It was a memorable weekend for Conor Bradley who celebrated winning his first Premier League title with Liverpool following the Anfield outfit’s emphatic 5-1 victory at home to Spurs on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Castlederg native, who was absent from Liverpool's matchday squad due to injury, also became the first Northern Ireland player to win the Premier League since Jonny Evans, who was part of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United squad in 2013.
Meanwhile Justin Devenny was an unused substitute as Crystal Palace defeated Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley in the semi-final of the FA Cup to set up a decider next month with Manchester City, who made it through to their third successive final following a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
On the goalscoring front George Saville ended a 17-month drought when he scored the only goal of the game as Millwall defeated Swansea City at the New Den.
In the Scottish Premiership Makenzie Kirk found the net for the 11th time this term when he opened the scoring in St Johnstone’s 3-2 defeat to Motherwell, a result that sees them remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with just four games left to play.
Conor McMenamin came off the bench to rescue a point for St Mirren with a 73rd minute equaliser at home to Rangers, while midfielder Liam Donnelly scored his first of the season for Kilmarnock who overcame Ross County 2-0 at Rugby Park to give them a three-point cushion over Saturday’s opponents who occupy the relegation play-off place.
In the Championship in England, Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown, who is out injured for the remainder of the season, picked up both the fans' and players' ‘Player of the Year’ awards.
And midfielder Shea Charles, who is on loan from Southampton, was voted ‘Player of the Year’ at Sheffield Wednesday.
“I feel a lot of people could have won it,” said Charles, who has played more minutes for Wednesday than any other player this season. “But to be named Player of the Year is special for me. It’s the first time I’ve won that kind of award.”
In League One Under-21 international JJ McKiernan was sent off for a second bookable offence in Burton Albion’s 2-1 home win over Cambridge United and Bailey Peacock-Farrell was an unused substitute as Birmingham City created a record points tally for League One with a 4-0 success at home to Mansfield Town.
Northern Ireland U21 defender Sam Inwood was given his first league start by Bolton Wanderers in their 1-1 draw at Peterborough United and after the game he earned high praise from his manager, Steven Schumacher.
“He was brilliant, “ Schumacher told the Bolton News. “He was really composed and he should be really pleased with himself.
“He’s just got to keep moving, keep trying to improve his game as best as he can because he showed today that he’s got attributes. Tall left-footed centre backs are not easy to find.”
Nat Johnson, Caragh Hamilton and Casey Howe will all be playing in the Women’s Championship next term as Nottingham Forest rounded off their season in fine style by beating West Brom 7-2 to be crowned Northern Premier Division champions at the weekend.
Elsewhere in the division Danielle Maxwell and Brenna McPartlan were among the goalscorers as Burnley completed their league campaign with a 7-0 home victory over Sporting Khalsa.
Finally, in the Championship, Simone Magill put Birmingham City a goal up at Newcastle United but her international team-mate Rachel Furness scored early in the second half to earn the home side a point.
Birmingham, who are second in the table, host leaders London City Lionesses next Sunday in the final game of the season with the winner earning promotion to the Women's Super League.
