Punchestown's award is due recognition of a resurgence inspired by O'Sullivan
Annual end-of-year sports awards command varying degrees of clout. They might merely rubber stamp an already established inalienable truth, as when Mo Salah was voted the 2018 PFA Player of the Year. Or they might provoke a bit of debate or controversy, as when Kevin de Bruyne was denied the 2018 PFA Player of the Year accolade by Mo Salah. Oh.
The point is, we tend to take or leave such token pageantry depending on how much fervour we can muster at a given time. They are secondary decorations.
Salah doesn't set out at the start of the season with the ambition of being voted player of the year. His primary ambition is to win the Premier League, the FA Cup or the Champions League. Being nominated by your peers as the best player in the country is simply a byproduct of that success. Now I'm confused; anyway, you get the message.
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