Fionnuala And Katie Lead Wicklow Record For Sportswoman Awards

“We’re gonna need a bigger mantlepiece…”

atest press release from The Irish Times, issued on Friday, January 3rd 2025…

Four Wicklow sports stars were among those honoured at The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman Awards which took place in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin recently.

This was the 20th year of the awards, and the first time Wicklow has secured the most award recipients with one third of this year’s winners hailing from the county.

The four Wicklow sportswomen who were honoured with monthly awards and nominated for the overall title of Sportswoman of the Year, included runner Fionnuala McCormack, sevens rugby player Lucy Mulhall Rock, boxer Katie Taylor and cyclist Lara Gillespie.

Taylor, who has won the overall award of Sportswoman of the Year a record five times – the only others to have won that title twice are Kellie Harrington and Cork dual player Briege Corkery – picked up her 18th monthly award following her ‘fight for the ages’ with Amanda Serrano in November in front of a crowd of 60,000 in Arlington Texas.

That fight was a rematch of their history making fight in Madison Square Garden in New York in 2022, the first women’s fight to headline the iconic venue. The Bray boxer won that bout on a split decision to retain her lightweight titles, and the duo were once again remarkably evenly matched in their recent bout, which involved no little controversy. But after 10 punishing rounds, the judges had their verdict: 95-94 unanimously for Taylor.

It was the 38-year old’s 24th victory in the 25th fight of her professional career, but so epic and tight was it, a third encounter seems inevitable.

A month earlier, cyclist Lara Gillespie claimed the award for October, after she won bronze at the Track World Championships in Denmark. That was a fantastic way to round off what has been one of Gillespie’s most challenging and successful years cycling to date.

Paralympian Katie-George Dunlevy has described cycling as a ‘sufferfest’ and that is something Gillespie can relate to. This year she had to battle a debilitating gynaecological condition which required surgery, a heap of injuries, among them a dislocated collarbone and broken shoulder and Covid, just as she was shaping up to her Olympic debut.

Despite it all the Enniskerry 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 Mediteranneo Rosa and the Antwerp Port Epic and being awarded a pro contract that saw her step up to World Tour level. Gillespie has a lot to look forward to in 2025!

Lara Gillespie

While two Wicklow women won the last two awards on offer for 2024, it was two others who claimed the first two.

It’s 18 years now since Fionnuala McCormack first featured in the Awards monthly roll of honour and only one other woman who featured that year is still competing at the highest level of her sport – fellow Wicklow woman Katie Taylor! McCormack, who’s from Newcastle, won the award for December 2023 after she became the first Irish woman to qualify for a fifth successive Olympic Games when she ran inside the required mark at the Valencia marathon.

Fionnuala McCormack. Pic: Kieran Hartnett

McCormack has quite a few records to her name. For example, no woman has represented Ireland more in athletics – she’s now up to 44 caps, 11 ahead of Sonia O’Sullivan who is next on the list and the Kilcoole AC runner is still going strong. Just a week after securing qualification for Paris she led Ireland’s efforts at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels. It was her 18th appearance at the Championships where she won the senior title in 2011 and 2012.

Just six months after giving birth to her third child, 39-year-old McCormack finished fourth in the race. While frustrated she vowed to return. “I really want to be on that podium again. I’m going to have to come back again now so.” While far from happy with her 28th place in the Paris marathon, she shows no sign of slowing down. In fact just last month she ran the fastest marathon of her career, taking 12 seconds off her previous best!

While several of the sports stars couldn’t attend the Awards for different reasons, sevens rugby player Lucy Mulhall Rock’s situation illustrates well the commitment required of top athletes. Last year she couldn’t attend the Awards ceremony as she was getting married. This year she couldn’t attend because she was on her honeymoon!

Mulhall Rock won the Sportswoman of the Month Award for January after she captained Ireland to their first World Series gold medal. Mulhall Rock, who was player of the match in the final against World Series leaders Australia in Perth, scored an early try to give Ireland the lead before Eve Higgins sealed the victory with a late score. That win, which ended a demoralising 29-game losing streak to the Australians, followed wins over Fiji and Great Britain.

While this was Mulhall Rock’s final year with the sevens squad, one of the highlights was undoubtedly securing Olympic qualification for Ireland on her 50th cap.

Lucy Mulhall Rock

While her tournament was cruelly cut short by a knee injury in the second pool match against South Africa, Mulhall Rock, who grew up on the family farm in Crossbridge, Tinahely, can reflect on an amazing year and indeed decade long career of achievement with Ireland.

Sportswoman of the Year

Boxer Kellie Harrington, who claimed her second Olympic gold medal at the Paris Olympics last August, was crowned The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year for 2024. The Dubliner’s victory over China’s Wenlu Yang in the 60kg final on a never to be forgotten night at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, made Harrington the first Irish boxer to win two gold Olympic medals.

Harrington, who celebrated her 35th birthday in early December, also joins a select group of only four athletes who have successfully defended an Olympic title – the others being double sculls rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and hammer thrower Dr Pat O’Callaghan. It was the second time Harrington has claimed the overall Sportswoman of the Year title, winning her first in 2018

Team of the Year Award goes to Paralympian cyclists

Katie-George Dunlevy, Ireland’s most decorated Irish Paralympic athlete, and her pilots Linda Kelly and Eve McCrystal claimed the ‘Team of the Year Award’ for their outstanding achievements at the Paralympics and World Championships this year.

In an amazing year Dunlevy amassed 5 Paralympic and World Championship medals. In Paris, she won a gold and silver with new pilot Kelly as well as a silver with long-time partner McCrystal before going on to win two gold at the World Championships in Zurich with Kelly.

Other recipients of the 12 monthly awards included: sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke for her superb performance at the World Relay Championships, Ciara Mageean who won the 1500m final at the European Athletics Championships; and swimmers Róisín Ní Riain and Mona McSharry for their exploits in the pool.

The Sports Editor of The Irish Times Noel O’Reilly paid tribute to all the 2024 winners.

“Twenty years ago, when the Sportswoman of the Year awards were launched, we could scarcely have imagined how high the bar would be raised. Each year soaring new standards continue to be set by Irish sportswomen, inspiring and challenging those who will come after them.”

“It’s been a thrill and a pleasure for us to report on their feats. A scroll through our list of overall winners is a reminder of just how many magical days they have given us, and a memorable 2024 has proved to be an exceptional year on so many fronts. A huge congratulations to all the monthly winners, sportswomen whose stories continue to show the next generation that nothing is impossible. Here’s to another 20 years of excellence, and many more magical moments.”

Sport Ireland CEO, Dr Úna May said 2024 had been a year of fantastic accomplishment for our sportswomen.

“Our female athletes continue to demonstrate that with dedication, ambition, and determination, the extraordinary is possible. The diversity of sports being celebrated at these Awards highlights the incredible breadth of talent right across the nation. To all who stand behind these athletes — coaches, families, volunteers, clubs, and communities — your unwavering support is instrumental in these achievements, and we extend our gratitude to you all.”

For more information about the Irish Times Sportswoman Of The Year Awards click here. Just, you know, come back after.