Every now and then, we remind readers of a rule we introduced an age ago for the Sportswoman of the Year awards. It was brought in to ensure contenders could only win the monthly award once in any given year. Never was that rule needed more than in 2025.
From Ellen Walshe in swimming, to Lara Gillespie in cycling, from Kate O’Connor in athletics to Katie McCabe in soccer, not to mention Fiona Murtagh in rowing. They excelled in so many months that it could have severely limited the number of sportswomen to receive an award.
In the end, we had 15 monthly winners. Two sportswomen were acknowledged in March, August and September. It is no exaggeration to suggest the final number of monthly recipients could have been multiples of 15, but such a scenario might have hinted at an indecisive panel of judges.
Several of the 15 are household names. Among them, the two Katies – Taylor and McCabe – who are former sportswomen of the year. Taylor has won the accolade on five occasions.
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For the eighth time, Katie-George Dunlevy (there’s something about that Katie name) makes the list, this time with Linda Kelly, after she once again demonstrated that she’s peerless in the world of para-cycling.
But we have six newcomers this time around, two of them emulating their sisters’ past award-winning feats. Boxer Aoife O’Rourke matched Lisa’s achievement in becoming a world champion, while world record-breaking ultra-runner Caitríona Jennings joined rower Sinéad on the roll of honour.
Basketball’s Hazel Finn, the MVP in the National Cup final before she starred on the international stage with Ireland, and rugby’s Aoife Wafer, the Six Nations player of the tournament, picked up their first awards. The same can be said for soccer player Kelly Brady, who had a phenomenal debut season for Athlone Town, and double world champion sprinter Orla Comerford.
The more established names produced another year to remember, too. Their haul of medals and titles across the globe – from Tokyo to New York, Shanghai to Santiago, and Lisbon to Lublin – providing a wealth of special moments.
The medal-winning exploits of O’Connor and Sarah Healy in athletics were among the year’s highlights, as was McCabe’s Champions League triumph with Arsenal and her outstanding contribution to Ireland’s Nations League playoff win against Belgium.
Gillespie had already enjoyed a superb 2025 even before she won World Championship gold in Chile. The same for Murtagh. As if winning European Championship silver in her first single sculls final at elite level in June wasn’t enough, come September she was taking gold at the World Championships in Shanghai.
Taylor kept on winning, this time beating Amanda Serrano for the third time at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Walshe finished her year by winning gold and silver at the European short-course championships.
And that’s only half the story of 2025.
How do you compare and contrast all those feats? You can’t, so spare a thought for the judges. The overall crown would sit comfortably on any one of those sportswomen, but 15 joint winners would, again, have made our panel look fearful of decision-making.
So, the decision was made – and it was a unanimous choice. You’ll find out on Friday afternoon who joins Cathy Gannon, Briege Corkery, Derval O’Rourke, Katie Taylor, Olive Loughnane, Gráinne Murphy, Nina Carberry, Fiona Coghlan, Rena Buckley, Annalise Murphy, Jessica Harrington, Kellie Harrington, Sanita Puspure, Rachael Blackmore, Amy Broadhurst and Katie McCabe on our list of Sportswomen of the Year dating back to 2004.
Monthly winners
December 2024: Ellen Walshe (Swimming); January: Hazel Finn (Basketball); February: Lara Gillespie (Cycling); March: Kate O’Connor and Sarah Healy (Athletics); April: Aoife Wafer (Rugby); May: Katie McCabe (Soccer); June: Fiona Murtagh (Rowing); July: Katie Taylor (Boxing); August: Katie George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly (Cycling); September: Aoife O’Rourke (Boxing) and Orla Comerford (Athletics); October: Kelly Brady (Soccer); November: Caitríona Jennings (Athletics).
