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KILLARNEY ATHLETIC forward Shane Lynch had a very lucky Christmas as he scooped the Killarney Advertiser fantasy football Manager of the Month award for December.

Shane picked up an impressive total of 495 points over the course of the month - a remarkable feat for someone who doesn’t really know anything about soccer.

He captained Mohamed Salah ahead of Liverpool’s game against Leicester on December 30 and the lively Egyptian scored twice in the Reds’ 2-1 win to earn Shane 28 points.

Clean sheets from Nick Pope, Nicolás Otamendi, Phil Jones and Shane Duffy also helped as the Spa native racked up 70 points in the final gameweek of the year.

In the end, he just about did enough to see off the challenge of Eoin Fitzgerald in second while Pádraig Nagle finished a few points back in third.

Lynch has also shot up the overall table. He is now 25 points behind runaway leader Kevin McCarthy with Ryan Scott a further 29 points behind in third place.

Sports columnist Adam Moynihan was slow to congratulate Shane on his win.

“I’m very surprised by this result,” he said. “I’m close friends with Shane and to say that he doesn’t know his soccer would be an understatement. Sometimes fellas just get lucky.”

Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony, Shane agreed with Adam’s assessment. “I don’t know a whole pile about sport in general to be honest and I wouldn’t have much interest in fantasy football,” he confessed. “The only reason I entered is because the lads are always on about it and I didn’t want to feel left out.”

“I give the entire thing very little consideration. I just pick players at random and hope for the best,” he added.

Shane said he planned to use his €50 voucher for Brian James to purchase a new beret or possibly some kind of top hat.
 

 
Above: Kieran Healy, Killarney Advertiser, Mike O'Leary, Brian James, Mary O'Connor accepting the November Manager of the Month prize on behalf of her son Enda, Shane Lynch, winner of Manager of the Month for December, and Adam Moynihan, Killarney Advertiser.