A year marked by individual excellence

50th Texaco Sports AwardsAlthough 2007 was far from a vintage year for Irish sport, the year will be remembered for individual excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

The 50th Texaco awards, which will be presented at a banquet in Dublin next week, reflect that excellence in sports as diverse as women's boxing, cricket and ladies football along with the mainstream sports of Gaelic football, hurling, golf, horse racing and rugby.

The Texaco award winners are:

ATHLETICS

David Gillick

The 24-year-old Dublin athlete wins a second Texaco award for his success in retaining his European 400 metre indoor title. Gillick's early season form augered well for the defence of his title - he ran 45.91 seconds at a pre-championship meeting in Dusseldorf - but even the athlete himself was surprised at his performance and winning time in Birmingham.

In control throughout the final, Gillick outsprinted the fancied German Bastain Swillims to win the gold medal in a time of 45.52 seconds, an Irish record which was also inside the A qualifying standard for the Beijing Olympics.

Gillick went on to improve the Irish outdoor 400 metres record when he ran 45.23 seconds in Geneva in June.

BOXING

Katie Taylor

Taylor underlined her reputation as one of the most talented women boxers in the world by winning her third European championship in Denmark in October.

The 21-year-old lightweight now completely dominates the 60kg division and has set her sights on representing Ireland at the London Olympics in 2012, when women's boxing may be admitted as an Olympic sport.

Already world champion in her weight class, Taylor made swift work of all of her opponents on the way to the final in Denmark where she beat Sandra Berger.

CRICKET

Trent Johnston

The exploits of the Irish cricket team at the 2007 World Cup surprised even their most ardent supporters.

Making their debut in the finals of the competition, Ireland created the biggest shock in the history of the tournament by beating Pakistan, one of the favourites for the title, on St Patrick's Day in Jamaica.

That defeat and a draw with Zimbabwe in their opening pool game ensured that the Trent Johnston-led side qualified for the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

Johnston, who was born in Australia in 1974, made his debut for Ireland in 2004 and has been ever present in the squad since then. Entrusted with the captaincy in 2005 Johnston helped establish Ireland as difficult opposition, a reputation that was embellished by the World Cup performances in the Caribbean. The 34-year-old later captained the Irish side to victory over Bangladesh in the Super Eight phase of the tournament.

RUGBY

Brian O'Driscoll

Although the Irish rugby year will be remembered principally for the abject performance by the team at the World Cup, 2007 will also be recalled for some scintillating displays by the team in the landmark year as Croke Park opened its doors to rugby.

When they lost their opening Six Nations game at Croke Park to a last minute French try, the team had to cope that day without the injured Brian O'Driscoll.

The Irish captain returned for the hugely emotional game against England and was a key figure on a famous Croke Park victory that will be remembered for generations to come.

A hard fought victory over Scotland set up a championship finale against Italy in Rome on St Patrick's Day. O'Driscoll masterminded a brilliant Irish display that day, which saw the side run in seven tries and amass over 50 points. It proved to be a few points short of what was required to overtake France but it finished a wonderful early season campaign for O'Driscoll and his side.

RACING

Aidan O'Brien

The world famous trainer wins back-to-back Texaco awards for his achievements across Europe in 2007. Although O'Brien had captured virtually every blue riband race in his career, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp had eluded him up until this year. That gap in his cv was fittingly addressed by Kieren Fallon and Dylan Thomas, who had to survive a lengthy stewards' inquiry before being crowned winner of Europe's greatest all-aged race.

By his own high standards O'Brien's string had patchy early season form but by mid-summer his horses were picking up prestige titles in Britain, Ireland and France. Scorpion captured the Coronation Stakes in an O'Brien 1-2 with stablemate Septimus. Soldier of Fortune, Alexander of Hales and Eagle Mountain gave O'Brien a remarkable 1-2-3 in the Irish Derby and that was followed by the gifted Coolmore man finishing Royal Ascot as leading trainer with four winners, including Yeats in the Gold Cup.

For good measure, O'Brien was champion trainer in Britain and Ireland.

SOCCER

Richard Dunne

In a very disappointing year for the Republic of Ireland, Richard Dunne emerged as one of the few players who developed both as a club and international player. The 28-year-old central defender has been a key figure in the revival of Manchester City's fortunes under Sven-Goran Eriksson, building on the form at the club that saw him win the club's player of the year award for the third consecutive time at the end of last season.

His status as an international player was underlined with impressive displays in the Republic's wins over Wales and Slovakia at Croke Park in Euro 2008 qualifying games. Although the campaign ended in failure and Steve Staunton losing his job, Dunne enhanced his growing reputation as one of Ireland's best players and a likely captain for the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

GOLF

Pádraig Harrington

Pádraig Harrington wrote his name into golfing history when he became the first Irishman to win the British Open title in 60 years with victory at Carnoustie in late July. In one of the most dramatic afternoons of sporting theatre in recent years, the Dubliner took the title after a nail-biting finish on the 72nd hole of the tournament where he visited water twice and was forced to hole a four-foot putt to force a four-hole play-off against Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

Harrington managed to quickly put that near disaster behind him in the play-off and established an early lead over Garcia which he never relinquished. Harrington's popularity in the sport was underlined by the memorable reception he received at Carnoustie and in the days that followed when he returned to Dublin.

Earlier in the year he also bridged another long-standing gap by becoming the first Irish player to win the Irish Open title in 25 years when he had to go to another play-off to see off the challenge of Bradley Dredge.

HURLING

Dan Shanahan

Although an All-Ireland final appearance eluded Waterford once again, there was real compensation for the county's long-suffering supporters with the outstanding form of Shanahan and victory in the National League final over Kilkenny.

Shanahan's displays in the championship were unforgettable as he ended Waterford's five-match campaign with the stunning total of 8-12. The high point of this tally was his virtuoso display in the second half of the Munster final against Limerick when he scored three goals in just over 20 minutes to clinch the title.

Shanahan then took his talents to Croke Park where he rubber-stamped his reputation as hurling's best goal getter by knocking in another three against Cork over the quarter-final draw and replay. Although his side came up short in the semi-final against Limerick, Shanahan had the consolation of being named hurler of the year by his peers in the GPA awards and by the All Stars selection committee.

GAELIC FOOTBALL

Marc Ó Sé

A change of management in Kerry provided a real fillip for the 2006 All-Ireland champions who went on to become the first county to capture back-to-back titles since 1990. Throughout the championship campaign, the Ó Sé brothers and Declan O'Sullivan were always impressive but the consistently excellent displays by defender Marc set him apart from all of his team-mates.

Kerry's first real test of the championship campaign came against Cork in the Munster football final in Killarney and Ó Sé delivered a superb man-marking performance on James Masters.

In the quarter-final against Monaghan, when Kerry trailed for most of the game, the corner back brought off a marvellous diving block that saved a certain goal when the game was in the balance in the last 10 minutes.

His innate ability and brilliant reading of the game across the entire full-back line proved instrumental in Kerry's subsequent victories over Dublin and Cork for their 35th title.

Those displays earned him the accolade of footballer of the year in the GPA and All Star wards.

LADIES FOOTBALL

Angela Walsh

Walsh wins a Texaco award for her exceptional displays with Cork ladies football team who won their third senior All-Ireland title in a row in September. The young full back made her debut for the senior team in 2004 and has been an ever present on the Cork side since then, picking up three All-Ireland medals. In a team full of top-class players, Walsh was outstanding in the county's big championship wins over Dublin and Laois en route to their hard fought win over Mayo in the All-Ireland final.