Republic honour for hitman Doyle

The 25-year-old was honoured at the Football Association of Ireland's International Awards ceremony in Dublin a day after being knocked unconscious during is club's 0-0 Championship draw with Preston.Doyle beat new Manchester City keeper Shay Given and Manchester United's John O'Shea to the top prize.The Wexford-born player sat out Ireland's training session on Sunday afternoon following his collision with Preston keeper Andy Lonergan at the Madejski Stadium the previous day.He briefly lost consciousness and admitted last night he is still feeling the after-effects, although national boss Giovanni Trapattoni expects him to be able to train later today ahead of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Georgia.Doyle said: "It was a clash with the keeper and it was a massive bang. I was out for about five seconds, but the physio came over and checked me out."I wasn't 100% about what went on, but I played on as I didn't know any better. In the end, they took me off as I was looking fairly dozy."My memory is still fine, it's just a headache, sore neck and a bit of drowsiness."I would be stood down for a few days if it was an official concussion, but because my memory is fine and I played on, it should be okay."Celtic's Aiden McGeady lifted the young/under-23 award, while Owen Garvan of Ipswich was named Under-21 player of the year and Wolves striker Andy Keogh's equaliser against Serbia in May last year claimed the prize for the best goal.

Source: Team_Talk