Cork's Alan Kelly has been rewarded by clubs, players and members of the media as the MLS Referee of the Year.

Kelly was widely acknowledged as one of the best referees in Ireland before moving to the United States last year to take up a position with the Professional Referee Organisation.

He only refereed his first game in MLS in March of last year and took charge of 21 games this year in the league. It is his first time to be awarded in America. He was previously named the FAI's Referee of the Year on five occasions.

In his time in Ireland as a FIFA referee, Kelly regularly took charge of Champions League and International fixtures.

MLS have released the statistics of the vote which showed how highly regarded the Cork native is in America.