Ireland up for overseas player of year gong

Stephen Ireland has been nominated as best overseas player of the year by the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI), despited his continued absence from the international squad.

The Manchester City striker was nominated alongside Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane (Spurs) and Birmingham midfielder Keith Fahey for the new award, which will be handed out at a ceremony on November 15 in Dublin.

The nominees were voted for by League of Ireland players in both the premier and first divisions.

"It's always nice to be nominated for any award but when it's by fellow players it always makes it a bit more special," Keane said.

"This is the first year of the award and it was voted for by the League of Ireland players... so this is a real honour to be recognised."

Other categories in the prestigious PFAI awards include Players’ Player of the Year, First Division Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, and Referee of the Year, along with the Premier Division and First Division teams of the Year.

The highly successful annual players' awards are sponsored by Ford.

The nominees are:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

Jason Byrne (Bohemian FC)

Raffaele Cretaro (Sligo Rovers)

Gary Deegan (Bohemian FC)

Brian Shelley (Bohemian FC)

Chris Turner (Dundalk)

Gary Twigg (Shamrock Rovers)

YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

Gary Deegan (Bohemian FC)

Ronan Finn (UCD)

Conor Powell (Bohemian FC)

FIRST DIVISION PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

Conan Byrne (Sporting Fingal)

Ronan Finn (UCD)

David McAllister (Shelbourne)

REFEREE OF THE YEAR

Alan Kelly

Rob Rogers

Richie Winter

IRISH OVERSEAS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Keith Fahey (Birmingham City)

Stephen Ireland (Manchester City)

Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)

PREMIER DIVISION TEAM OF THE YEAR

Brian Murphy (Bohemian FC)

Pat Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers)

Brian Shelley (Bohemian FC)

Ken Oman (Bohemian FC)

Conor Powell (Bohemian FC)

Chris Turner (Dundalk)

Gary Deegan (Bohemian FC)

Joseph Ndo (Bohemian FC)

Sean O’Connor (Shamrock Rovers)

Gary Twigg (Shamrock Rovers)

Raffaele Cretaro (Sligo Rovers)

FIRST DIVISION TEAM OF THE YEAR

Dean Delaney (Shelbourne)

Kenny Browne (Waterford United)

Alan Carey (Waterford United)

Evan McMillan (UCD)

Brian Shortall (UCD)

Shaun Williams (Sporting Fingal)

Ronan Finn (UCD)

David McAllister (Shelbourne)

Conan Byrne (Sporting Fingal)

Graham Cummins (Waterford United)

Stephen O’Flynn (Limerick)