Ireland captain Paul O’Connell has been named as the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year at the annual awards ceremony tonight at the Guinness Storehouse.
The iconic second-row was rewarded for his out-standing performances during this year’s Six Nations when he helped Ireland to back-to-back titles.
“It’s a great honour. I’m delighted to receive it, we had a very successful season with Ireland winning the Championship, so I suppose I’m capitalising on a lot of other people’s hard work,” said O’Connell.
“There a lot of very clever rugby people writing about the game in Ireland and I’ve been at the awards night as Irish captain and as a winner before and it’s a great night. We’re delighted with their support and I’m delighted with the award.”
The Irish team also picked-up the Dave Guiney Team of the Year prize, while Sophie Spence was named as the Women’s Player of the Year.
“It’s something you can only dream of,” said Spence. “I didn’t think I had my best performances this year, but I really enjoyed it and it’s come as a big surprise when I see the other players who have won it like Claire Molloy, Lynne Cantwell and Niamh Briggs, so it’s fantastic.
“It’s nice to see our forwards getting the recognition too! Our pack has had a lot of continuity in the past season which helped us deliver real consistency so this award is as much about the forwards as anything else.”
Other Award Winners:
Player of the Year – Paul O’Connell
Dave Guiney Award (Team of the Year) – Ireland
Tom Rooney Award – Fred Casey
Guinness Hall of Fame – Tom Grace
Guinness Hall of Fame – David Hewitt
Women’s Player of the Year – Sophie Spence
Club of the Year – Lansdowne FC