O’Shaughnessy the supreme junior sports star
Yesterday's ceremony was the 19th year of the event and the second in association with TV3, but it was also a year of firsts. Carmel Leech from Roscommon was the inaugural winner of the Special Olympics category where she excelled in her discipline of rhythmic gymnastics. Carmel claimed a remarkable haul of three gold medals in the National Games in June of last year and her next goal will be the Special Olympics which are being held in Ireland this summer.
The ceremony also saw the first Supreme Sports Star Award and despite the almost impossible task of equating achievements across such a diverse range of disciplines, Limerick hurler Andrew O'Shaughnessy was a more than worthy winner.
In 2002, he won two All-Ireland medals as Limerick completed a hat-trick of U21 titles and starred for St Colmans, Fermoy, as they won the Dr Harty Cup before capturing the All-Ireland Colleges 'A' title.
O'Shaughnessy also made waves at senior level where he became the youngest player to feature in the Railway Cup, lining out for Munster, and he has also been drafted into the senior Limerick hurling squad for the year ahead and many more to come.
Perhaps his most memorable success came during the Limerick minor hurling final where he turned a five-point deficit into a two-point winning margin by scoring 4-9 of his side's 4-11 tally.
"I'd say myself that the county minor title gave me most satisfaction," O'Shaughnessy said. "At U16 level we never won a single match and to turn it around and win at minor level was a great achievement for everyone at the club." Yet, like all the award winners yesterday, he was more focused on building on the achievements of the past year than admiring them: "The most important thing at the moment for me is the Harty Cup final on Sunday.
"St Flannan's will be a mighty tough test and even though we've been there before as a team we expect it to be a very hard game."
Also looking ahead is a fellow Limerickman, Andy Lee, whose silver medal in the boxing world junior championships in Cuba last September marked him out as the sport's most exciting Irish prospect since the early years of Bernard Dunne's career.
The St Francis ABC clubman also won a silver medal at the Junior Italia Tournament in Sardinia in June and he brought his considerable talents to bear on the national senior championships last year.
Not surprisingly, Lee's immediate ambitions in the ring centre around the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where he will hope to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Wayne McCullough and Michael Carruth.
"Athens is the goal for me definitely," Lee said. "Before that I have the World Senior Championships in July, a few multi-nation tournaments and one or two training camps abroad.
"The goal is to get as much experience under my belt between now and the Olympics and I'll need to finish in the top four in Europe to qualify for Athens. I'm just the right age for a crack at it, I suppose although another year's preparation would be nice but I'll give it my best shot."
After that the professional fight game calls and another award winner with sights set on foreign fields, or courts at least, is the 2003 recipient for badminton, Jennifer Kelly.
The 16-year-old Dubliner is already way ahead of herself in her chosen sport having won the Irish U17, U19 and senior titles this year, while she also captured the Leinster senior mixed doubles title. As the season progressed, she landed the U17 quadrangular singles title, defeating the top players from England, Scotland and Wales.
"I suppose the quadrangular tournament was nice to win," Kelly said, "and I'd wanted to win the senior title since I was about seven so that was great for me."
She won't be competing in the forthcoming U19 European Championships due to Leaving Certificate demands, but she does see herself being based abroad in the near future as she too aims for Athens.
"I could go to college in Germany or Sweden, but England is a big option for me as it's closer to home. As well as that I'd like to keep working with my current coach, Pat Marron, who has been absolutely brilliant to me. As well as that, I'd like to give something back by getting into coaching. It's hard to get sponsorship for a sport like badminton in Ireland and every little bit helps."
With attitudes and commitment like that, it seems this year's recipients are already on the right road to emulating the achievements of past winners such as Ruby Walsh, Sonia O'Sullivan, Roy Keane and Anthony Foley.
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