John Cooney's outstanding debut season has been acknowledged with three awards at the Heineken Ulster Rugby Awards Dinner, which took place at La Mon Hotel & Country Club on Thursday evening. It was also a memorable night for the departing Paul Marshall, who picked up the Heineken Ulster Rugby Personality of the Year award. 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 saw him score 211 points in 24 appearances. The 28-year-old joined from Connacht last summer but settled quickly in Belfast and delivered 5 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 season. The 22-year-old back row scored 5 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 into the British & Irish Cup quarter-finals. City of Armagh RFC's truly brilliant season, during which its 1st XV 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 RFC) and Noel Brown (Cooke RFC) 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 RFC), Matthew Agnew (Ballymena RFC), Aaron Sexton (Bangor GS), Conor McMenamin (Letterkenny RFC) and Bethany McDowell (Malone RFC) 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) 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 Champions Patrick Baird (Malone RFC) Clem Bassett (Ballynahinch RFC) Noel Brown (Cooke RFC) Liam Foley (Bangor RFC) Kerr's Tyres Referee of the Year Chris Busby Deloitte Women's Player of the Year Beth Cregan (Cooke RFC) Brittany Hogan (Cooke RFC) Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union RFC) Ulster U18 Girls Player of the Year Bethany McDowell (Malone RFC) Kelly McCormill (Monaghan RFC) Lucinda Kinghan (Monaghan RFC) Ulster Carpets Youth Player of the Year Seif Eldin Abd El Gawad (Carrickfergus RFC) Charlie Clarke (Rainey Old Boys RFC) Conor McMenamin (Letterkenny RFC) 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 RFC) Andrew Morrison (Banbridge RFC) Peter Cromie (Banbridge RFC) Kukri Sports Club of the Year City of Armagh RFC Malone RFC Grosvenor RFC 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

Cooney scoops three awards at Heineken Ulster Rugby Awards Dinner

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