Top Try Scorer in Division 1A, having dotted down 11 times for the Dublin club over the course of the 2016/17 campaign.
Ireland 7s wing Jordan Conroy was named Division 1B Player of the Year after a stunning season for Buccaneers in which he scored 18 tries.
Stephen Irvine of Banbridge was Division 2A Player of the Year, Greystones man Jack Keating won the 2B honour and Kuba Wojtkowicz of Sligo RFC scooped the Division 2C award.
City of Armagh’s Ken Redpath was named Public Relations Officer of the year, while Mick Dempsey of Naas RFC saw his hard worked acknowledged in the new category of Volunteer of the Year.
Finally, the public votes for the Provincial Players of the Year saw Sligo’s Wojtkowicz win in Connacht, Eamonn Mills of Lansdowne selected in Leinster, City of Derry’s Joe Dunleavy named in Ulster and Young Munster’s Colm Skehan honoured in Munster.
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