TEXACO SPORTS STARS 2003: Some of the country's best-known sports personalities are honoured in the 46th Texaco Awards, which are announced today. The awards will be presented at a banquet in Dublin next week.
The full list of winners is: Athletics: Gillian O'Sullivan; Camogie: Eimear McDonnell; Gaelic Football: Peter Canavan; Golf: Darren Clarke; Horse Racing: Dermot Weld; Hurling: JJ Delaney; Rowing: Gearoid Towey and Sam Lynch; Rugby: Paul O'Connell; Snooker: Ken Doherty; Soccer: Damien Duff.
Damien Duff
For the second year running, the 24-year-old Dubliner wins the award for soccer after a series of outstanding individual performances for his new club, Chelsea, and the Republic of Ireland. Although Duff was forced to play in a variety of positions for the Republic, he never failed to make an impact in the Euro 2004 qualifying games.
His individual goal against Russia in September guaranteed that the Republic's interest in the competition would go down to the final qualifying game while his form since joining Chelsea for £17 million in the summer has been one of the main contributory factors to the team's successful run in the Premiership and Champions League.
Darren Clarke
The Northern Ireland player wins another Texaco award for his consistency throughout the 2003 season which saw him finish second in the European Order of Merit table with winnings in excess of
€2.2 million. Although Clarke confessed that he was disappointed with some of his own performances throughout the year, he became only the second player, after Tiger Woods, to win more than one world golf championship event when he captured the NEC Invitational at Akron in Ohio in August.
In 2000, Clarke won the Accenture Matchplay championship, beating David Duval and Woods on his way to the title. His victory in Ohio was a little more comfortable, coming home four shots ahead of Jonathan Kaye to lift the first prize of $1 million.
JJ Delaney
The 21-year-old Fenians Johnstown player proved himself to be the outstanding defender in hurling as Kilkenny completed back-to-back All-Ireland and National League victories. Delaney, who only joined the senior Kilkenny squad in 2002, was a dominant figure in the Kilkenny rearguard throughout the summer as he produced a string of spectacular performances at left-half back.
In the four games Kilkenny played in the championship, Delaney's opponents managed just a single point from play with all four being replaced before the end of the games. He kept Dublin's Tomás McGrane and Wexford's Rory McCarthy scoreless in the Leinster semi-final and final, followed that with another inspirational display against Tipperary's Mark O'Leary and then repeated the effort in the final against Cork's Ben O'Connor, who managed one point from play before being substituted.
Peter Canavan
Peter Canavan had long been regarded as one of the greatest Gaelic footballers never to have won an All-Ireland medal. However, the 32-year-old finally laid that ghost to rest when he captained Tyrone to their first All-Ireland victory in September. For a player who won his first All-Ireland title with the Tyrone Vocational Schools team in 1988, it took 15 years of perseverance and huge disappointments before getting his hands on a coveted medal.
An ever-present in the Tyrone senior team since 1990, Canavan scored an amazing 11 points but still figured on the losing team when his county went down to Dublin in the 1995 All-Ireland final. This season he again showed that, at his best, there is simply no forward in the country who can match him. In the eight games that Tyrone played in the championship, he scored 1-47, making him the top scorer in the country by some distance.
Paul O'Connell
In a year dominated by the Rugby World Cup, the 24-year-old Munster forward proved himself to be one of the best second row international players to emerge in recent seasons. O'Connell made his debut for Ireland against Wales in 2002, and marked that occasion by scoring a try. His subsequent progress with Munster and Ireland was interrupted by injury and he only returned to the national side when he came on as a replacement against England in the Grand Slam decider in March at Lansdowne Road.
A huge asset for Munster, the 17st Ard Scoil Rís past pupil travelled to the World Cup with a growing reputation. However, his performances in all five games for Ireland were world class and he capped a great tournament with an outstanding display in Ireland's pool game against the reigning world champions Australia.
Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey
The Irish lightweight double scull pairing, who came together as a partnership only this year, captured a bronze medal at the World Championships in Milan in August. It was Ireland's first medal in an Olympic class event at the World Championships since single sculler Seán Drea took silver in 1975. Six weeks earlier Lynch and Towey had only lost out by 11 hundredths of a second when they finished fourth in the World Cup regatta in Lucerne.
Building on that performance they went to Milan where they showed remarkable reserves of strength and self-belief to finish third behind world champions Italy and Olympic champions Poland. Their performance in Milan guaranteed them a place at next summer's Athens Olympics where they will be among the favourites for the double sculls title.
Ken Doherty
Ken Doherty brought snooker comebacks to a new level when he captivated the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and the watching TV millions with a series of outstanding performances during the World Championship in May. The Dublin player appeared to be on his way out of the tournament in his second-round tie against Graeme Dott but fought back to win through to the semi-finals 13-12, having trailed 7-2 at one stage.
That comeback was surpassed in the semi-final when Doherty recovered from a 15-9 deficit to reach the final 16-15 against Paul Hunter.
Drained by the effort, Doherty made a disastrous start to the final against Mark Williams and trailed 10-2 after the first day. But in an enthralling final day, Doherty recovered to level the match at 12-12 before finally succumbing 18-16 to the world number one.
Eimear McDonnell
The 22-year-old UCC graduate was Tipperary's outstanding player in their march towards another All-Ireland camogie title. Having helped UCC to win the Ashbourne Cup in the early part of the year, McDonnell then turned her attentions to the intercounty scene. Displaying power, accuracy and deft touches throughout Tipperary's campaign, McDonnell capped a wonderful year with a towering display in the 2-11 to 1-11 victory over arch rivals Cork in the All-Ireland final.
As well as creating and scoring a vital goal for Tipperary shortly before half-time, the Camogie Player of the Year, also contributed four points of Tipperary's 2-11 total. Her performance earned her the Player of the Match award.
Dermot Weld
Group One victories in three different countries this year confirmed Dermot Weld's reputation as one of the world's top trainers. Vinnie Roe became the first horse to win three Irish St Legers in a row and Dimitrova won the Flower Bowl Handicap at New York's Belmont Park. However, the highlight for the 55-year-old Weld came in May with Refuse To Bend's victory in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. That was Weld's first success in an English classic for 22 years since Blue Wind won the Epsom Oaks.
At home it was another big year for the Curragh-based trainer although the Galway festival, where he is traditionally dominant, didn't live up to expectations. But it did see the racecourse debut of Grey Swallow, who won by 10 lengths and subsequently won his only other Group Three start to put himself top of the classic betting for 2004.
Gillian O'Sullivan
Gillian O'Sullivan became only the third Irish athlete to win a medal at the World Championships when she took silver in the 20 kilometre walk in Paris in August.
Following in the footsteps of Eamonn Coghlan and Sonia O'Sullivan, the 27-year-old walker from Farranfore in Kerry delivered on years of promiseby coming home in second place behind Russian Yelena Nikolayeva, the most successful woman walker of all time who has won numerous world and Olympic titles.
O'Sullivan took up walking at 13 when she competed in the Community Games and has progressed through all ranks of the sport to reach the stage where she is now rated one of the best walkers in the world and Ireland's best hope of a medal at next Olympic Games in Athens.
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