Paul O'Connell and Sophie Spence have been named the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year and Womens Player of the Year at the annual Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Awards.
Ireland captain O’Connell led his country to RBS 6 Nations glory for the second consecutive season.
He said: "It's a great honour. I'm delighted to receive it, we had a very successful season with Ireland winning the Championship, so I suppose I'm capitalising on a lot of other people's hard work," he admitted.
"There a lot of very clever rugby people writing about the game in Ireland and I've been at the awards night as Irish captain and as a winner before and it's a great night. We're delighted with their support and I'm delighted with the award."
The Limerick man, who will depart for Toulon after the Rugby World Cup, was outstanding for his country last season, and his efforts along with the rest of the squad resulted in Ireland being awarded the Dave Guiney Team of the Year.
Spence picked up the Women's Player of the Year after an impressive campaign in the second row for her country. The Old Belvedere and Leinster player was an integral part of the team side winning the Women's RBS 6 Nations title last season.
She said: "It's something you can only dream of. I didn't think I had my best performances this year, but I really enjoyed it and it's come as a big surprise when I see the other players who have won it like Claire Molloy, Lynne Cantwell and Niamh Briggs, so it's fantastic.
"It's nice to see our forwards getting the recognition too! Our pack has had a lot of continuity in the past season which helped us deliver real consistency so this award is as much about the forwards as anything else."
Lansdowne FC was voted Club of the Year after an impressive season at all levels culminating in winning Ulster Bank League Division 1A as they beat last season's winners Clontarf by a single point in a pulsating final at the Aviva Stadium.
The Tom Rooney coaching award was awarded to Fred Casey. He has been involved in Cork Constitution since 1964 and has been credited with the development of sixteen Ireland Internationals and four British & Irish Lions. He has also coached a huge number of current and former Munster players.
Tom Grace and Dave Hewitt were inducted into the Hall of Fame on the night.
Grace won 25 Ireland caps between 1972 and 1978, including eight as captain and led Ireland on the tour to New Zealand and Fiji in 1976. He also gained Lions selection on the tour to South Africa in 1974 where he scored 52 points and made 11 appearances.
Hewitt was capped 18 times for Ireland, during which time he scored one try, two conversions and three penalties), played in six Test matches while on tour with the Lions to Australia and New Zealand in 1959, and South Africa in 1962.
His personal points tally for the New Zealand matches came to 112.
