Bank of Ireland Senior Player of the Year: Bernard Jackman

Leinster and Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman was voted the Bank of Ireland Senior Player of the Year by the supporters. Bernard Jackman said: "This has come as a real surprise because there have been so many outstanding candidates this year, not just in the pack but right across the backline. I am hugely proud to receive the award and I would like to thank Bank of Ireland and all the supporters for voting for me.

"I feel a bit strange receiving this personal accolade because I couldn't have done it without the support of the coaching staff and especially my team-mates over the last year. So I would like to dedicate it to them as well as to my friends and family who have been hugely supportive throughout my career.

"It is a massive compliment. Highlights? One of the areas that we targeted improving on at the start of the year was our away form. We have become a side who consistently performs on the road and the victories against Munster, Cardiff, the Ospreys and the Llanelli Scarlets show this. Everyone knows how difficult it is to win away from home. I also took great satisfaction from the home victories over Leicester Tigers and more recently over Munster.

"The six month spell I spent out of the Leinster squad through injury was probably the best thing to happen to me from a rugby perspective because everything that I have achieved since then has been motivated from that period.

"I am proud to represent the province of my birth and I appreciate how lucky I am to play in a squad of this calibre. I was delighted to get recalled to the Ireland team, but from a Leinster perspective this year has been a real team effort from everybody. Hopefully we can continue our good form over the next few weeks in our two games against the Dragons."

Other main Awards

Meanwhile Luke Fitzgerald was awarded the Powerade Young Player of the Year. Blackrock College second row Geri Healy won the Women's Player of the Year, while in the O2 Club and Leinster League Player of the Year, the awards went to Tullow RFC and Seapoint's Johnny Walsh respectively.

The Powerade School of the Year went to CBC Monkstown while Old Belvedere's Colm Brennan scooped the inaugural Evening Herald Club PRO of the Year. The FM104 Try of the Year was awarded to Jamie Heaslip and club captain Brian O'Driscoll won the Trapiche Wines Tackle of the Year.

Jack Kirwan of De la Salle Palmerston was inducted into the Kenilworth Motors Hall of Fame, while the soon-to-be retired Keith Gleeson was acknowledged for outstanding service to both Leinster and Ireland with a Special Merit Award. Gleeson was also presented with an award by the Official Leinster Supporters Club to mark his retirement.

Clubs accepting Awards