Dundalk midfielder Sean Murray landed the SSE Airtricity League/Soccer writers player of the month award for October.
The Lilywhites midfielder was a key player for Filippo Giovagnoli’s side during the period, scoring crucial goals in Europe and in the Premier Division.
27-year-old Murray found the target in the Europa League play-off victory over KI, and followed that up with another brilliant header at home to Molde in the group stages.
Murray also got his name on the scoresheet during a 2-1 league win against Derry City.
“I’ve only been nominated for this award once before, so it’s good to be recognised,” explained Murray.
This is the first time that the former Ireland U21 international has claimed the prize, having picked up more votes than runner-up Mark McGinley (Finn Harps) and third-placed Danny Grant (Bohemians).
“It has been a tough year. We haven’t done as well as we had hoped in the league, but there is still a lot to play for so hopefully we can end it on a high” Murray declared
Dundalk finished third in the Premier Division table, and they face Bohemians in an FAI Cup quarter-final tie this Friday evening.
“Winning the FAI Cup would be massive for us to get the confidence up going into next year and also to show that we haven’t dropped off too much,” added Murray.
“In Europe, we’ve now played all the teams in our group once. We did really well against Molde and Rapid Vienna and it would be great if we could pick up some points against them.”