THE SHORTLISTS FOR this year’s PFAI Player of the Year awards have been announced today.
2019 winner Jack Byrne is in contention to scoop the prize for a second consecutive year after leading Shamrock Rovers to their first Premier Division title since 2011.
A double could still be on the cards as Stephen Bradley’s side meet Dundalk in the FAI Cup final this Sunday.
The Hoops midfielder is widely regarded as the SSE Airtricity League’s best player, and earned his third and fourth senior international caps for Ireland in the recent Uefa Nations League campaign.
Dubliner Byrne is joined on the shortlist by his Rovers team-mate Roberto Lopes — a commanding presence at the back for the champions — and Bohemians winger Danny Grant, who enjoyed a superb season with the runners-up.
Grant is also up for Young Player of the Year, along with fellow Bohs player Dawson Devoy and Brandon Kavanagh.
20-year-old Kavanagh was key for Rovers’ second team and is nominated for the First Division Player of the Year too, alongside Drogheda United forward Mark Doyle and Yoyo Mahdy of UCD.
Hosted by Darragh Maloney, the PFAI’s annual awards will be livestreamed on YouTube next Wednesday, 9 December from 12.30pm.
If Byrne is successful, it would be the first time back-to-back Player of the Year awards have been won since another Byrne — Jason — in 2003 and 2004.
As voted for by the players, the nominees for Player of the Year, are @Jackb_8, @dangrant99 and @picolopes. Winners of all our awards will be announced on our Livestream Dec 9th @ 12.30pm. Listen to @LOIweekly this afternoon to hear from some of the nominees pic.twitter.com/8kTqqvNTO5
— PFA Ireland (@PFAIOfficial) December 2, 2020
Obviously he isn’t going to write off the Arsenal game publicly but privately he’ll be gearing his players up for a cup final effort against Palace tomorrow. Would be lovely to get it done tomorrow and enjoy a first stress free weekend in months.
@Fergus O’Connor: exactly