As we near the end of 2017, Caolán Conroy shares his sporting highlights and lowlights in local sport this year.

 

2017  highlights

Ireland’s Six Nations defeat of England: On St Patrick’s weekend, Ireland ended England’s chances of winning a grand slam and ensured the English would not achieve a record breaking nineteen wins in a row. It was particularly enjoyable for me, watching it in a bar in north London, surrounded by many English Rugby fans.

Slaughtneil win another Treble: For the second year in a row Slaughtneil GAC won the Ulster club treble. The men won the Ulster club Hurling and Football titles, and the ladies won the Camogie title. A lot has been said about this unbelievable feat. Hopefully they can go on to win at least one All-Ireland. All the club’s players, coaches and members deserve huge credit for creating a winning environment and mentality. The club reminds me of Crossmaglen in their pomp; they’re able to find a way of winning even when in tight corners.

Perfect Night in Cardiff: The Republic of Ireland had a mixed World Cup qualification campaign. However, their away form was impressive and gave them an opportunity to claim a play-off place with a winner-take-all final group game in Wales. Their Welsh hosts dominated the first half of this cagey game. In the second half the Republic upped their game, with James McClean scoring the only goal of the game around the hour mark to send the away fans delirious. In truth, Wales hardly threatened after this and Martin O’Neill’s men created another memorable night.

Double Delight for Irish Hockey: In October, Ireland women’s hockey team qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2002. They joined the men’s team who qualified for only the third time in their history and first since 1990. It is also the first time both men and women’s team have qualified for the World Cup in the same year. 2018 is set to be a huge year for the sport with the women’s competition taking place in London and the men’s taking place in India later in the year.

SPOTY Recognition for Jonathan Rea: Last week I wrote about the highly successful year for treble Superbike world champion Jonathan Rea. Rea followed this up with taking second place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards and winning the BBC Northern Ireland Award. This was an incredible achievement for the Antrim man and great to see local talent recognised on a global platform.

 

2017 lowlights

Disappointment for Irish Women’s Rugby: In the Autumn Ireland hosted the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup and although the tournament was hugely successful, the Irish women failed to perform in front of their home crowd. They lost two out of three group games and lost to Wales in the 7th place play-off, rounding off a disappointing tournament on field. Following the tournament, the ladies’ coach Tom Tierney stepped down and the position which had been full-time was advertised as a part-time role. This raised the question about the priority of the women’s game in the country and the legacy of the World Cup.

Ulster Counties fall further behind in Race for Sam Maguire: 2017 was a disappointing year for Ulster county Gaelic Football teams. Three teams reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals: Armagh, Tyrone and Monaghan. Armagh will be happy with reaching this stage but not so much with how they performed in the last eight against Tyrone. Tyrone won that game very easily but suffered an embarrassing defeat against Dublin in the semi-final. Monaghan were also defeated heavily by the eventual All-Ireland champions; it showed how far the Ulster counties are behind the top three counties Dublin, Mayo and Kerry. Many pundits have continued to accuse the top Ulster counties of being too defensive to be successful. Will 2018 be the season these counties develop a more expansive game plan that can challenge for silverware?

World Cup play-off heart break: Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland both suffered World Cup heart break when they fell at the final hurdle of qualification. Northern Ireland hasn’t qualified for a World Cup since 1986, and the Republic since 2002. Although qualification for both teams ended in failure they gave us some memorable moments throughout the campaign.

Whereas Northern Ireland feel aggrieved that their defeat by Switzerland in the play-offs was due to a refereeing error and contentious penalty, the Republic took an early second leg lead only to be defeated 5-1 by a Christian Eriksen-inspired Denmark. Qualification for either would have created an amazing buzz, but the wait goes on.

Death of Ryan McBride: In March the Irish soccer family was left in shock with the passing of Derry City FC captain Ryan McBride. The 27 year-old was Derry City’s leader and loved representing his home town. His passion was unrivalled and he is a huge miss for his beloved team and city.

McGregor Circus rumbles on: Am I the only one tired of hearing about this fool? Conor McGregor’s fight against Floyd Mayweather was a farce and his numerous outbursts and brushes with the law only serve to damage his credibility. How much damage can McGregor continue to do to the Irish brand abroad?