O'Kelly's individual efforts rewarded

Presuming the Irish Rugby Union Players' Association (IRUPA)stays in existence for many moons to come, then Malcolm O'Kelly will hold a unique place in its history, writes Gerry Thornley.

Even 100 years from now, the 29-year-old lock will be inscribed as the inaugural winner of the Players' Player of the Year award.

Although the season ended on a decidedly anti-climactic note, and with two of the biggest disappointments of his career as well as many of his peers - namely the Grand Slam defeat to England and the Leinster/Munster semi-final exits from the European Cup - it took an unprecedented level of collective and individual performances to achieve a glimpse of the mountain top.

Uppermost amongst those individual efforts was O'Kelly's, who played in all of Ireland's 10 successive wins and all bar one of Leinster's seven consecutive victories in Europe. And such was the high level of his displays that there can be no quibbling with his choice as the IRUPA Mira Players' Player of the Year, which was the highlight of last night's inaugural IRUPA awards banquet in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.

Having won the 120-strong vote ahead of Geordan Murphy and John Hayes, O'Kelly accepted his award in typically lugubrious fashion.

"I suppose I owe a lot to the likes of Peter McKenna and Liam Toland, who set up the players' association, and do it in conjunction with probably the best season I've ever had. So fair play to them, and I'm obviously delighted to pick up this award."

O'Kelly also holds the advent of the IRUPA in high esteem. "It is of huge importance to us, especially with regard to the likes of the Connacht issue.

"We supported keeping Connacht alive and it made a difference that the players would have striked if they'd had to. It's nice too that individual players aren't left on their own, that there's advice for younger guys and maybe guys nearing the end of the career who are seeking career advice."

That the IRUPA has quickly assumed a high standing within Irish rugby can be measured by the presence of 450 people and five sponsors at last night's awards, according to the union's chief executive Niall Woods.

"The union (IRUPA) is also important to the IRFU, as can be seen by the support they've given us."

Establishing an awards' dinner in the association's first season gives IRUPA further kudos.

Concentrating purely on the professional era, now in its eighth year, fittingly the legendary Peter Clohessy and Mick Galwey were the initial players to be inducted into the association's Hall of Fame, while at the other end of the spectrum Ulster's openside Neil McMillan won the young player award ahead of Mossy Lawlor and John O'Sullivan.

Jason Holland won the Unsung Hero award for players who achieve a high level of performance but don't get the recognition they deserve, while one of Gordon D'Arcy's hat-trick against Swansea was deemed try of the season.

The full list of last night's award winners were:

PLAYERS' PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Malcolm O'Kelly (St Mary's College, Leinster and Ireland). Also nominated: Geordan Murphy (Leicester and Ireland) and John Hayes (Shannon, Munster and Ireland).

UNSUNG HERO: Jason Holland (Midleton, Munster and Ireland). Also nominated: Mark McHugh (St Mary's College and Connacht) and Dave Quinlan (Blackrock College and Leinster).

HALL OF FAME: Mick Galwey (Shannon, Munster and Ireland) and Peter Clohessy (Young Munster, Munster and Ireland).

TRY OF THE YEAR: Gordon D'Arcy for Leinster v Swansea, St Helens, October 19th. Also nominated: Wayne Munn for Connact v Leinster, Donnybrook, September 13th, and Rob Henderson for Munster v Neath, Cardiff, February 1st.

YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Neil McMillan (Ballymena and Ulster). Also nominated: Mossy Lawlor (Shannon and Munster) and John O'Sullivan (Garryowen and Connacht).