Extratime.ie Premier Division Team of the Year

Twitter Hashtag - #ETTOTY

Showered with adulation and applause, the fat lady has taken her bow and has left the stage and the curtain has come down on the 2013 domestic calendar.

After defending champions Sligo Rovers steamrolled their way to a seemingly unassailable lead, the Saints of Inchicore reeled them in while simultaneously fighting off the challenge Stephen Kenny’s Dundalk and were ultimately (and deservingly) declared the Airtricity Premier Division Champions of what was a pulsating 2013.

Here at Extratime.ie towers, after much beard stroking and biro chewing, we have come up with the “Extratime.ie Team of the Year for 2013” (#ETTOTY). And here it is:

Brendan Clarke (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Ger O’Brien (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Andy Boyle (Dundalk)

Conor Kenna (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Ian Bermingham (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Richie Towell (Dundalk)

Greg Bolger (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Killian Brennan (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Patrick Hoban (Dundalk)

Ciarán Kilduff (Cork City)

Rory Patterson (Derry City)

The “Extratime.ie Team of the Year for 2013” is the ultimate hat tip we can give to those that have wowed and dazzled us throughout the year, and not surprisingly contains six of the league winning St Pats side.

Derry City striker and league top scorer Rory Patterson also makes the list having scored 18 times, while runners up Dundalk have three representatives in the side. Cork City’s loan signing from Shamrock Rovers Ciarán Kilduff completes the side, having netted eleven times since his mid-season loan switch to Leeside.

Of particular note is Dundalk’s Andy Boyle who was a shock omission from the PFAI Team of the Year, but his performances didn’t go unnoticed by us as he made the team comfortably.

Shamrock Rovers bound Luke Byrne, Cork City’s Daryl Horgan and Dundalk captain Stephen O’Donnell all came close, but in the final shake up were not close enough.

Of course with any Team of the Year decision, there will be disagreements. There will be those that can feel unlucky to miss out, while others may feel that we have been biased towards/against your team.

In a meagre attempt to put our personal affiliations aside we have taken the opinions of one reporter who follows each team in the Premier Division, not allowing them to vote for players of their own team.

Do you agree/disagree with our selection? If so, do let us know via the comments at the bottom of this page, or via Facebook or Twitter (Hashtag - #ETTOTY).

Team of the Year voted for by Andrew Cunneen, Hugh Gallagher, Colman Hanley, Jessica Farry, Rory Kelly, Stephen Pollard, Macdara Ferris, PJ Murray, Gareth O’Reilly, Darren Crawley, Ruaidhrí Croke and Brian Fitzgerald. They shouldn’t be hard to track down if you take particular umbrage to their choices!