BRIDGET'S HONOUR!

BALLYMONEY'S Bridget Cleland has been crowned this year's ESB Women's Players' Player of the year!
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd Jun 2010, 11:48 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2010, 19:09 BST

Over 380 of Irish Hockey’s population gathered in the annual glittering ceremony held at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for the ESB Irish Hockey Awards.

The evening was not only attended by Ireland’s top hockey players, but guest speaker Bernard Dunne and the Minister for the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Mary Hanafin.

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The evening saw four new inductees to the hall of fame and a total of 15 awards presented. However the top two player awards of the night were the male and female player’s player of the year awards.

Speaking to the Times, Bridget, vice captain and defender of the Irish Senior International Team said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ to receive the prestigious award.

“I was just sitting there enjoying the evening when the speakers started to describe this year’s ESB women’s players’ player of the year - and I thought ‘that sounds like me’.

“I really couldn’t believe it when they announced my name as the winner. It’s a fantastic honour for my team-mates to think I’m worthy of this award.”

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Crowned the Irish Player of the year in 2006, Bridget continued: “winning the award in 2006 was great, however this year’s award was special as it was based on votes from my team mates whereas my previous award was decided by a panel of judges.

“I would really like to thank the team and the coaches for all their support and dedication throughout the year”.

The Dalriada schoolteacher has achieved success at both club and international level. Bridget plays with Ballymoney Ladies Club in which she was key member of the team who defeated Pegasus to win the Irish Senior Cup.

Bridget currently has 145 international caps; she made her senior international debut against Japan in 2003. Her first major selection was for the European Championships in 2003 with further selections for the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in 2004; European Championships in 2005; World Cup Qualification Tournament in 2006; European Championships in 2007; Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in 2009; and Champions Challenge II and European Championships in 2009.