Ireland's top ten

Darren Clarke

Darren Clarke rounded off a wonderful year by playing on the victorious European Ryder Cup team at Valderrama in September. Although Europe's victory was considered by many to be the highlight of the golfing year, Clarke had already hit a career high point in July when finishing joint second in the British Open. After opening rounds of 67 and 66 gave Clarke the outright lead at Royal Troon, he faltered on the back nine on the Saturday to shoot a 71. The pressure of being in contention for one of golf's great prizes almost told on the final day, particularly after an embarrassing shank on the second hole, but the Dungannon player held his nerve to finish joint second with Jesper Parnevik, three shots behind American Justin Leonard. Clarke finished the season in fourth place in the Order of Merit with over £530,000 in prize money.

Catherina McKiernan

Catherina McKiernan earns the athletics award for an astonishing breakthrough in marathon running. After an indifferent period on the track in the last few years, the Cavan athlete recorded one of the fastest times ever for the marathon on her debut in the event. Running in Berlin in October, McKiernan was only three minutes outside the world record when she won in a time of two hours 23 minutes 44 seconds. She followed this up with wins in prestigious road races in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Palermo.

Steve Collins

Although Steve Collins's biggest fight in 1997 may have been in court, the Dublin boxer still recorded two successful defences of his world super-middleweight title before surprising many people by retiring from the sport early in October.

Collins was not at his best in either defence in 1997, but still managed to overcome two awkward opponents, Neville Browne in Millstreet and Craig Cummings in Glasgow. A return to the ring in 1998 has not been ruled out entirely by the boxer.

Maurice Fitzgerald

Maurice Fitzgerald's immense talent as the country's outstanding gaelic footballer was underlined again and again throughout Kerry's successful league and championship campaigns. The Cahirciveen player waited until the All-Ireland final to give perhaps his best performance of the season, scoring nine points from play and receiving the man-of-the-match award. When the All-Ireland champions met Cavan in New York in October in a league game to commemorate the 1947 All-Ireland final, Fitzgerald gave another virtuoso performance, running up a remarkable tally of 110 out of Kerry's overall total of 112. As well as the Texaco award, the Kerry forward has already won an All Star award this year.

Michelle De Bruin

Michelle de Bruin followed up on her outstanding achievements at the Atlanta Olympics with another stunning medal haul, this time at the European Championships in Seville. The 27-year-old Kilkenny based swimmer may not have reached the same heights as she did in the Olympics, but she still dominated two events - the 400 metres individual medley and the 200 metres freestyle. With two golds secured in the first few days of competition against Europe's best, De Bruin then won silver in the 200 metres freestyle and the 400 metres butterfly. Her individual performances in Seville put Ireland in fifth place in the overall medal table.

Keith Wood

Keith Wood wins his first Texaco award against stiff opposition from three other fellow Lions - Jeremy Davidson, Paul Wallace and Eric Miller. The Irish captain proved to be one of the inspirational figures for the Lions team which went to South Africa in the summer with little hope of beating the world champions in the Test series. However, the Harlequins captain had a huge input into the memorable Test wins in Cape Town and Durban. Wood's penchant for lifting his game for the big occasion was never more in evidence than the visit of the All Blacks to Lansdowne Road in November. Having scored a typical forward's try in the 16th minute, Wood showed another element of his game when out-sprinting New Zealand's Jeff Wilson for a memorable touchdown 10 minutes later.

Roy Keane

Roy Keane experienced the highs and lows of sport more than most in the past 12 months. Having been one of the key figures in Manchester United's third Premiership title in four years, Keane was the Republic of Ireland's outstanding player in the critical World Cup qualifying matches in the early autumn. He scored twice against Iceland in a hard-fought 4-2 win in Reykjavik in early September and five days later, gave another commanding performance when the Republic beat Lithuania 2-1 virtually to secure their play-off place against Belgium. With his eyes set on big Champions' League games, the Premiership race and the World Cup qualifying matches, Keane suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury against Leeds which will keep him out of action for the rest of the season.

Ken Doherty

Ken Doherty captivated the entire country when winning the world championship at Sheffield in May.

Ranelagh and Sheffield were almost twinned as the Dublin player came through test after test at the Crucible before meeting the world's best, Stephen Hendry, in the 35frame final. Doherty was in command throughout the two-day match, finishing the opening day with an 11-5 advantage. Although Hendry, who was looking for his sixth consecutive world title, rallied to get the frame score back to 15-12 on day two, Doherty showed remarkable composure to win the next three frames and become the first player from the Republic to win the title. The 27-year-old also had the unique distinction of becoming the first world amateur champion to go on to win the professional crown.

Jamesie O'Connor

Clare's inspirational march to their second All-Ireland hurling title in three years was founded on the exceptional skills and commitment of the whole squad and the astute management of Ger Loughnane and his fellow selectors. One of that panel of players, Jamesie O'Connor had a pivotal role throughout another memorable campaign which saw Clare beat Cork and Tipperary to win the Munster title before beating Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final and Tipperary again in an epic final at Croke Park. Freed to play on the right wing, where he seems most comfortable, O'Connor's display in the game against Cork was arguably his best of the year. He scored six points in that game, but will be remembered more for the exquisite winning point against Tipperary to win the Liam McCarthy cup.

Kieron Fallon

Kieron Fallen, 32, from Crusheen, five miles from Ennis, didn't sit on a racehorse until he was 18 and apprenticed to Curragh trainer Kevin Prendergast. Now, after his first season as stable jockey to Henry Cecil, he is British champion jockey after becoming one of a rare group to ride over 200 winners in a season. Typically, for a man once branded a hothead after being banned for pulling another jockey off his horse, it was not a year without incident. Cecil publicly criticised him after Bosra Sham was controversially beaten in the Eclipse Stakes, but three days later, Fallon won four races in one day and maintained a quiet dignity throughout the controversy.

The highlights of his season were victories in the 1000 Guineas on Sleepytime and in the Epsom Oaks on Reams of Verse.