Another haul of awards for treble-winning Linfield
Blues clean up at glittering NI Football Writers ceremony
Treble-winning Linfield completed an unforgettable season by sweeping the boards at the prestigious Football Writers awards ceremony.
The great and the good of local football were at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Belfast last night to see the Blues lift all of the top awards.
David Healy landed the Manager of the Year award while captain Jamie Mulgrew was voted the Irish League’s player of the year.
Mulgrew said Linfield’s success this year which helped win the Irish League title, the Irish Cup and the County Antrim Shield, was down to “a hard work ethic” inspired by Healy and his coaching staff.
Linfield completed the rout with Paul Smyth winning the Young Player of the Year award and Northern Ireland’s veteran stopper Roy Carroll, the goalkeeper of the year.
Carroll, 40 in September, was humbled at receiving the award and put down his success to continuing to love the game.
Elsewhere, there was a special award for Northern Ireland and Manchester United legend, Sammy McIlroy who was inducted in the Dr Malcolm Hall of Fame.
During a memorable career McIlroy won 88 caps and took part in two World Cups.
He spent 11 years at Old Trafford during which he played 391 times.
There were also awards for Marissa Callaghan who won Women’s Personality of the Year|
Also in attendance was Michael O’Neill who paid tribute to his Northern Ireland players who will be heading off next week to a training camp in Manchester – as part of their preparations for the World Cup qualifying trip to Azerbaijan.