Cooney Scoops Ulster Rugby Awards Hat-Trick

It was also a memorable night for the province’s retiring scrum half Paul Marshall, who picked up the Heineken Ulster Rugby Personality of the Year award.

John Cooney won the Bank of Ireland Ulster Player of the Year, Ulster Rugby Supporters Club Player of the Year and Rugby Writers’ Player of the Year awards after a remarkable season that has seen him score 211 points in 24 appearances.

The 28-year-old joined Ulster from Connacht last summer but settled quickly in Belfast and delivered five tries and 13 assists, in addition to his accurate goal-kicking.

Marshall, who made his Ulster debut in 2006 and went on to make 206 provincial appearances, got the biggest cheer of the night as he was revealed as the winner of the most prestigious award.

Nick Timoney, shortlisted in four categories, won the Abbey Insurance Academy Player of the Year award and the BT Young Player of the Year award after a breakthrough campaign. The 22-year-old back rower scored five tries in his 19 appearances for the senior squad.

Tom O’Toole was the first-ever recipient of the CD Group Ulster ‘A’ Player of the Year award after helping Kieran Campbell and Willie Anderson’s side reach the British & Irish Cup quarter-finals. 

City of Armagh RFC’s truly brilliant season, during which their first team secured promotion to Ulster Bank League Division 1B, won the First Trust Senior Cup for the first time and retained the SONI Ulster Rugby Premiership, saw them collect the Kukri Sports Club of the Year award. The club’s other teams also achieved significant levels of success.

Well-known volunteers Patrick Baird (Malone) and Noel Brown (Cooke) received SONI Community Rugby Champion awards for their outstanding contributions to club rugby, while Mark Orr, a referee for more than three decades, won the Dorrington B Faulkner award in recognition of his services to rugby in Ulster.

There was a Special Recognition award presented to Norman Pollock who will retire at the end of the season after 18 years of volunteering as Ulster Rugby mascot Sparky.

Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union), Matthew Agnew (Ballymena), Aaron Sexton (Bangor GS), Conor McMenamin (Letterkenny) and Bethany McDowell (Malone) also picked up individual awards for their performances this season. Chris Busby was selected as Kerr’s Tyres Referee of the Year after making significant progress during the 2017/18 campaign.

2018 HEINEKEN ULSTER RUGBY AWARD WINNERS & NOMINEES:
(winners in bold and underlined)

Abbey Insurance Academy Player of the Year

Nick Timoney
Tom O’Toole
Angus Curtis

CD Group Ulster ‘A’ Player of the Year

Tom O’Toole
Clive Ross
Matthew Agnew

SONI Community Rugby Champion Award

Patrick Baird (Malone)
Clem Bassett (Ballynahinch)
Noel Brown (Cooke)
Liam Foley (Bangor)

Kerr’s Tyres Referee of the Year

Chris Busby

Deloitte Women’s Player of the Year

Beth Cregan (Cooke)
Brittany Hogan (Cooke)
Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union)

Ulster Under-18 Girls Player of the Year

Bethany McDowell (Malone)
Kelly McCormill (Monaghan)
Lucinda Kinghan (Monaghan)

Ulster Carpets Youth Player of the Year

Seif Eldin Abd El Gawad (Carrickfergus)
Charlie Clarke (Rainey Old Boys)
Conor McMenamin (Letterkenny)

Danske Bank Schools Player of the Year

John McKee (Campbell College)
Nathan Doak (Wallace HS)
Aaron Sexton (Bangor GS)

Dorrington B Faulkner Award (sponsored by Perennials RFC)

Mark Orr

Ken Goodall Outstanding Club Player of the Year

Matthew Agnew (Ballymena)
Andrew Morrison (Banbridge)
Peter Cromie (Banbridge)

Kukri Sports Club of the Year

City of Armagh
Malone
Grosvenor

Ulster Rugby Supporters Club Player of the Year

Rory Best
John Cooney
Jacob Stockdale

Rugby Writers’ Player of the Year

John Cooney
Jacob Stockdale
Nick Timoney

BT Young Player of the Year

Nick Timoney
Matthew Rea
Johnny McPhillips

Bank of Ireland Ulster Player of the Year

John Cooney
Nick Timoney
Stuart McCloskey

Special Recognition Award

Norman Pollock

Heineken Ulster Rugby Personality of the Year

Paul Marshall