2016's unsung sporting heroes
Michael Quinn
The success rate of Gaelic footballers who have returned from more than a year with an AFL club has been modest to say the least. Tommy Walsh is still reacquainting himself with his native game and it can’t be said that the likes of Colm Begley, Kyle Coney, Conor Meredith and Niall McCusker have set the world alight upon their return from Australia.
Michael Quinn, 27 this month, has been one of the exceptions, his performances for Longford last summer were immense and in keeping with what he has offered both his county and club Emmet Óg, Clonoe since he left Essendon in 2011. There were his four points against Down in the extra-time qualifier win and his goal against Monaghan in their surprise victory over the previous year’s Ulster champions. On both occasions, the captain was Longford’s dynamo, instilling his team-mates with a belief that they were capable of upsetting the odds.
He was a little more subdued in the defeat to Cork but remained their driving force from midfield. If that area wasn’t so competitive in the 2016 All-Star nominations he would have been in the shake-up to be included among the selected six but his brilliance off-Broadway shouldn’t detract from the fact he is one of the most consistent performers in Gaelic football.
Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett
It is with a note of sadness that Plunkett stepped down as Laois boss in September. The 2016 season didn’t go as well as the previous year when they topped the Leinster qualifier group before beating Offaly to reach a semi-final. Before that, there was the close-run thing against Galway in 2014.
Last year’s back-to-back championship losses to Offaly and Clare aside, the manager’s commitment never wilted. It was well known in the county that Plunkett not only contributed time and effort to the role but money too. In his four years, Plunkett showed that Laois could succeed without going beyond their borders. Admittedly, having as enigmatic a leader as the Portlaoise man helped the cause. His departing letter in which he praised his players showed the class of the man.
“Your total dedication to the hard training necessary to improve our performance standards and our county’s standing, perhaps best demonstrated by your commitment to preparing for the All-Ireland qualifiers in each of the four years, is to be admired,” he wrote. “It is very easy to do that when you are regularly playing in League, Leinster or All-Ireland finals but when that prize is not as closely within your reach, then it needs much greater character and love of place to commit yourself to the task. Indeed that commitment was even more tested for those players who may not have got the playing opportunities of others. These are the real heroes I admire in every county panel.”
Scott Hogan
As a lifetime supporter of Championship side Brentford this selection may seem a little self-indulgent, but stories of players overcoming adversity are the backbone of sport and remind us all that these guys are human after all. Oh, and this particular tale may well have a silver lining for Martin O’Neill, also.
Striker Scott Hogan, born in Salford but with Irish ancestry, suffered a career-threatening cruciate ligament injury within 24 minutes of making his league debut for the Bees back in 2014 at a time when he had only just completed the move south from Rochdale and knew no-one at the club.
It must have been a tough and lonely fight back to fitness but there was worse to come. Having finally made a full recovery, he injured the same knee during training in April 2015 and required another reconstruction.
It took until February last year for him to return to football but what he has achieved since then has been remarkable, scoring 20 goals in 2016 — including seven in 141 minutes of play at the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
He is currently second in the Championship goalscoring charts behind Newcastle’s Dwight Gayle, linked with a string of clubs in the January transfer window (including Norwich, Southampton, Hull and Reading), and being courted by the Republic to join their World Cup qualifying campaign.
His story is a reminder of the fragility of a footballer’s career and a comforting confirmation that sometimes determination and hard work do pay off.
Stephen Bermingham
But for Dundalk’s European heroics, the no less noteworthy history made by Cork City’s U19 side in 2016 would and should have garnered even bigger headlines. The first Irish club to play in the elite Uefa Youth League, the team’s achievements certainly weren’t without local recognition, as a tremendous crowd of over 3,000 turned up to watch them take on Roma at Turner’s Cross.
Prior to that final night, the domestic champions had already knocked out HJK Helsinki, drawing 0-0 in Finland before a second-half penalty from Aaron Drinan in the home leg meant they progressed to the next round and that mouth-watering meeting with the Italian giants.
The big, passionate attendance at the Cross saw City go down 3-1 in the first leg, a result which did scant justice to the home side’s efforts, as they came back to equalise from a goal down and also missed a penalty before conceding two late goals. And even though they exited the competition in the second leg, it was very much with heads held high as the City youngsters went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat in Rome.
It was also a year in which the developing quality within the club’s underage ranks was evidenced in first team appearances by Chiedozie Ogbene, Conor McCarthy and Cian Coleman. So take a bow Cork City U19 coach Stephen Bermingham.
Darren Crawley
Dundalk media officer
It might have escaped the attention of many but Dundalk actually did do a double this year — in December, the club picked up the Soccer Writers of Ireland awards for best website and best media officer.
Darren Crawley is the media officer at Oriel Park, as well as being part of the team which oversees the club’s excellent website. And in a year in which Dundalk ended up playing 56 competitive matches, including that memorable extended run in Europe, it was Darren — ably supported by Anthony Bravender — who did the hard work to ensure that one of the stories of the Irish football year would be able to get the coverage it deserved in the local, national and even international media.
With entry into the group stages of the Europa League bringing all sorts of new and exacting administrative demands from Uefa, Darren found himself having to up his game on a number of levels.
And he rose to every occasion. From issuing detailed and informative press releases to finding himself sitting at the top table in the glare of the spotlight alongside Stephen Kenny for the pre and post-match European press conferences, Darren did his job with such professionalism — and, despite the pressure, good humour — that it was easy to forget he was a supporter turned volunteer who was doing all of this in his spare time.
Credit where it’s due, there are others doing similarly trojan work at clubs around the League of Ireland but, like the Lilywhites themselves, Darren Crawley set the bar at its highest in 2016.
America’s Ryder Cup rookies
Amid the raucous crowds that turned Hazeltine National into a hotbed of American golfing fervour you could be forgiven for believing Patrick Reed won the Ryder Cup back for the United States all by his lonesome.
Reed was certainly the stand-out performer for USA skipper Davis Love III, delivering 3.5 points from a possible five and leading the American charge in every session with his passion-fuelled play, not least in setting the tone for the final day with his epic singles win over European main man Rory McIlroy in the opening match.
Yet following behind Reed’s lead, there some impressive performances from Love’s two rookies, Ryan Moore and Brooks Koepka, who more than held up their end of the bargain in stark contrast to the European debutants, Thomas Pieters aside.
Big-hitting Koepka returned three of four possible points, concluding an excellent weekend with his 5&4 rout of Masters champion, and fellow rookie, Danny Willett, the biggest margin of victory in the final-day singles.
Moore, like Pieters, had added pressure on him coming into Hazeltine as a captain’s pick, more so given the American had lost a play-off at the Tour Championship to McIlroy on the Sunday before the matches and was the last man into the US team as Love’s final selection.
It was the 34-year-old who had the last laugh, though, contributing two points from three matches, including a 1Up singles victory over Lee Westwood that sealed the team win and delivered the Ryder Cup to the USA for the first time since 2008.
Devin Toner
Many feared for Ireland’s second row in the wake of Paul O’Connell’s retirement at the 2015 World Cup while others cannot wait for Iain Henderson and Ultan Dillane to form what appears to be an exciting partnership in the making at lock.
They underestimate the worth to his team of present incumbent Toner, who has emerged from O’Connell’s considerable shadow to become as indispensable to Ireland boss Joe Schmidt as his former captain was.
The Leinster giant was immense during the summer tour to South Africa, showcasing not only a superb work ethic on both sides of the ball but also delivering effective and impactful contributions in the set-piece and open play.
He was the man-of-the-match in the first Test at Newlands in Cape Town when Ireland were up against it with only 14 men for almost an hour but still claimed a first win on South African soil.
Toner’s carrying caused the Springboks all sorts of problems throughout the series, not least in getting over the try line during the second Test in Johannesburg, while his breakdown accuracy consistently stymied the home side.
And while the plaudits for Ireland’s historic victory over New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago on November 5 were understandably showered in the direction of Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw, it was the tight five in green that delivered so much of the platform for success with Toner at the heart of the effort.
Paul Dunne
It’s worth reminding ourselves that entire lives passed between Fred Daly’s Open triumph of 1947 and Pádraig Harrington’s 60 years later, the next by an Irishman.
Irish golf seems to be defined these days by how its elite players perform in major championships and WGC events but it wasn’t always that way.
There was a time when holding onto your tour card like Paul Dunne has managed to do was an achievement in itself.
Dunne, ironically, almost joined Daly and Harrington as an Open winner in 2015, jointly leading at St Andrews as an amateur before blowing up with a final round 78. He returned there in October and closed out the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with a healthier 69 to secure T25 in the tournament and, effectively, his tour card for 2017.
Retaining his privileges in his first full season was an impressive achievement — not least because his €41,171 cheque in Scotland was his biggest of the season and came when he needed it most.
The Greystones man was also among just nine players who earned their card at Tour Q school in 2015 to retain it. Considering 27 players won cards, that’s two-thirds who lost them within months.
Tour veteran and former winner Peter Lawrie finished 112 places behind Dunne in 220th position and decided to jack it all in, taking up a club position at Luttrellstown Castle. “You have to take it in a cold-hearted way and decide enough is enough,” admitted Lawrie, the latest Irish professional to come to that conclusion.
Christina McMahon
If you’ve never seen Christina McMahon box then that’s partly her own fault. In a remarkable interview with the Second Captains team recently, the former world champion kickboxer, who became the interim WBC bantamweight title holder in May of 2015, revealed how her team make sure there’s no online footage of her, to keep her opponents guessing.
It worked a treat when she beat Zambia’s Catherine Phiri to claim that title, though what makes McMahon a really great champion is how she has dealt with the setbacks of 2016. If even half the allegations she makes of mistreatment by the New York State Athletic Commission late last year and blatant cheating by officials in March during a separate defeat in Mexico are true, then the sport has some serious issues to overcome.
McMahon, now 42, remains defiant and revealed recently that she’s likely to fight for a world title in Dublin next march. Hopefully, it comes to pass because she has endured numerous cancellations in the last two years or so, the most recent being the planned December 3 bout with WBA super flyweight title holder Linda Lecca. It’s placed a financial strain on her and husband Martin, her trainer, and they’ve made public pleas for sponsorship.
Becoming a world champion in front of her own fans is finally within her grasp though and, if it happens, she may reflect that the difficulties of 2016 actually gave her a vital edge to succeed. “I don’t know how she keeps training to be honest with you,” husband Martin told RTÉ Radio.
In the same interview, Christina described the sport as ‘a shambles’ but said her love of boxing has sustained her throughout her toughest year as a pro.
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