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 | | Thursday, 13 September, 2001, 20:42 GMT 21:42 UK O'Gara is the main man  Dungannon celebrate All Ireland success last season Ronan O'Gara was voted Player of the Year at the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Awards dinner at the Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin on Thursday evening. O'Gara pipped Tyrone Howe for the top prize while Dungannon were a popular choice as club of the year. Henry O'Toole collected the Tom Rooney Memorial Award following his unstinting work with newly-promoted Connemara. O'Gara burst on to the scene the season before last when he took over the number 10 jersey from David Humphreys. Influence O'Gara's elevation coincided with an Ireland renaissance which was stunted by the foot-and-mouth crisis last season. O'Gara has since won 11 caps for Ireland and has been a major influence in Munster winning three successive inter-provincial titles. As well as an excellent place-kicker he has become a class playmaker. He scored 69 points in four matches for Ireland in a season which culminated in winning a place in the Lions tour party last summer. At club level he has been an inspiration for Cork Constitution but because of injury missed the All Ireland final against Dungannon.
The Tyrone side, meanwhile, became the first Ulster side to lift the title in the 11-year history of the All Ireland League. Coached by the redoubtable Willie Anderson, they swept all before them in the latter stages of the competition after losing three of their first five games in the campaign. Helped by the availability of their contracted players they took inaugural champions Constitution apart in the final. They played a refreshing style of rugby as they swept aside the Munster boys aside by 46-12. When Connemara qualified for Division Three of the All Ireland League, it was the culimination of some hard work by O'Toole. The 39-year-old from Connacht had won three cup medals with Corinthians before he moved to the Blacks. They had never won anything in their history before until O'Toole arrived. Now they have seven junior league and three cup titles to savour as well as qualified for the All Ireland League when they defeated Highfield in the play-offs. | | See also:  Other top Northern Ireland stories:  Links to more Northern Ireland stories are at the foot of the page. | |
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