Record Olympics medal haul the sporting highlight of 2024
By Gerry Buckley
The undoubted Irish sporting highlights of 2024 came in the medal-laden Paris Olympics. Gold medals in four disciplines was unimaginable even a few short years ago. I can never remember as many worthy nominees for the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year.
Meanwhile, it says a lot about the awful mess which Gaelic football has largely become that in my initial thoughts for my annual alphabetic sporting ramble, I was debating whether to use ‘Y’ for ‘yawning’ or ‘Z’ for ‘zzzzzzz’ (sleep) when utilizing a letter to sum up the actions of most bored fans in recent years attending our once-enthralling big ball contests.
Hopefully, Jim Gavin and co have come up with a new set of rules which will stop spectators and scribes talking among themselves about Coronation Street (I know this because a fellow-scribe and I have often done so). Conversely, fans haven’t a moment to catch a breath in virtually every hurling match they attend.
The Republic of Ireland eventually found an Icelandic dentist to replace the hapless Stephen Kenny. His international experience and coaching drills (sorry) will surely improve our lowly standing. There has been lots of Corrie talk in the crowd at men’s soccer internationals in recent years! Their female counterparts had a mediocre year also and a massive chance to qualify for the 2025 Euros was blown.
Our rugby team remains close to the very top – but only close – while a shaky autumn series would suggest a decline is imminent. Quite why Andy Farrell has to temporarily vacate his Irish coaching role for Lions’ duty is beyond me. Some new blood is needed in key positions. And quickly.
So here we go with my annual alphabetic ramble through the year now ending.
A is for Armagh. Just 14 months after Kieran McGeeney’s troops were blessed to edge past Westmeath in a home championship tie, Jarlath Burns handed over the Sam Maguire Cup to his fellow county men. Good luck to them, but it brought home just how close to the very top Westmeath have been.
B is for Brian Fenton. A fabulous footballer and role model ended his glittering inter-county career at the young age of 31. His fellow-Dub James McCarthy also bowed out, as did the excellent Lake County duo of Kevin Maguire (Caulry) and James Dolan (Garrycastle). Wonderful servants all.
C is for Castletown-Geoghegan. A few short weeks ago, I was wrapping up my massive Westmeath GAA stats project with my prepress expert and told him that Castletown-Geoghegan vs Thomastown would be the last hurling entry. How wrong I was, due to a sensational 1-25 to 1-14 win for Alan Mangan’s charges.
D is for Damien Duff. ‘Duffer’ was one of the last truly great players in the Republic of Ireland team, going on to prove many people wrong by taking seamlessly to the cut-throat world of management. His Shelbourne side's league victory, in conjunction with the manager’s infectious style, have reinvigorated the League of Ireland. From a local perspective, of course, the highlight of the 2024 League of Ireland season was Athlone Town winning the Women's Premier Division title for the first time, also reaching the Women's FAI Cup final for the third year in a row.
E is for Eileen Gleeson. What, frankly, was a handy route to the Euro 25 finals in Switzerland was not navigated. Accordingly, Gleeson can have no complaints about her contract not being renewed. A massive opportunity to keep the Irish women’s side in the limelight for at least another year has been blown.
F is for FRC. Westmeath’s Patrick Doherty has been a valued member of the Football Rules Committee (FRC) spearheaded by Jim Gavin. Their findings were passed unanimously in recent weeks and we all long to see a better product from late January 2025 onwards. The portents are good.
G is for Gaelic football. The game which the FRC has tried to make watchable again. Many argue that the scourge of excessive hand-passing was not tackled (no pun intended), and it is a fair argument. Hopefully, discipline will improve as referees are valuable people and need to be respected – or they will simply abandon their whistles.
H is for Heimar Hallgrimsson. ‘Heimir who?’ was the reaction nationwide when the Icelander was named as Stephen Kenny’s successor. To date, he has come across as very level-headed and pragmatic. The recent World Cup qualifying draw is reasonable. As ever, we live in hope.
I is for International Rules. There is strong talk of its return. Yours truly has never remotely liked it – and never will – but for many Gaelic footballers the lure of an international outlet is enticing. And for the ‘blazers’, an away series is preferred!
J is for Joe Shannon. The exciting Longford snooker star entered his first-ever men's tournament recently and, out of 45 players, he reached the final. The teenager looks set for more days in the sun as he forges on under the coaching of former star Fergal O’Brien.
K is for Kellie Harrington. The eminently likeable Dubliner became the first Irish female ever to retain an Olympic title. Father Time has dictated that she will not follow in Katie Taylor’s professional footsteps, and she seems perfectly happy to continue with what many would consider a mundane lifestyle. A true champ.
L is for Leinster SFC. Maybe, just maybe, the retirement of Messrs Fenton and McCarthy – I wonder does Stephen Cluxton even know himself if he is going to retire? – gives a glimmer of hope to ten counties that the Delaney Cup could soon be a proper competition again.
M is for Katie McCabe. Many Irish captains in an array of sports have earned lofty titles such as ‘Captain Fantastic’. The Arsenal midfielder has been a huge disappointment wearing the women’s armband for some 18 months or so. Gleeson’s successor might be advised to look elsewhere for an on-field leader.
N is for Conor Niland. A son of Athlone's Ray Niland who played at midfield for Westmeath in the 1963 All-Ireland minor football final, Conor was Ireland’s top tennis player for many years, albeit a ‘nearly man’ internationally. That ‘nearness’ is superbly captured in his award-winning autobiography, ‘The Racket’. A really fabulous book.
O is for Paul O’Donovan. A very strong case can be made for the Skibbereen rower to be labelled as Ireland’s greatest ever sportsperson after garnering another Olympic gold in Paris. What a role model he is also to aspiring sports stars, his humility shining through in every interview.
P is for Sam Prendergast. The young out-half with strong Mullingar roots already looks like he is the natural successor to Jonathan Sexton. The latter has been badly missed in the year since his retirement and Prendergast looks set to wear the pivotal number 10 jersey in the upcoming Six Nations.
Q is for Questions. As a former auditor, I know only too well the panic that an auditor’s visit can bring to a business. It seems that Revenue are belatedly looking for the famous ‘counter’ under which they suspect shady GAA dealings have taken place. Expect panicky faces among many county board treasurers!
R is for Robbie Dolan. The Kildare man first came to Australians’ attention as a singer, but he will now be forever linked with the country’s most famous horse race. The 28-year-old was a teenager before even sitting on a horse! His Melbourne Cup win at 90/1 on Knight’s Choice was sensational.
S is for Saudi Arabia. Yours truly worked there during a previous career path. Frankly, unless attitudes have changed there a zillion per cent by 2034, the staging of the FIFA men’s World Cup will be a nightmare. The film Midnight Express comes to mind!
T is for Tony Kelly. There is no Hurling Rules Committee needed (the plethora of illegal hand-passes apart) as the small ball game continues to provide thrilling spectacles at all levels. The sublime skill demonstrated by goal-scorer Kelly in Clare’s Liam MacCarthy Cup win was breathtaking. There is no sport in the world to surpass hurling.
U is for Underachiever. It’s hard not to be critical when Rory McIlroy poses with yet another gigantic Arabian-themed trophy won on the lucrative golf tour, as we all know it is the Majors which are the only currency for top pros. The elusive Green Jacket would crown his career, and a few more Majors to boot.
V is for Josh van der Flier. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who assumed he was an ‘import’ when he first came on the scene, but the Co. Wicklow man is 100 per cent Irish and continues to be one of Andy Farrell’s most consistent and capable lieutenants.
W is for Daniel Wiffen. Given the controversy surrounding our first Olympic swimming medallist, the uncontroversial gold won by the young man from the Armagh/Down border was fantastic. And let’s not forget a hugely admirable bronze for Sligo’s Mona McSharry, a competitor with strong links to the Athlone and Moate areas through her uncle Ray McSharry. Irish swimming medals were merely the stuff of dreams in my childhood.
X is for X-factor. The still-unproven striker Evan Ferguson apart, how Halgrimsson above would love to see a few players with such a factor coming through, especially in midfield where around ten players of similar ‘ordinariness’ continue to compete for three/four slots.
Y is for Yawning. “Lads, don’t forget we got in for nothing”. This has been a favourite line of this scribe leaving the press box in TEG Cusack Park and elsewhere, as I look down on paying customers bored out of their skins by an alleged game of Gaelic football which has just taken place. Fingers crossed for the new rules.
Z is for New Zealand. Ireland’s belated domination of Tests against the All Blacks was cruelly ended in last year’s World Cup quarter-final. A chance to atone somewhat was wasted in an error-ridden effort at the Aviva Stadium in November. Calling Ireland the number one team in the world is ludicrous.