Gavin Whyte: Winger named Ulster Footballer of the Year

Whyte was the winner of back-to-back Player of the Month awards for November and December

Crusaders' Gavin Whyte has been named as the Ulster Footballer of the Year.

The winger has scored 21 goals for Stephen Baxter's men in the league - helping them to the top of the table going into the final day of the season.

He was chosen ahead of club-mate Billy Joe Burns, Cliftonville's Joe Gormley and the Coleraine trio of Chris Johns, Jamie McGonigle and Stephen O'Donnell.

Glenavon's Mark Sykes and Linfield goalkeeper Lauren Perry were the other big winners at the awards ceremony.

Sykes was selected as the Young Player of the Year after a fine season with the Lurgan Blues, who will finish third in the Irish Premiership with a win against Coleraine on Saturday.

Glenavon's Mark Sykes is one of the best young prospects in the Irish Premiership

Perry, 17, won the inaugural Women's Player award to cap a remarkable year for the Linfield Ladies goalkeeper.

She signed for Linfield in March 2017 and helped the club to the league title in her first season and is already an established international having made her Northern Ireland debut in the World Cup qualifier defeat by Norway last September.

Also at the ceremony at the Titanic Hotel in Belfast, BBC Sport commentator Jackie Fullerton was named as the recipient of the Dr Malcolm Brodie Lifetime achievement award and Charlie Fogarty, who has played for Northern Ireland at two Cerebral Palsy World Cups, was presented with the Disability Footballer of the Year trophy.