BRIAN KERR was last night honoured as the Opel/Soccer Writers' Personality of the Year at a banquet in Dublin after a season which saw the St Patrick's Athletic manager guide his club to the second league title of his remarkable nine year tenure.
Kerr was pipped for this award by the St Patrick's centre half Damien Byrne in the last of the club's league winning seasons in 1990 (which bridged a 34 year gap since their previous success). But this year Kerr wins deserved recognition for rebuilding another championship winning squad after an intervening five years which saw the dub sustain three changes of ownership and a period in liquidation.
It's also fair reward for an unequalled work rate, powers of motivation and supreme organisation - evidenced by his team's peerless strike rate from set pieces. He has worked with some of the best, such as Liam Tuohy at Republic of Ireland youths level and Mick Lawlor at Home Farm and Drogheda, in a varied coaching career which has also seen him enjoy stints as B manager at Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne, before finally assuming the managerial mantle at Richmond Park in December 1986.
While this season financially more competitive in the transfer market than in previous seasons, Kerr again dealt expertly in this area, dipping into Galway to buttress the squad with four western imports as well as into the junior scene for the likes of Brian Morrisroe and Martin Reilly.
He juggled his forces expertly, and ultimately St Patrick's came close to an historic double, before being denied the FAI Cup by an inspired Shelbourne.
He beat off stiff challenges for the award from two of his own players, Eddie Gormley and Ricky O'Flaherty, as well as the Shelbourne pair of Stephen Geoghegan and Tony Sheridan, along with the Shamrock Rovers player manager Alan O'Neill.
. Romanian midfielder Ilie Dumitrescu is injured and will miss next month's European Championship finals in England. "Dumitrescu has a severe right leg muscle strain and he needs at least two weeks to recover," Bucharest Sports Medical Centre head Gheorghe Untea said yesterday.
Dumitrescu, who plays for West Ham, was one of Romania's key figures at the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States, scoring twice in a 3-2 second round victory over Argentina.
Romania's coach Anghel Iordanescu is expected to announce his line up for Euro 96, today. The squad is due to leave for England on June 3rd.
. South Korea beat European, Cup winners Juventus 4-0 in a friendly in Seoul yesterday staged as part of a Korean campaign to win the right to host the 2002 World Cup.
