No doubt about the highlight of the sporting year for Irish sports fans. It came on Oct. 11 when the Republic of Ireland women’s team beat Scotland 1-0 at Hampden Park to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time.
We Irish love to know how we are rated abroad and what better way to do that than to send a team to the finals of a major tournament. Amber Barrett’s goal against Scotland will see the “Girls in Green” play at least three games in Australia next July in what will be the 8th Women’s World Cup.
I remember all the favorable comments after our men’s team’s performance at Euro ’88, our first-ever major tournament. At the time it was said that the Irish results and the exemplary behavior of our supporters did more for Irish tourism than any promotion by Bord Fáilte could ever do.There won’t be many fans travelling from Ireland to Australia and New Zealand next July, but the Irish diaspora from all over Australia will gather for the games in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane and hopefully they will fly the flag in a proud and peaceful manner.
A few weeks earlier in Hampden Park our men’s team were on the wrong end of a controversial VAR penalty decision, giving the Scots a 2-1 win. The following week another VAR decision went our way and we got a 3-2 win over Armenia which saw us avoid relegation to the third level of the Nations League.
So for now Stephen Kenny’s crusade of playing attractive football while building a new team continues, but it’s going to be even harder next year after the difficult Euro 2024 draw: a group with France, Holland, Greece and Gibraltar. The Northern Ireland FA were not as supportive of their manager as the FAI are and the IFA sacked Ian Baraclough in October and later replaced him with former manager Michael O’Neill.
ROVERS' 20TH TITLE
On the domestic scene Shamrock Rovers, which O’Neill once managed, can now use two stars on their famous green and white hooped jersey, as they won the League of Ireland for the 20th time. Derry City made history when beating Shelbourne 4-0 in the FAI Cup final; it was highest winning margin in the 100-year history of the competition. Finn Harps were relegated from the premier division of the League of Ireland and they will be replaced by first division champions Cork City next season.
In England Manchester City had just a point to spare over Liverpool in the race for the EPL title. Liverpool won the FA Cup, beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw, and the League Cup final in February also against the Blues, with Cork-born goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher scoring the winner in a remarkable 11-10 penalty shootout.
The Reds, however, stumbled in the new season from August and it was Arsenal who made the running against City, opening up a five-point lead before the World Cup break.
Internationally it was a great year for several Irish athletes in various sports. Pride of place must go to Rhys McClenaghan from Newtownards, who won gold at the FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool last month.
THREE GOLDS
In boxing our girls brought home three gold medals from the European Women’s Boxing Championships in Montenegro. Kellie Harrington, Amy Broadhurst and Aoife O’Rourke all won gold and Caitlin Fryers and Christina Desmond picked up silver medals.
Then the Queen of Irish boxing Katie Taylor remained the undisputed lightweight champion of the world after a unanimous win over Karen Carabajal at the Wembley Arena in London.
A good year also for our golfers. John Manley devotes a special column to this on Page 21, but just to summarize the highlights: Rory McIlroy returned to the top of the world rankings for the first time in 755 days in October when he won the CJ Cup in South Carolina by one stroke. Two months earlier McIlroy won the FedEx Cup for the third time and a massive $18 million payday. In September Shane Lowry held off the challenge of McIlroy in the final round to claim the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the Offaly golfer’s first win three years. The following month Waterford’s Seamus Power had his second PGA Tour win at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. And last month Padraig Harrington finished the season in style when winning his fourth title of the PGA Champions Tour season by the lowest score of his career with a seven-shot win at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, Arizona.
$18M PAYDAY
Leona Maguire became the first Irish winner on the LPGA Tour after a stunning final round performance at the Drive On Championship in Florida. At home Adrian Meronk became the first-ever Polish golfer to win the Irish Open, which was played at Mount Juliet in Kilkenny.
In rowing the lightweight double sculls crew of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy cruised to victory in their final at the European Rowing Championships in Munich in July.
Ciara Mageean secured a silver medal in the 1500m final at the European Athletics Championships in Munich. At the same event Dundalk’s Israel Olatunde produced a magnificent performance to become the fastest Irishman in history, finishing sixth in the men’s 100 metres final in 10.17 seconds and breaking Paul Hession’s national record of 10.18.
The Irish men’s cricket team qualified for the Super 12 finals in Australia. After an opening defeat to Zimbabwe in the first round, Ireland bounced back with wins over Scotland and West Indies in Hobart to qualify for the Super 12 finals in Australia. Ireland managed just one win at the Super 12 stage, although it will go down as a famous one, as we beat England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
LIMERICK AGAIN
Declan Hannon became the first player to lift the new Mick Mackey Cup as Limerick made it four in-a-row in Munster with a 1-29 to 0-29 win over Clare at Semple Stadium. And the Limerick captain went on to become the first player to lift the MacCarthy Cup for the fourth time as Limerick beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. The final was Brian Cody’s last game as the Cats manager.
The All-Ireland football final produced a brilliant display of point-kicking by Galway’s Shane Walsh and David Clifford of Kerry. And it Kerry who emerged as champions for the 38th time following after a two-point win.
Elsewhere in the GAA we saw a first when a Connacht League game between Leitrim and Sligo was played indoors at the Connacht GAA Dome in Bekan, County Mayo. Cavan referee Maggie Farrelly also made history in Bekan, when she became the first woman to referee a men’s National Football League game there between Leitrim and London.
In April, a bit of Gaelic football history was created at Cusack Park in Ennis. Extra time could not separate Clare and Clare in the Munster football championship and it went to a penalty shoot-out which Limerick won 4-1.
O'GARA WINS CUP
In rugby Ireland beat Scotland 26-5 at the Aviva on March 18 to win the Triple Crown for the first time since 2018. But later that night France beat England in Paris to clinch the Six Nations Championship. Ireland climbed to Number One in the world after beating New Zealand in the third test in Wellington in July.
Then in the Autumn internationals tries by Josh van der Flier and Mack Hansen and three penalties from Johnny Sexton were enough as Ireland beat South Africa 19-16. That was followed by a lackluster 35-17 win over Fiji and the series ended with a 13-10 win over Australia for what was our 12th consecutive home win.
Ronan O’Gara, in his first season as La Rochelle coach, led the French club to beat Leinster and win the Heineken Champions Cup in May and at the end of the season Leinster and Ireland back-row Josh van der Flier was voted World Player of the year.
AINTREE 1-2-3
In horse racing it was a great Cheltenham Festival for the Irish again. Rachael Blackmore got won the Champion Hurdle for the second year in-a-row on Honeysuckle on Tuesday and ended the Festival in style by becoming the first female jockey win the Gold Cup on A Plus Tard. At home P. J. O'Hanlon rode the Dermot McLoughlin-trained Lord Lariat to win the 150th Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse and Honeysuckle made it16 wins in-a-row when winning the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.
Noble Yeats, ridden by Sam Waley-Cohen and trained in Ireland by Emmet Mullins, won the Aintree Grand National. It was a one-two-three for the Irish with Ted Walsh’s Any Second Now second and the Gordon Elliot-trained Delta Work in third place.
Hewick, trained by John “Shark” Hanlon won the Galway Plate in July and later in the year the County Carlow trainer took his horse to Far Hills, N.J. where he won the American Grand National.
In showjumping Ireland beat France in a jump-off to win the famous Aga Khan trophy at the RDS in August.
IN MEMORIAM
We lost many former sports stars during the year. Included in the list were rugby players: Tom Kiernan, Ken Kennedy and Kevin Flynn, former soccer players and later managers, Frank O’Farrell, Billy Bingham, Terry Neill and Noel Campbell. Also long-serving Dundalk official and UEFA vice-president Des Casey. Gaelic footballers who left us included Brian Mullins and Seamus Looney, hurlers Tom Cunningham and Brendan Hennessey, who played for Kerry and New York. Also Paul McNaughton, who played rugby, soccer and Gaelic football.
Jockey Lester Piggott was the housewives’ favorite and we also lost two famous Irish flat jockeys, Liam Ward and George McGrath. Paddy Hopkirk from Belfast was a world famous motor racing driver and Tom O’Riordan, a Kerry-born runner, who ran collegiately at Idaho State University and represented Ireland at the 1964 Olympic Games. He later worked as athletics correspondent for the Irish Independent. And finally veteran sports writer Peter Byrne, who was best known as the Irish Times’ soccer correspondent, died in 2022.
