Derry City’s Brian Maher was honoured to be named Goalkeeper of the Year at the annual SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland awards ceremony.
Maher pipped Shelbourne's Conor Kearns and Peamount United's Niamh Reid Burke to claim the prize for the first time, which he collected at the banquet, which took place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre.
The 23-year-old, who was previously nominated for the award last year, joins former Republic of Ireland international David Forde and Gerard Doherty as the third Derry net-minder to secure the accolade.
“It’s a nice thing to win,” insisted the Dubliner. “You don’t go into the start of the season looking to win individual awards, you kind of hope they come when you win stuff with the team, but look it’s something that me and family are very proud to win.
“It’s great company to be in because over the last few years you’ve had league winning goalkeepers picking up the award, the likes of Alan Mannus, who won it last year. He’s probably one of the best keepers to play in this league, so to follow in his footsteps and win it this year is a great honour for me and as I said I’m very proud to have won it."
The ex-Bray Wanderers keeper admits boss Ruaidhrí Higgins and his team-mates played a major part in him winning this year’s award.
“Look, keeping clean-sheets and being solid defensively is something, which is driven into us in the dressing room,” explained Maher.
“We want to keep clean-sheets and don’t want to concede goals and thank god we did that this year. Getting 24 clean-sheets is a really, really good number and one at the start of last season I would have been happy with.”
Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley and Karen Duggan were the big winners at the annual awards.
Bradley has won the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Men's Personality of the Year award for a third time.
The Hoops manager and Peamount United midfielder Karen Duggan won the showpiece awards at the SWI's annual Personality of the Year banquet.
The Rovers gaffer, who was honoured once again after guiding the Tallaght men to a record-equalling fourth league title in a row, created history last year by becoming the first recipient of the award in successive years - and now joins Stephen Kenny and Jim McLaughlin as a three time winner of the Dan McCaffrey Men's Personality of the Year accolade.
Former Republic of Ireland stalwart Duggan was named the Women's Personality of the Year, in the third edition of the award. The Peamount United captain led her team in reclaiming the Women's Premier Division title this season.
The evening's guest of honour, Republic of Ireland legend Liam Brady, was the recipient of the International Achievement Award to recognise a senior Ireland career that spanned 16 years and 72 caps. Brady also served as the Republic of Ireland assistant manager under Giovanni Trapattoni, working alongside Marco Tardelli.
Derry City’s Brian Maher was honoured to be named Goalkeeper of the Year at the annual SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland awards ceremony.
Maher pipped Shelbourne's Conor Kearns and Peamount United's Niamh Reid Burke to claim the prize for the first time, which he collected at the banquet, which took place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre.
The 23-year-old, who was previously nominated for the award last year, joins former Republic of Ireland international David Forde and Gerard Doherty as the third Derry net-minder to secure the accolade.
“It’s a nice thing to win,” insisted the Dubliner. “You don’t go into the start of the season looking to win individual awards, you kind of hope they come when you win stuff with the team, but look it’s something that me and family are very proud to win.
“It’s great company to be in because over the last few years you’ve had league winning goalkeepers picking up the award, the likes of Alan Mannus, who won it last year. He’s probably one of the best keepers to play in this league, so to follow in his footsteps and win it this year is a great honour for me and as I said I’m very proud to have won it."
The ex-Bray Wanderers keeper admits boss Ruaidhrí Higgins and his team-mates played a major part in him winning this year’s award.
“Look, keeping clean-sheets and being solid defensively is something, which is driven into us in the dressing room,” explained Maher.
“We want to keep clean-sheets and don’t want to concede goals and thank god we did that this year. Getting 24 clean-sheets is a really, really good number and one at the start of last season I would have been happy with.”
Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley and Karen Duggan were the big winners at the annual awards.
Bradley has won the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Men's Personality of the Year award for a third time.
The Hoops manager and Peamount United midfielder Karen Duggan won the showpiece awards at the SWI's annual Personality of the Year banquet.
The Rovers gaffer, who was honoured once again after guiding the Tallaght men to a record-equalling fourth league title in a row, created history last year by becoming the first recipient of the award in successive years - and now joins Stephen Kenny and Jim McLaughlin as a three-time winner of the Dan McCaffrey Men's Personality of the Year accolade.
Former Republic of Ireland stalwart Duggan was named the Women's Personality of the Year, in the third edition of the award.
The Peamount United captain led her team in reclaiming the Women's Premier Division title this season.
The evening's guest of honour, Republic of Ireland legend Liam Brady, was the recipient of the International Achievement Award to recognise a senior Ireland career that spanned 16 years and 72 caps.
Brady also served as the Republic of Ireland assistant manager under Giovanni Trapattoni, working alongside Marco Tardelli.
