Town boss Kieran McKenna says Irish international pair Dara O’Shea and Chieo Ogbene thoroughly deserved the awards they received at Monday night’s End-of-Season Dinner.

O’Shea was named the Men’s Player of the Year and Ogbene, Town’s disability ambassador, the club’s PFA Community Champion picking up the Philip Hope-Cobbold Award along with women’s all-time top scorer and appearance-maker Natasha Thomas.

“I think he has been excellent and very consistent over the course of the campaign,” McKenna said regarding O’Shea.

“He arrived late and missed the first three games and had a little injury in the early part of the season. Considering all that, he has been really consistent in his performances.

“We’ve had to move his role around a little because of injuries but his performances have been good and his character has been outstanding.

“As a person and a leader in the club, it’s not easy coming into a club that has had a lot of success and a really settled group, but he has earned the respect of everyone and is growing day by day as a leader.

“One thing you can clearly see is that he has played Premier League football recently and you can maybe say he is the only one of our outfield players who has done that in the last year.

“I think you can see that in his assuredness and his consistency. He’s really brought that to the group and that’s been a benefit to have.

“We would like to have him here going forward. He is the type of person and mentality and player that you would like to build the next few years around.”

Ogbene’s season was curtailed in October by an achilles rupture when he had made only four starts and two sub appearances following his £8 million August signing from Luton Town.

“He has been a big miss,” McKenna reflected. “First and foremost, he is an absolute A* person – as good a human being as you are ever going to meet. Everyone has taken to him really well. He is a fantastic person.

“As a player, we have really missed his qualities - pace and power and physicality in the Premier League is in many positions the prerequisite. And as a team, it’s a prerequisite in being competitive.

“To lose him really early was a big, big blow – compounded by losing Wes [Burns], who is a similar profile in the same position.

“In the second half of the season, we have really missed the qualities that those two have. Even when Chieo was out and Wes was fit, you miss having one of them to start and one of them to come on.

“It has been a big, big loss with any other right wingers we have used also getting injured. It has been a bit of a cursed position for us this year.

“The positive is that we will have him back with us next season and hopefully, everything being well, in good condition to join us for pre-season.

“We haven’t had the benefit of his qualities too much yet, so he will be like a really fresh player for us in pre-season and ready to help us next year.”

Photo: Matchday Images

PortmanTerrorist added 18:27 - May 23 Chieo Ogbene should be available for for pre season is the first good news story of the summer. With Burns presumably needing a bit longer we should likely still need a versatile, rapid forward to back up on the right....a Kayden Jackson 2.0! Regardless this is good news
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Bert added 18:47 - May 23 O’Shea our next Captain then when Morsy hangs his boots up or goes elsewhere.
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Karlosfandangal added 20:03 - May 23 We would like to have him here going forward……..is it possible he could be on the way in the summer
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RobsonWark added 22:29 - May 23 Not impressed with O'Shea this season at all. Muric and O'Shea took Burnley down from the Premier League last season. They have both taken us down this season. Burnley has been promoted back to the Premier League this season, without them, with 100 points. We need a better centre-half.
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