Treble award delight for Robbie Brady

Robbie Brady was the man of the moment at the FAI 2016 Awards last night, taking an unprecedented hat-trick of gongs for Senior Player, Young Player, and for his Euros winner against Italy, Goal Of The Year.

The only pity is that Brady — the first person to win both Senior and Young Player Awards — won’t be in with a chance of being named man-of-the match next Friday, suspension ruling the Burnley man out of the World Cup qualifier against Wales at the Aviva Stadium.

Not that he’ll be alone on the outside looking in. As the Irish management and squad gathered at RTÉ for the awards ceremony, Martin O’Neill’s injury problems continued to grow at an alarming rate, with Harry Arter (calf), Ciaran Clark (knee), Paul McShane (hamstring), David McGoldrick (knee), and Liam Kelly (hamstring) the latest to be ruled out of Friday’s game, joining Shane Duffy and Brady on the missing list.