IRELAND INTERNATIONAL Mark Travers has been praised by Bournemouth boss Scott Parker on the back of an impressive season.

One of three Irish players part of the Cherries’ first-team squad alongside Robbie Brady and Gavin Kilkenny, Travers earned a 20th clean sheet of the season amid Saturday’s 1-0 win over Millwall.

The 22-year-old’s performances have been key to his side sealing automatic promotion, as evidenced by the fact that he claimed no fewer than four individual accolades for his role in the triumph.

The Maynooth native won the Championship’s golden glove, awarded to the stopper with the most clean sheets in the division, while he also claimed three player-of-the-season awards amid a campaign that saw Travers establish himself in the number one jersey.

“He probably epitomises the squad,” Parker told reporters afterwards. “He probably epitomises everything we are, to be honest with you. Mark Travers in goal at the start of the season, let’s get right, you’re looking at a keeper that looked young.

“You looked at times thinking ‘is he is he ready for this?’ But we stuck with him. And more importantly, Mark Travers has worked tirelessly. He took the bumps along the way and improved drastically.

“What the boys (Gaz Stewart and Rob Burch) have done with him is incredible. He epitomises it.”

Parker is hopeful Travers can build on a superb season by adapting to the challenge of regularly playing Premier League football next year.

“The bottom line now is can the players now step up to the next level,” he said. “Can they produce performances and be a player that can be around the Premier League? And that’s a test for a lot of these players.

“All of a sudden the players that we know, are going up to the Premier League and going to experience what Mark Travers, Jordan Zemura, Jaidon Anthony and Gavin Kilkenny have experienced this year. A lot more of the squad are going to experience that next year.”