25 Danielle Hill’s Gold in 50m backstroke at European Championships
2024 was a remarkable year for Ireland in the pool. Belfast’s Danielle Hill is one of three swimming entries on this year’s list, the 25-year-old earning her spot after ending Ireland’s 27-year wait for a European long-course medal.
[ Danielle Hill wins backstroke gold at European ChampionshipsOpens in new window ]
In Belgrade, Hill hit the wall in 27.73 to win gold in the 50m backstroke, an event in which she holds one of her four individual senior Irish records. Two days later, she was back in the pool to take silver in the 100m backstroke, just four-tenths of a second off gold. MD
24 Vikki Wall’s performance in AFLW grand final for North Melbourne
Aussie Rules is one of the great appreciators of Irish talent, and Vikki Wall’s performance in North Melbourne’s triumph over Brisbane to win the club’s first AFLW title was a showcase of just how successful the “Irish experiment” has been.
The Meath two-time All-Ireland winner – part of a three-strong Irish contingent in the Kangaroos alongside Cork’s Erika O’Shea and Tipperary’s Niamh Martin – scored two goals in last month’s grand final.
And an honourable mention must go to Tipperary’s Orla O’Dwyer and Dublin’s Jennifer Dunne, who both put in characteristically solid shifts for the Lions in the decider.
Exceptional talents at home and away. Sorry, I’ll see myself out. MD
23 Cork senior camogie team retain O’Duffy Cup
Does winning ever get old? For the Cork senior camogie team, it’s fairly safe to say the answer is no. A record-breaking 30th title was likely just as sweet as the county’s first back in 1934.
A goal, albeit a contested one, was the difference between the Rebels and old foes Galway, the counties having met in nine previous All-Ireland finals, the most recent of which – in 2021 – went the way of the Tribeswomen.
[ Cork record 30th senior camogie title as they see off Galway fightbackOpens in new window ]
In a fiercely close decider, Cork had that little bit extra to seal the win as the clock ticked to the death, sending the O’Duffy Cup back to the Leeside for another year. MD
22 Ireland play Israel in basketball
The Ireland team found themselves in an impossible situation in February. With the war in Gaza playing itself out in grim dispatches every night on the news, a EuroBasket qualifier against Israel in Latvia was always going to present a huge quandary for them.
A boycott would result in a welter of fines and suspensions. Playing the game would result in accusations of supporting the Israeli regime. In the end, they ended up taking criticism from all sides. They went ahead with the game but refused to shake hands, in protest at an Israeli player baselessly calling them antisemitic. Israel got the result but nobody won. MC
21 RTÉ Investigates abuse of players by coaches
If it was a grim year on the pitch for Irish women’s football on the senior international front, it was worse still off it, the lowest moment coming back in July when Marie Crowe and Mark Tighe teamed up for an RTÉ Investigates probe in to what female players had endured at the hands of some of their FAI coaches in the 1990s.
Multiple players alleged they had been subjected to sexual advances, some describing how their international careers were impacted – or ended – by standing up to their abusers. The FAI said they were “shocked and appalled” by the allegations, all of which were deeply depressing. MH
20 Ireland win a first ever World Series title in rugby sevens
This was Lucy Mulhall’s final year with the sevens squad – the Ireland captain retired after the Olympics, capping a decade-long career in which sevens went from a curio that nobody really had much interest in to something far more solid on the sporting landscape.
[ Ireland women win first ever World Series rugby sevens gold medal in PerthOpens in new window ]
This World Series win in Perth in January was unimaginable for most of Mulhall’s career but they pulled it off with wins over Fiji, Great Britain and Australia. The final against the home side – and World Series leaders – was a stunning effort, all coming down to Eve Higgins’s late try to seal the 19-14 win. The high point of the sevens year. MC
19 Athlone Town win league title
Some story, this. It was only in August 2020 that Athlone Town played their first ever senior League of Ireland game, but just over four years later they only went and won the title, wrapping it up on home turf with a 2-0 win over Bohemians. A humdinger of a title battle it was too, with Shelbourne and Galway United pushing them all the way.
[ Athlone Town complete fairy-tale by winning Premier Division titleOpens in new window ]
Athlone’s dreams of a double were, though, well and truly crushed by Shels who beat them 6-1 in the FAI Cup final, after which Athlone manager Ciarán Kilduff stepped down from his role, later appointed boss of Dundalk’s men’s team. Still, a hell of an achievement by a club that should, strictly, still only be finding their feet at this level. MH
18 Missing out on Euro 2025
Not one of the happier moments from 2024, but it was a painfully significant one. After making their World Cup debut in 2023, the hope was that the Republic of Ireland would push on and make qualifying for major tournaments a habit. But a calamitous night in Dublin in December put paid to that ambition.
The killer moment in the second leg of the play-off, the first having ended 1-1 in Cardiff, came in the 67th minute when Wales doubled their lead on the night through Carrie Jones. Anna Patten’s late reply was too little, too late. There’ll be no trip to Switzerland next summer, then, a horror of a conclusion to a difficult year for the national team. MH
17 Orla Prendergast leads way in win over England
The Irish cricket team concluded a year sprinkled with memorable moments by beating Bangladesh 3-0 in their T20 international series, but nothing quite topped that September day in Clontarf when they got the better of England for the first time in the same format.
Once again, Orla Prendergast demonstrated what a world class cricketer she is when she scored 80 runs off 51 balls, despite suffering from a badly grazed hand, her innings interrupted when she had to have the wound cleaned and dressed.
[ Ireland secure first win against England in 20-over women’s cricket at ClontarfOpens in new window ]
Having already played her part with the ball, the all-rounder taking two key wickets in England’s innings, Prendergast then stepped up with the bat, her thrilling knock, which featured 13 boundaries, sending Ireland on their way to a famous victory. MH
16 Lara Gillespie wins bronze at the World Championships
Katie-George Dunlevy described cycling as a “sufferfest”, and Lara Gillespie can attest to that. No more than Dunlevy, she’s been through the mill, her well-documented battle with a debilitating gynaecological condition followed by a heap of injuries, among them a dislocated collarbone and broken shoulder.
[ Lara Gillespie speeds to bronze medal at track world championshipsOpens in new window ]
Despite it all, the Wicklow woman can reflect on a sparkling 2024 that saw her being part of the first Irish team pursuit squad to qualify for the Olympic Games, win the Giro Mediterraneo Rosa and the Antwerp Port Epic, and being awarded a pro contract that saw her step up to World Tour level. And, to round her year off, she won bronze at the World Championships in Denmark. MH
15 Ireland beat New Zealand at the WXVI
It’s fair to say the WXV tournament hadn’t particularly caught the attention of the Irish sporting public ahead of this, its second year. Nothing like a win over New Zealand to change minds on that score. Ireland qualified for the top tier of the competition by coming third in the Six Nations and hit the ground sprinting in Vancouver with this 29-27 win over the Black Ferns.
[ Ireland stun world champions New Zealand with win in opening clashOpens in new window ]
Aoife Wafer snagged two first-half tries before substitute Erin King announced herself with a couple of her own in the closing quarter-hour, a performance that went a long way to earning her the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award. MC
14 Fionnuala McCormack
It’s a whole 18 years since the names of two Wicklow women first appeared on our monthly roll of honour: Fionnuala McCormack and a certain Katie Taylor. Since then? Not just longevity, but excellence too. With a large dollop of history-making thrown in.
It was this time last year that McCormack, now 40, became the first Irish woman to qualify for a fifth successive Olympic Games when she ran inside the required mark at the Valencia marathon. She was far from happy with her 28th place finish in Paris on a course she described as “torture”.
“But at least I’m still alive,” she concluded.
Is she done? Is she heck. On the first day of this month she returned to Valencia where she ran the fastest marathon of her career, taking 12 seconds off her previous best. MH
13 Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh – Kerry’s first All-Ireland senior title since 1993
For the Kerry footballers, 2024 proved some things are worth the wait, finally coming good against Galway to end their 31-year wait to return the Brendan Martin Cup to the Kingdom. Their emphatic win marked the end of an era for Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh; no longer would she bear the burden of being the greatest player without an All-Ireland medal for her 17-year service.
[ Kerry finally make their All-Ireland dream come through after years of heartacheOpens in new window ]
Ní Mhuircheartaigh supplied six points on Kerry’s way to victory at Croke Park, her free-taking a study in composure, stamping her name on her fifth All Star. Of the numerous All-Ireland medals that have found a home in Kerry, Ní Mhuircheartaigh can be counted among the most deserved recipients. MD
12 Bohemians v Palestine
It’s unlikely that there were any more emotional days in the Irish sporting year than when the women of Palestine took on Bohemians at Dalymount Park in May. It was the first match played in Europe by any senior Palestine national side, Bohs inviting them to Dublin as an act of solidarity in light of the carnage inflicted on their homeland.
A full house welcomed them to Dalymount, the team having been received at Áras an Uachtaráin by President Michael D Higgins, the players overwhelmed by their reception in Ireland. “In Palestine we’re not even allowed to fly as many of our flags as we’ve seen flying here,” said their manager Deema Said. MH
11 Orla Comerford – Paralympic bronze
Orla Comerford had barely stepped off the track at the Stade de France having earned her first Paralympic medal – bronze in the T13 100m final – but her mind had already turned to LA 2028. The Dubliner banished any lingering doubts from Tokyo to take third in a race in which both the gold and silver medallists ran under the world record.
Beaming with her medal around her neck, Comerford said her initial feeling after crossing the line was disappointment, although the reality of her achievement quickly set in to turn that to delight. Still, there’s little doubt as to what medal she has her eye on next time. MD
10 The 4x400m mixed relay team
Ah, what a night at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Chris O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley combining to produce 3:09.92 of pure gold in the 4x400m mixed relay final.
Before that evening, only Sonia O’Sullivan had ever stood atop the podium for Ireland at the European Championships, but there had been a hint of what was to come in Nassau the previous May when the team – Cillin Greene in that line-up instead of O’Donnell – triumphed at the World Athletics Relays.
[ Ireland win gold in 4x400m mixed relay at European Athletics ChampionshipsOpens in new window ]
They turned up trumps in Rome, O’Donnell and Barr doing their bit, Adeleke blitzing the second leg, before Mawdsley’s stunning anchor leg. Magical. MH
9 Róisín Ní Riain – Five medals at European Championships and two at Paralympics
Not since Atlanta 1996 (remembered with fondness or regret, you decide) would the pool have been considered Ireland’s arena of choice, but 2024 did mighty work to help change that. Róisín Ní Riain stormed the European Para Swimming Championships in Portugal back in May, claiming five medals – two gold, two silver, and a bronze – from her six events.
As Paralympic warmups go, you couldn’t ask for better. Paris was the Limerick woman’s second games having been Ireland’s youngest Paralympian in Tokyo, and she walked away with silver in the 100m backstroke and bronze in the 200m IM. More to come in LA perhaps? MD
8 Rachael Blackmore completes the Cheltenham triple crown
In the past 50 years of the Cheltenham festival, only eight jockeys have put together the elite triptych of Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase. It goes without saying that Rachael Blackmore is the first and only woman on that list.
Captain Guinness’s victory in the Champion Chase was her 16th festival winner. In an event-filled race, she steered Henry De Bromhead’s horse to a hard-earned victory, staving off a late challenge from Mark Walsh on Gentleman De Mee. It was everything we’ve come to expect from her – unflappable, expertly timed, imperious. She makes it all look routine, which of course it isn’t. MC
7 4x400m women’s relay team - silver at the European Championships, fourth at Olympics
The quartet of Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley have done an almost unheard of thing in Irish life. They’ve colonised the imagination of the general public in a team sport that doesn’t involve a ball.
They did it first in Rome in June by winning the silver medal at the European Championships. Then they followed it up in Paris in August when they came so close to an unprecedented Olympic medal, with Mawdsley only just run out of it in the dying yards. It was emotional, inspirational, heartbreaking stuff and it held the nation captive in a way no relay team has ever done. MC
6 Mona McSharry’s Olympic bronze
By her own admission, Mona McSharry hadn’t just fallen out of love with swimming, she was beginning to hate it. The sport had been at the centre of her life for as long as she could remember, but she was beginning to feel like it wasn’t giving back anything close to what she was putting in.
[ In pictures: Mona McSharry secures famous bronze medal for Ireland in the poolOpens in new window ]
Then came that July day in Paris when she stood on the podium after the 100m breaststroke final with a bronze medal draped around her neck, having become only the second Irish swimmer to medal at the Olympics (a certain Daniel Wiffen made it three the day after). Not even her goggles filling up with water prevented her from finishing third in a race that featured four of the event’s finest specialists. Her tears flowed. The sport had finally given back. MH
♦ Top five will be revealed on Sunday
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