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Ireland Mens Senior Player of the year, took me by surprise if Im honest, but Im not sure I could make a good argument for anyone else either!
I did find it kinda funny that our player of the year has been discussed on here so little that I had to scroll to page 6 of the threads page to find him... the likes of Georgie Kelly, Conor Masterson and even Terry Dixon have more recent comments. Doesnt exactly scream "Stand out player of the year"!!!
Anytime I see his thread on page one, I'm surprised to see he was born in '92, he seems way older! Congrats to him
Fair point. I guess he gets it at least in part for the whole Lazerus effect.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
He was a Man Utd youth player. He's been on people's radar for 15 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckett
There really weren’t any standouts for a variety of reasons.
GK: Kelleher was pretty good with one clanger as a strong asterisk to his name and another goal he should have done better from.
RB: Coleman injured in all but one game. Doherty ended the year with some good performances but had a really bad performance early in the year and lost his place to guys like Omobamidele, O’Shea, O’Brien.
CB: Collins was an ever present and was mostly good but had a few clangers and half asleep moments. Scales began and lost his place after England. O’Shea, O’Brien, McGuinness all made appearances but not enough to be contenders.
LB: Good performances from Brady, starting 8/10 games (all 8 he was fit for), nothing exceptional bar the goal and assist against Finland but consistently one of our best players.
Midfielders:
Probably only Knight and Cullen played enough to be contenders with all of Smallbone, Azaz, McGrath, Molumby, Taylor, Moran, Browne getting some game time at each others expense - Azaz with more game time could have had a chance. Not sure either was consistently good enough
Attackers:
Ogbene’s injury ruled him out. Johnston probably didn’t play enough. Ebosele had one or two good moments but nowhere near enough. Szmodics did well for us and possibly a contender but he’s still without a goal. Then you’ve got centre forward: Evan struggled due to a lack of club football but he took the majority of the game time, ruling out Troy Parrott and Adam Idah.
You in the end you’re left with 6 players, none of whom had exceptional seasons for us.
Brady was our best player in the last year, definitely, and he is a good example of someone getting their head down and earning their place back in the team. He might be in the twilight years of his career, but he has shown himself to be the best option at LB still. Good for him. I think when we look back on this period in a few years, we'll come to appreciate the likes of Brady more.
I always think of what might have been for Brady. When I first saw him for the U19s and U21s he was head and shoulders above everyone as a left winger/inverted forward. Injuries hindered him and then too many managers preferred him as a wing-back/full-back. I felt he had a lot more to offer further up the pitch, but he didn't get as many chances in those roles at club level. Still he has had a decent career all told. A long-time Premier League player with 70 caps for Ireland and double figures in the goal department. He's now one of only a few players to win senior international player of the year twice. He joins Paul McGrath, Roy Keane, Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane and Shane Duffy in that club.