Caolan Dooley and Michelle Claffey the big winners at AIL awards

Caolan Dooley and Michelle Claffey claimed the top prizes at the Energia All Ireland League awards on Thursday night.

The pair were voted as players of the year in the men's Division 1A and women's division respectively.

Dooley was player of the match in the 1A final earlier this month as Terenure College became champions for the first time ever in front of a crowd of 8,642, a record since the redevelopment of the Aviva Stadium.

The 23-year-old starred with an incredible 11 out of 12 off the tee in the decider, kicking 30 points as Nure saw off defending champions Clontarf 50-24.

Claffey was named women's player of the year, with the former Ireland international captaining Blackrock College to the title, where they defeated Railway Union in the final.

The pair were presented with their awards by Ireland men's coach Andy Farrell, and interim women's coach John McKee, with City of Armagh's Chris Parker and Wicklow's Jason Moreton winning the men's and women's coach of the year awards respectively.

City of Armagh's Ryan O'Neill was named Division 1B player of the year, after helping the club to promotion to the top tier for the very first time, while David Whitten [Queen's University RFC], Michael Doyle [Greystones RFC] and Rhys O'Donnell [Instonians RFC] were also named player of the year across Divisions 2A, 2B and 2C.

The Energia 'Possibilities' award went to Wicklow RFC. Having managed five wins and 23 tries in the 21/22 season the Wicklow RFC senior women’s AIL team scored 63 tries, won 10 and drew 1 in 22/23, winning the AIL Conference and the AIL Shield.

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