The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman Award for January: Lucy Mulhall (Rugby)

It was a wonder that Lucy Mulhall had any breath left following her player-of-the-match performance in Perth last month, but after captaining Ireland to their first World Series gold medal, her joy, safe to say, was unconfined. “It’s been a long time coming,” she said, “a few of us are waiting 10, 11 years for this one ... this is massive for Sevens rugby in Ireland.”

They’d only gone and beaten hosts Australia, the current World Series leaders, 19-14 in the final, Mulhall giving them an early lead with a try before Eve Higgins sealed the victory with a late score. The win ended a demoralising 29-game losing streak to the Australians.

Mulhall also starred in the semi-final when her two tries helped Ireland to an impressive 31-7 win over Britain, their achievement in Perth lifting them above the United States into fourth in the overall World Series standings.

The next leg of the World Series journey takes them to Vancouver (February 23rd-25th), and then it’s Los Angeles (March 1st-3rd), Hong Kong (April 5th-7th), Singapore (May 3rd-5th) before the grand final in Madrid (May 21st-June 2nd).

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

---

Leinster vs Northampton: Kick-off time, TV details and team news ahead of Champions Cup semi-final

---

Connacht sign Irish-qualified centre Piers O’Conor from Bristol

---

Ringrose and O’Brien back for Leinster but Keenan remains a Champions Cup doubt

---

After that? There’s the small matter of the team’s first ever Olympic campaign, their qualification sealed in Toulouse last May when, once again, Mulhall was in outstanding form. She finished that World Series as Ireland’s highest points scorer and was fourth in the overall standings.

The Wicklow woman is closing in on her 10th year captaining the Sevens and has suffered many a disappointment along the way, not least narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Rio and Tokyo Olympics.

In Saturday’s Irish Times, we talk to Mulhall about that journey and the ambitions she now has for this team. “We want to go to the Olympics and have a massive impact. No one wants to go there and just be like a visitor, walking around with your accreditation and staring at everyone else. We want to go and win a medal.”

Previous monthly winner

December: Fionnuala McCormack (Athletics)

At the age of 39, McCormack made history in Valencia when she became the first Irish woman to qualify for the Olympic Games for a fifth successive time, running inside the marathon qualifying time that was almost three minutes faster than it was for Tokyo. A week later, she finished – agonisingly – fourth in the European Cross-Country Championships for the fifth time, just 18 seconds away from a medal.

• Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
• Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
• Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here