Perry peerless in Irish squash

Sportswoman of the year/December award: As Decembers go it proved to be a rather special one for Madeline Perry, the 27-year-old squash professional from Banbridge. First she cruised to her seventh national title in eight years at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club and then she learned she had risen three places to 14 in the world rankings, her highest position.

Not surprisingly, then, Perry is our choice for the December winner in The Irish Times/Mitsubishi Electric Sports Woman awards.

But for an injury in 2000, which forced her to withdraw from the tournament, Perry, who was first crowned Irish champion as a 20-year-old in 1997, may well have completed an eight-in-a-row at the National Championships last month.

Such has been her domination of the event she dropped just two points in December's final, one the year before and five the year before that - she is, then, nigh on peerless in Irish squash.

On the international front, having broken into the top 20 of the world squash rankings in 2003, Perry is edging ever closer to realising her ambition of making it in to the top 10.

She picked up valuable ranking points through the year by reaching the semi-finals of April's Irish Open, where she lost to world number three Vanessa Atkinson, and the last eight of the Malaysian and Las Vegas Opens.

In May she led the Irish team to a seventh-place finish in the European Championships in France, a placing they matched in the World Championships in Holland in October (where Perry registered an epic 3-2 victory over Egyptian world number nine Omneya Abdel Kawy).

December's rankings were Perry's reward for an encouraging year on the professional circuit.

The Halifax-based player remained undaunted by the presence of two plates in her jaw, inserted after a stray surfboard hit her on the head and broke her jaw while she was swimming off the coast of Cornwall. A bit like the plates, it would seem, Perry is made of steel.

Perry completes our list of monthly winners for 2004.

The previous winners were: January: Azmera Gebrezgi (athletics), February: Jillian Aherne (basketball), March: Linda Caulfield (hockey), April: Cora Staunton (Gaelic football), May: Sonia O'Sullivan (athletics), June: Claire Coughlan (golf), July: Maria McCambridge (athletics), August: Jessica Kuerten (equestrian sport), September: Una O'Dwyer (camogie), October: Cathy Gannon (horse racing), November: Margaret Johnston (bowls) December: Madeline Perry (squash).

An overall winner will be chosen from the list of 12 and presented with their award by the President, Mary McAleese, at a function in Dublin on Friday week.