World and European champions in an array of sports, a world-record smasher, a Champions League winner, the player of the tournament in the Six Nations ... it was some year for Irish sportswomen. We pick out 25 memorable moments from that lengthy list of achievements, leaving us sparing a thought for the judges in our Sportswoman of the Year awards. They have to narrow the 15 nominees down to one - the winner will be announced this afternoon.
Rory McIlroy, who was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Thursday night, has had a pretty decent 2025 himself, what with winning the Masters and Ryder Cup. But as David Gorman tells us, another special moment that will, says McIlroy, stay with him for the rest of his life was winning the Irish Open.
McIlroy finished second only to Katie Taylor in the survey to find Ireland’s most admired athlete, Taylor topping that poll for a remarkable ninth year in a row. And that, writes Johnny Watterson, “says something about the grasp she has on the Irish public consciousness”.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley previews this evening’s URC meeting between Leinster and Ulster at the Aviva Stadium, while John Fallon hears from Clayton McMillan ahead of Munster’s trip to Bridgend tomorrow to take on the Ospreys
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In football, Shamrock Rovers finished their Conference League campaign on a high with a 3-1 win over Maltese champions Hamrun Spartans in Tallaght on Thursday, but Shelbourne once again failed to convert their chances in a 0-0 draw away to Slovenia’s Celje, their involvement in the competition also at an end.
Gordon Manning looks ahead to Sunday’s All Ireland club hurling semi-finals and wonders if Derry’s Slaughtneil, who play Galway’s Loughrea in Parnell Park, can finally crack the semi-final winning code. Thus far? Six semi-finals, six defeats.
In racing, the Epsom Derby’s time as flat racing’s most coveted prize is, writes Brian O’Connor, over, “shortsighted commercial breeding” making it “all but redundant in elite bloodstock terms”. Can “supposedly radical plans” to restore the race’s status revive it? Brian isn’t convinced.
Also in racing, if you had a Euro on a horse by the name of Blowers in the opening race at Exeter on Thursday, you’d now be €300 the richer. Yes, he was a 300-1 shot, making him the joint longest-priced winner in modern horse racing history. Nobody was more surprised, you’d imagine, than Blowers himself.
TV Watch: Ireland’s women are already 2-0 down in their three-match one-day international series against South Africa, but they have a chance to finish it on a positive note in Johannesburg today (Premier Sports 2 from 11.40am). And at 7.45pm this evening, Leinster host Ulster in the URC (TG4 and Premier Sports 1).
