FAIR PLAY AWARD FOR TOMÁS ROONEY-MURPHY (2026)

Cricket Leinster is delighted to announce that the John Dawson Fair Play Award for 2026 has been won by Tomás Rooney-Murphy of The Hills Cricket Club. Tomás played a leading role in guiding his club to the First Team League title and in doing so, The Hills have secured an immediate return to the Premier League for 2027. He is the third winner from The Hills in recent years following in the footsteps of Albert Van Der Merwe and Nazeer Shaukat.

This award is presented annually to the player (voted by all the clubs with teams in the IBI Corporate Finance Open Competitions Premier League, Championship and First Team League) who has demonstrated the highest standard of sportsmanship and played within the spirit of the sport throughout the season.

The award is in memory of the late John Dawson, who was a long-serving and dedicated Honorary Secretary of Cricket Leinster over many years.

Tomás emerged from the voting process as the clear winner for 2026 based on the fairness, integrity and inclusive nature of his performance (both on and off the field of play).

Tomás will receive his Award at the CL Awards Night & Gala Dinner on Friday 29th January in the Round Room at the Mansion House. All individual and team awards will be presented on the night. We are expecting a full house with only a small number of tickets still available for purchase:

buytickets.at/cricketleinster/2361582

We were delighted with the number of different nominations received again this year reflecting the fact that the cricket was generally played in a great spirit throughout the season. There were a total of 22 players nominated from 9 different clubs.

Other players who attracted support this year and therefore worthy of mention are last year’s winner, Philippe le Roux (Railway Union), Diarmuid Carey (Cork County), Cillian McDonnell (Clontarf) and Mick Cotter (Terenure).

Winners in recent years have included Dónal Lynch (Terenure), Eoghan Delany (Clontarf), Fintan McAllister (Malahide), Fiachra Tucker (Pembroke), Stephen Doheny (Rush), Conor Kelly (Clontarf), Albert Van Der Merwe (The Hills), Nazeer Shaukat (The Hills) and Barry McCarthy (Pembroke).

Please join us in congratulating Tomás Rooney-Murphy who is our Open Competitions Fair Play Award Winner for 2026.