Fagan player of the year

Christy Fagan of St Patrick’s Athletic has been named players’ player of the year.

At their annual awards dinner in Dublin last night, the PFAI (Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland) awarded their most prestigious prize to the striker whose two goals won the FAI Cup for Pat’s against Derry City at the Aviva Stadium last Sunday, bringing to an end their infamous 53-year drought in that competition.

The win also capped an outstanding season for Fagan who scored 27 goals in all competitions.

SSE Airtricity Premier Division champions Dundalk captured two awards, former Cork City winger Daryl Horgan — who yesterday signed a new contract with the club — being named Young Player Of The Year while the Manager Of The Year accolade went to Stephen Kenny.

The winner of the First Division Player Of The Year award was David O’ Sullivan, whose goals helped Longford Town to the title and promotion to the Premier Division.

Meanwhile, Rob Lehane has re-signed for Cork City.

The 20 year-old made 15 league appearances for the club, scoring twice, in 2014, and manager John Caulfield is pleased to have him back on board.

“We have huge plans for Rob, we see massive potential in him,” he said. “This year, he came on in quite a few games and was unfortunate to get injured. He got a few vital goals for us, he works really hard, he’s great around the box and we are hoping he will have a big impact next season.”