It took some of golf’s cogniscenti a while to digest the depth of Rory McIlroy’s quality. No one is doubting the torch has passed now. By Jim McCabe.

When this newspaper’s staff writers and acclaimed columnists met up in the penthouse suite of Cork’s Imperial Hotel, the debate was raucous and animated — which meant the patient kitchen staff had to wait. And wait. As the late, great Con Houlihan might say: Now read on...

Reared in a UDA stronghold Carl Frampton is, by some distance, Ireland’s best chance of a world title next year. Sportswriter of the Year Ewan MacKenna spent the day with him in Tiger’s Bay, the Belfast enclave he is changing with every punch.

Manager of the year Billy Walsh came home disappointed from the London Olympics. Yes, you read that right. But he’s learned valuable lessons for the future.

For 17 days in July and August, we didn’t look at London through a prism of begrudgery and snorting derision, because they only put on the damn best show anyone could remember. (Ireland should try it sometime ...) Here’s the top ten memories of Olympics 2012

He’s not a man for the media circus, but Tom Queally’s Dungarvan grounding helps him appreciate the special things in life, such as the greatest horse of all time.

As a remarkable 2012 of sport slips away, what of those we may soon say farewell to — as we embrace a new select group of sporting stars from Ireland.