Sportswoman of the Year preview: A look back on a year in sport

For the Sportswomen of the Year judges, the worst part of looking back on any given 12 months is noting the absence of a whole bunch of names from the monthly roll of honour who firmly deserved to be on it. This year was no different – actually, it was probably worse. But that was a measure of the breadth of achievements, across the widest range of sports, by those who are now our contenders for the Sportswoman of the Year award.

Among them are five-time overall winner Katie Taylor and our 2021 choice Rachael Blackmore, as well as some more of the biggest names in Irish sport, including Katie McCabe, Leona Maguire, Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean.

While their consistency through the years has seen them win so many monthly awards between them we have long since lost count, we were able to add six new names to the list in 2023, there being no end to the conveyor belt of talent. They were the Flanagan twins, Eilish and Róisín, Orla Prendergast, Thammy Nguyen, Hannah Tyrrell and Siobhán McCrohan.

Another exceptional year for Katie-George Dunlevy, Mona McSharry and Lucy Mulhall saw the three of them on that list yet again.

The policemen who met in a unique edition of the Cork-Kerry rivalry, for Olympic glory

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Holy cow! Leinster almost get a pat on the head in nerve-shredding finale

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How Roger Bannister left his everlasting impression on the four-minute mile

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Kevin Kilbane: Klopp’s Liverpool dream will never be forgotten but it ended at Wembley

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Now for the hardest part of all – picking an overall winner.

December 2022

Eilish Flanagan (Athletics)

In the absence of Fionnuala McCormack and Ciara Mageean, Irish expectations of a team medal at the European Cross-Country Championships in Italy a year ago this month might not have been the highest. But intense efforts from all six members of the squad yielded a surprise bronze behind Germany and Britain.

Leading Ireland home was Tyrone’s Eilish Flanagan with a superb 11th-place finish, her time the same as her team-mate who came 12th, someone with whom Eilish is quite familiar - see below. It was an outstanding effort from the team, the combined results of the top two along with that of Mary Mulhare (27th), with Ann Marie McGlynn, at 42 the oldest competitor in the race (31st), Aoibhe Richardson and Michelle Finn completing that effort, sending the group home with medals around their necks.

Róisín Flanagan (Athletics)

Identical twins, identical times, what else could it be but a joint December award? Róisín and Eilish Flanagan were, quite literally, inseparable at the European Cross-Country Championships where Ireland claimed team bronze – although Eilish was given the nod by a nose for 11th place, Róisín taking 12th.

The sisters, who were members of the under-23 team that won silver for Ireland in Lisbon in 2019, both made a mighty contribution to that European Cross-Country bronze medal in La Mandria Park in Italy a year ago, wrapping up a record Irish medal haul at the event, five in all coming our way. They ran together from start to finish through a demanding 8km course and crossed the line with just that nose between them.

January

Rhasidat Adeleke (Athletics)

It’s hard to know where to start when looking back on Rhasidat Adeleke’s stunning year, her achievements all the more remarkable considering she only turned 21 in August. In the early part of 2023, it seemed like she broke a record every time she took to the track, repeatedly rewriting the Irish records over both 200m and 400m, indoors and, later, outdoors.

They included the first sub-50 second 400m by an Irish woman, while she also twice lowered her 200m mark. And, for good measure, she won an NCAA outdoor title with the University of Texas, another first by an Irish sprinter, male or female. That she was disappointed with her fourth-place finish in the World Championship 400m final says everything about her ambition. Her future is dazzlingly bright.

February

Orla Prendergast (Cricket)

Having been drawn in a group with four nations ranked in the world’s top seven, the T20 World Cup in South Africa was always going to be a tough challenge for Ireland, but Orla Prendergast looked more than comfortable in that exalted company. It was some indication of just how highly regarded the 21-year-old is that she was named in the team of the tournament.

In all, she scored 109 runs off just 87 balls in the four matches, the highlight her innings of 61 against the West Indies. It marked the start of a memorable year for the all-rounder who went on to earn spells with English side Western Storm, scoring a century on her debut, and the Trinidad Knight Riders in the Caribbean Super League.

March

Rachael Blackmore (Horse racing)

There were few more emotional days in the Irish sporting year than Rachael Blackmore’s Cheltenham triumph on Honeysuckle in what was the legendary mare’s final race before retirement. Blackmore steered the horse to a fairytale ending to its career, the reception that both she and Honeysuckle received as they headed for the parade ring one that won’t soon be forgotten.

Adding to the emotion of the day was what trainer Henry de Bromhead, his wife Heather and their family had endured with the loss of their son Jack the previous November. Blackmore’s first thoughts were for the 13-year-old after the race. “We all wish a very special kid could be here today, but he’s watching down on us,” she said.

April

Thammy Nguyen (Weightlifting)

Thammy Nguyen has a story like few others. Back in 2015, she became the first female weightlifter to represent Ireland at the world championships, but she quit the sport the following year to focus on her entrepreneurial talents, launching her own clothing brand and opening eyelash salons and a gym.

But she returned to the sport after a six-year break from competition, her ultimate goal to qualify for the Olympics, inspired by her brother Nhat, a top class badminton player who competed at the Tokyo Games. It was a wise move on Thammy’s part – in April, she won Ireland’s first ever medal at the senior European Championships in Armenia, becoming the first Irish woman to lift twice her own body weight en route to her bronze.

May

Lucy Mulhall (Rugby)

After a rough start to the year for Irish women’s rugby, the Sevens squad gave the sport a much-needed boost when they sealed qualification for next summer’s Olympic Games by finishing fifth in the seven-tournament World Series, which featured 17 nations.

Captain Lucy Mulhall was in inspired form in the final tournament in Toulouse, during which she won her 50th cap, Ireland opening in style with a 27-7 win over France. Ultimately, it was their 10-5 defeat of Fiji that clinched qualification, Mulhall finishing as Ireland’s highest points scorer through the Series and fourth in the overall standings. Having played for the Sevens for nine years, and after being part of the team that came close to qualifying for Rio and Tokyo, the Wicklow woman finally had her reward.

June

Leona Maguire (Golf)

The Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan had been a source of much frustration for Leona Maguire on her two previous visits. In 2021 she finished second behind Nelly Korda and last year she lost out in a playoff to Jennifer Kupcho. If at first you don’t succeed... in June, rounds of 69, 65, 69 and a bogey-free final round of 64 sealed the second LPGA title of her career.

And in September, she was a driving force for Europe, as she had been in Toledo two years ago, when they retained the Solheim Cup in Spain. She played in all five sessions, winning three points, including a 4&3 singles victory over the United States’ rising star Rose Zhang on the final day – that majestic 60-footer for eagle on the 14th green raised the roof.

July

Katie McCabe (Soccer)

For club and country, it was a truly special year for Katie McCabe, the highlight, need it be said, captaining Ireland in their first ever World Cup – and scoring that “Olimpico” against Canada. Since then, she’s led the team to six wins out of six in their Nations League campaign, scoring five goals, and has secured promotion to the top tier of the competition.

The personal accolades mounted up through the year, too: she was the only player included in Uefa’s Champions League team of the season who wasn’t from the finalists, Barcelona and Wolfsburg; she was the first Irish female player to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or; she was Arsenal’s player of the season for 2022-23, and she won the WSL goal of the season for a stunner against Manchester City. Some going.

August

Katie-George Dunlevy (Cycling)

Katie-George Dunlevy must, surely, be running out of space to house all her medals, her collection growing ever larger in 2023, the highlight coming back in August when she added three more to her haul at the World Championships in Glasgow. She opened up with a bronze on the track with her long-time partner Eve McCrystal, before triumphing with her more recent collaborator Linda Kelly in both the time trial and road race.

And, for good measure, Dunlevy and Kelly dominated through the three rounds of the Para-cycling World Cup, winning five gold medals from a possible six, as well as a bronze, in both the road races and time trials. That form earned them the overall World Cup trophy. Dunlevy’s next major target is, of course, to add to the three gold Paralympic medals she already possesses when she heads for Paris in August.

August

Hannah Tyrrell (Gaelic football)

We’ve had our fair share of exceptional sporting all-rounders down the years, but Hannah Tyrrell’s achievements in soccer, rugby and Gaelic football are hard to top. She won the FAI Cup with St Catherine’s 12 years ago, under-16 and under-18 All-Ireland football titles with Dublin and then played Sevens and 15s rugby for Ireland, the highlight her contribution to the 2015 Six Nations winning campaign.

She returned to her Gaelic football roots in 2021 with the aim of winning the senior All-Ireland title with Dublin, but her comeback coincided with a couple of golden years for Meath. Finally, her brilliant player of the match performance, which included eight first-half points from nine attempts, saw Dublin beat Kerry in the All-Ireland football final and earn Tyrrell the medal she most craved. Some sporting story.

September

Ciara Mageean (Athletics)

She’s had many a memorable year through her career, but 2023 was up there with the very best for Ciara Mageean who finished it as the Irish record holder in the 800m, 1,000m, 1,500m and the mile. She smashed Sonia O’Sullivan’s 29-year-old mark at the latter distance in a remarkable race in Monaco when she ran the fifth fastest time in athletics history, Faith Kipyegon breaking the world record that night.

And there was that fourth-place finish in the 1,500m at the World Championships, when she lowered her own record but missed out on a bronze medal by just six-tenths of a second and on a silver medal by less than a second. Agonising as that was, the quality of her run in a field of pure quality, allied to an outstanding year all round, left her in high spirits as she prepares for Paris next summer.

September

Siobhán McCrohan (Rowing)

This was one of the year’s more remarkable sporting stories, Siobhán McCrohan winning gold in the lightweight sculls final at the World Rowing Championships in Serbia having taken a seven-year break from the competitive side of the sport.

The 36-year-old from Claregalway only resumed “proper training” the winter before, having parked her job as an aeronautical engineer to allow her to get back in to the swing of things.

A fourth-place finish at the European Championships in May, when she was just .27 of a second off bronze, hinted at that training going well. Come September, there was no stopping her in Serbia, McCrohan finishing a boat-length clear of Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga. “A good comeback,” she said of her gold. Not half.

October

Mona McSharry (Swimming)

It was yet another successful year for the 23-year-old Sligo woman who booked her spot at next summer’s Olympic Games after setting an Irish record in the 100m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championship. Agonisingly, she missed out on a bronze in the final by just 0.13 of a second when she was aiming to become the first Irish swimmer to win a medal in the long-course championships.

Back in August, she won a hat-trick of gold medals at the European Under-23 Swimming Championships in Dublin, signing off on her final year at that age level in style, and come October she was on the podium again, the University of Tennessee student winning silver and bronze at the third round of the World Cup in Budapest.

November

Katie Taylor (Boxing)

In the 22 years since her first officially sanctioned fight, we’ve become accustomed to Katie Taylor producing unforgettable performances in the ring, but few along the way equalled her rematch with Chantelle Cameron at Dublin’s 3Arena. Back in May, Taylor had suffered her first professional defeat at the hands of the English boxer, at which point more than a few reckoned her career was over. Not quite.

The rematch was a fight for the ages, her victory, in front of a crowd of 9,000, seeing her add super lightweight belts to the lightweight collection she already owned, making her the first undisputed Irish world champion at two weight divisions. And hardly had she left the ring when there was talk of a “Trilogy”, Taylor hoping to fight Cameron again, her dream for the “decider” to take place in Croke Park.

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