Champions Shamrock Rovers have finally landed a SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month award after Daniel Mandroiu claimed the honour for October.
Despite the Hoops being at the head of the table for large parts of the season, no player had been chosen as the outstanding player on each month of the season.
The 23-year-old has proven an instrumental player since joining from rivals Bohemians as Stephen Bradley's side successfully defended their Premier Division title.
Mandroiu’s four goals in October helped Shamrock Rovers to victories over Derry City, Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps.
The Dubliner claimed top spot in the voting - ahead of St Patrick’s Athletic pair Darragh Burns and Matty Smith - to end Bohs’ run of four consecutive winners.
"It’s a very nice feeling," Mandroiu said. "Obviously, no one at Rovers has won the award this year. I don’t know how to be honest, but it’s nice to win it.
"At the start of the season, I wanted to win a league and we’ve won the league. I wanted to do well personally, and I think I’ve done that too. I’ve added more goals to my game and overall it has been a good season."
Former Brighton & Hove Albion player Mandroiu praised Bradley and his coaching staff for improving his game, before adding that he would love to be the latest SSE Airtricity League representative to be capped at senior level by Ireland.
"Stephen has been brilliant with me, on and off the pitch," he said. "He took me after sessions to work on what I needed to work on and I’ve still got things I can improve.
"It’s not just Stephen but Glenn [Cronin], Stephen McPhail... all of them have been great.
"A big goal of mine is to play for my country so hopefully it comes soon. For now, I’m just focusing on the club and if that comes around it comes around."
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