JOB DUN STEPHEN
STEPHEN KENNY and Shane Supple were the big winners at last night’s SSE Airtricity / Soccer Writers Association of Ireland annual awards.
Kenny scooped the SWAI ‘Personality of the Year’ trophy after leading Dundalk to the double in 2018 while Supple was crowned ‘Goalkeeper of the Year’ (below).
It was Kenny’s third time to win the award, all of which have come in the last five years while Supple was winning for the first time.
Kenny led Dundalk to a fourth league title in five years and a second double since 2015 only to then rock the club by quitting.
The 47-year old has since been appointed Ireland U21 manager and will succeed Mick Mccarthy as senior boss in August 2020.
Mccarthy was among the 250 guests at the prestigious awards bash in Dublin’s Conrad Hotel.
Kenny beat off competition from three of his old players, Pat Hoban, Michael Duffy and Chris Shields, and also Bohemians and UCD managers Keith Long and Collie O’neill.
For the goalkeeper award, former Gypsies star Supple held off Dundalk’s Gary Rogers and Cork City’s Mark Mcnulty – bidding for a hat-trick of wins – respectively.
Supple, 31, stunned Bohs at the end of the season by announcing his shock retirement from football due to a persistent hip problem.
Elsewhere on the night, Aine O’gorman received the ‘International Achievement Award’ having retired her Ireland shirt in September.
The Peamount United star won 100 caps for the Girls in Green over a stellar 12-year period representing her country.
And former Drogheda United chairman Vincent Hoey was the recipient of the ‘Liam Tuohy Special Merit Award’ for his services to the domestic game.