Highs and lows of up and down year

It has been a topsy-turvy 12 months for Northern sport. For every bright spot - and there have been a few of those - there has been enough corresponding bad news to sour the overall taste. A golfer from Dungannon beats the world number one to win a million and then an unassuming motorbike superstar is killed in an accident at a racetrack halfway across the world. Up and down.

But many stories have been memorable. So here, in no particular order, is the Out of the North guide to the highs, the lows and the rogues' gallery of 2000.

1. Joey Dunlop's death in July cast a long shadow over almost everything. The depth of feeling and the sense of loss it engendered were both genuinely surprising and strangely affecting. Even those left completely cold by motorbikes and the spit-and-leather world of their riders found themselves mysteriously drawn in. Joey would have laughed with a shrug of the shoulders at the absurdity of the idea, but there is little doubt that he was a very Northern Irish type of hero.

2. The generalised effect of the loss of Dunlop pales into insignificance when compared to the particular impact it had on his family, and especially on his brother Robert. Dunlop the younger has had his own fair share of brushes with death and was clearly shaken to the core by Joey's accident. But in the days and weeks afterwards he carried himself with incredible dignity and confronted some formidable demons with his decision to return to race riding. Robert Dunlop's courage was humbling.

3. Strange as it might sound, Darren Clarke is someone else cast in the same mould as the Dunlops. By beating Tiger Woods with such authority and swagger in the World Matchplay Championship he went a long way towards shaking away some of his natural diffidence and ridding himself of the `nearly man' tag. Four solid rounds and a major would complete the process. Then we might even forgive him the cigar chomping.

4. Still on a golfing theme, Graeme McDowell proved himself to be this country's pre-eminent amateur golfer as he blazed a trail through one prestigious competition after another during the summer.

5. Antrim's journey out of the darkness when they beat Down on an afternoon of biblical weather at Casement Park was the high point of the GAA year. Only the long fingers of Anthony Tohill prevented them from taking Derry's scalp next time out and moving the entire saga into the realm of the fairytale. But those steps forward were counterbalanced by at least the same number backwards after the shameful violence that blighted the county's senior football final.

6. Geed-up by the most fanatical supporters on this island, it appeared that Armagh might supplant Antrim in the hierarchy of GAA achievements. They were certainly blessed with forwards of sufficient ability to take on all-comers but fell significantly short when it came to bigmatch tactics. Croke Park remains a disaster area for them and having come to the well for the past two years it remains to be seen whether there will be anything left when they return next summer.

7. If there has been a more complex and engaging character anywhere else this year, then nobody has told Martin O'Neill. His arrival at Celtic during the summer was greeted with muted anticipation but since the 6-2 win over Rangers in August he has surfed the goodwill wave for all it is worth. The bigger challenge that lies ahead will be to maintain the early momentum.

8. After the Lawrie McMenemy fiasco, Sammy McIlroy has returned the Northern Ireland international team to something approaching an even keel. But as a dismal night in Reykjavik showed recently, that does not necessarily mean that the results have improved significantly. In a sea of relative mediocrity, David Healy has bobbed up and down encouragingly and the mantle of international player of the year rests easily on his shoulders.

9. Ulster rugby may have returned to something approaching its natural equilibrium after the unexpected successes of the past few years, but David Humphreys' pivotal influence on proceedings continues to mushroom. He is the clean-cut, chisel-jawed hero of local sport and the showdown with Ronan O'Gara for the Ireland number 10 shirt should be one of the big stories of the early part of next year.

10. The arrival of the rugby league world cup in Belfast was a damp squib. It might have seemed a good idea at the time to play the first game of the competition at Windsor Park but somebody forgot to check if anyone here was even the slightest bit interested. They weren't.

11. For a few days during the autumn the prospect of Wayne McCullough's return to Belfast was seeming proof that good guys do sometimes come first. But the real-life drama of his irregular brain scan and the fall-out from it altered the mood dramatically. This is a part of the world that loves its boxing. But it also loves its boxers and McCullough more than most. He faces some incredibly difficult choices over the next few months. The concern would be whether he will make the right decisions.

12. Ice-hockey. Sometime, somewhere, there will be someone who can explain the appeal of it all. Until then the Belfast Giants party can go on without us. It might have been so different if coach Dave Whistle had drafted in some of the local talent that was right there on his doorstep.