IRFU AIL Awards Mark End of Thrilling Season

8th May 2019 By The Editor

AIL Awards Night wInners.

The IRFU’s AIL Awards took place yesterday at the Aviva Stadium with 17 awards presented to players, coaches and volunteers.

The Top Try Scorer across Division 1 of the AIL was Peter Sullivan with 15 tries for Lansdowne during the regular league season. In the Women’s AIL Galwegians’ Denise Redmond topped the try scoring charts with 8 tries.

Naas’ Peter Osborne was the Top Points Scorer across Division 1 of the AIL with 169 points across the regular league season. Niamh Briggs of UL Bohemians was the Top Points Scorer in the Women’s AIL with 88 points.

The AIL Try of the Season and Women’s AIL Try of the Season were decided by an online public vote of the monthly winners of the season long competition. The winner of the AIL Try of the Season is Malahide’s Daniel Hayes and the winner of the Women’s AIL Try of the Season is Stephanie Carroll (Railway Union RFC).

The Rising Star Awards across all five divisions of the AIL and the Women’s AIL were voted for by the coaches in the respective leagues nominating stand-out performers from opposition sides.

The Rising Star for AIL Divisio 1a is UCC’s James Taylor who scored 150 points during the regular season and played a key role in maintaining UCC’s Division 1a status. Enya Breen of UL Bohemians is the Women’s AIL Rising Star for 2018/19 in a season where she also made her international debut.

The AIL Rising Star Award in Division 1b went to Jack Keating (Old Belvedere) who scored 13 tries and represented the Ireland Club side. In Division 2a Highfield’s Dave O’Connell collected the AIL Rising Star award for his role in their successful promotion campaign to Div1b.

Barnhall’s Brendan McSorley picked up the AIL Rising Star Award in Division 2b for his role in their unbeaten league campaign while he also represented the Irish Students side this season. In Division 2c the AIL Rising Star award went to Ballina out-half Dylan Prendergast as they won promotion to Division 2b.

The AIL Coach of the Year award went to Adrian Flavin of MU Barnhall. Barnhall secured promotion to Division 2a winning all 18 of their league games this season. The Women’s AIL Coach of the Year award went to UL Bohemian’s Ben Martin. UL Bohs topped the regular league table, claimed the All Ireland Cup and narrowly lost out to Railway in the league final.

The PRO of the Year award went to Shannon RFC’s Katie McCloskey for her work in promoting the club’s activity across traditional and digital platforms. The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Corinthians RFC’s Derek Niland for his work in promoting inclusion and the establishment of tag disability rugby. The Spirit Club of the Year award went to Malone RFC for their work in promoting women’s rugby, mixed ability rugby and building ties with their community.