When it came to picking my Player of the Year, though, there was only really going to be one option and that is Linfield's Alan Mannus.

I had never had first-hand experience of his qualities on a day-to-day basis prior to working alongside him in training with Northern Ireland, but I saw then exactly how good he was at his job and he has been in superb form for the Blues from the very first day of the season.

He was particularly impressive against Glentoran, when I once again got a first-hand look at precisely how good he was.

In the Boxing Day game, while he ended up on the losing side, he made I don't know how many saves before eventually being beaten by Michael Halliday's header.

He did manage a clean sheet when the sides last met and was absolutely outstanding once again that day.

We created a series of opportunities to break the deadlock but time and again, Alan stood in the way and there was simply no way past him — he was immense.

As I said, I believe there are great goalkeepers throughout the Irish League and I have a very high opinion of Elliott Morris at Glentoran but, at the end of the day, Alan Mannus is part of a team that won three trophies this season and it is for that reason I cannot look beyond him.

It's a great source of comfort and encouragement for a player and manager to know that, if your team is having one of those off-days when nothing seems to come together quite as you would like it to, you have a goalkeeper you can rely on 100% to get you out of any scrapes you might find yourselves in and, though off-days have been few and far between for the Blues this year, there's no doubting that Alan has won so many points (and trophies) with his top drawer performances.

He has been rewarded with call-ups to the international squad on a number of occasions this year and there has been talk of a potential cross-water move for him this summer — something which I know he has the quality to make a success.

Linfield know that, too, though and they won't want to lose their star man just yet.