Dundalk supremo Stephen Kenny named PFAI Manager of the Year

Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny has scooped the PFAI Manager of the Year award for the fifth time in six years.

The Tallaght native steered the Lilywhites to a league and cup double this season – the second time in four years he’s achieved the feat.

The FAI Cup final win over Cork City on Sunday saw the 47-year-old equal Jim McLaughlin’s record haul of eight trophies with the Louth club.

Kenny guided the club to the group stages of the Europa League in 2016 and became the first manager to both draw and win a game at that level.

He took the reins at Dundalk, who only stayed up the previous year by virtue of Monaghan United’s demise and a play-off win over Waterford United, at the beginning of the 2013 season.

The Lilywhites finished second that season and would go on to take the league title the following year with a final-day win over Cork City.

The two clubs have since duked out the four subsequent title races and cup finals, with Dundalk taking three more league titles and two cups.

After a spell coaching St Patrick’s Athletic’s under-21s, Kenny took his first senior managerial role in 1998 with Longford Town, becoming the league’s youngest ever manager.

He reached the FAI Cup final with Longford before moving to Bohemians in 2001 and won his first Premier Division title with the Gypsies in 2003.

Kenny had two spells with Derry City either side of a stint in Scotland with Dunfermline, and won four League Cups, an FAI Cup and the First Division in his time with the Candystripes.

In 2012, he moved onto his hometown club Shamrock Rovers, but it was to be a short and unhappy sojourn as he was sacked within his first season.

The pattern of success began once more when he pitched up at troubled Dundalk some months later, however, and he can now arguably be regarded as the league’s most successful manager.