Urran your keep

Congratulations to Ryan Curran, who has been named April’s Danske Bank Player of the Month by the NI Football Writers’ Association.

The striker ended the season with four goals in his final three matches, netting an ice-cool penalty against Coleraine and a quickfire double to earn a share of the North Belfast Derby spoils with Crusaders before registering Cliftonville’s last strike of the campaign in Saturday’s victory over Glentoran at The Oval.

Reflecting on the past nine months of action, Curran – who hit 24 goals throughout the season – said: “We gave it a go and we came up just short.

“I think we can take a lot of pride from our performances this season. We stuck with Linfield all season, even though most people thought we would fade away.

“Personally, it was nice to score a few goals in the run-in and appreciate this award.”