The Sporting Year that was 2024

In All Fairness

As we enter 2025, we reminisce for the year gone by and the sporting events and occasions that brought us joy and entertainment, and those that led to disappointment and frustration.

I am not really one for sports reviews of the year as sporting years tend to roll from one year to the next, with the GAA inter-county and All-Ireland League rugby seasons resuming not long after the Christmas pudding has settled in the stomach.

But here are a few highs and lows that come to mind from 2024:

Victory of the Year 1

Tipperary’s All-Ireland Minor Hurling victory will last long in the memory of everyone that was present at Nowlan Park in July.

A venue which saw the under 20 hurlers suffer All-Ireland final disappointment a month earlier, the minor hurlers task was even greater, playing Kilkenny in their own backyard as manager James Woodlock opted to toss for venue, knowing full well the challenge would prove to be if lady luck did not fall their way.

On top of that, came the double-blow of the two first half red cards which left this team of thirteen players aged sixteen and seventeen become men before our very eyes.

Under the greatest pressure and with no margin for error in terms of how they used the ball, they willed their way to victory with a performance of everything that is good about Tipperary hurling when it gels together. There was a poise but also an abandon to trust in their ability and drew performances out of each player that they themselves didn’t know was in them.

If unbeaten at the end of normal time wasn’t enough, the new rule had come into effect where teams couldn’t return to the full compliment for extra time which meant Tipp had to power on with thirteen players but there was no sign of wilting and despite conceding a goal, they came back once more with Billy O’Brien proving to be the hero with the last gasp goal, setting off celebrations not experienced by Tipperary supporters, probably since the 1987 Munster Final.

Victory of the Year 2

It was hard to split the two for victory of the year between the Tipperary Minor Hurlers winning the All-Ireland title and Nenagh CBS finally breaking their duck and winning the Dr Harty Cup for the first time.

Having watched Cashel secure to a deserved championship the year before, Nenagh must have wondered when their time would come but in 2023/2024 they had the perfect combination of class and composure to finally get their hands on the coveted trophy, in the process completing a unique first-time double with their junior team also winning the Dean Ryan Cup for the first time three months earlier.

That success cannot be overlooked in terms of inspiring the seniors to glory, and not only that, they did it in memorable fashion, starting in the semi-final when Darragh Treacy’s injury time goal overcame Charleville CBS.

One wondered had Nenagh used up their fortune but in the final, the depths of their belief were bountiful once more as having fallen two points down in added time to Ardscoil Ris and with time for one more play, they pressed and pressed and pressed until Andy Hoolan finally forced the ball over the line for one of the best ugly goals ever scored to win a championship.

Pride of the Year

There is always something special about a local person making it big on the international stage and 2024 saw Newport’s Sharlene Mawdsley come of age.

It all began in the Bahamas in May at the World Relay Championships, as she not only claimed a first international medal by running the final leg on the 4x400m Mixed Relay team who won bronze, the fact that both the mixed and female relay teams reached the finals in their respective events meant they booked their passage to the Olympic Games in Paris later this summer.

Prior to that were the European Championships in Rome where Sharlene thrust herself into the national consciousness with a storming anchor leg to help the mixed relay team to the gold medal before the Newport AC athlete again ran another superb anchor leg to lead Ireland home in second place in the women’s 4x400m relay final along with teammates Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke and Phil Healy in a new national record time of 3:22.71, eclipsing the previous record of 3:24.38 achieved at the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas.

Having a realistic medal contender going to the Olympics is something not many can dream off but with the Irish team, including Clonmel’s own Daire Lynch having already secured a bronze in rowing, they started flowing for others.

And in the final event of the whole Olympic programme, Sharlene was at it again in the anchor leg of the ladies 4x400m relay but was unfortunately run out of the medals close to the line for a bitterly agonising fourth place.

It doesn’t take much gloss off a spectacular year for the Newport star who is a big event runner and despite all the fame that has come her way in the mean-time, is focused on getting better and we can hope for more from her in the years to come, which includes a World Championships later this year.

Let-Down of the Year

The fortunes of the Tipperary senior hurlers can determine the mood of the county for much of the year and 2024 proved to be a disappointing one.

Off the back of a solid first year under manager Liam Cahill, reaching an All-Ireland quarter final, the expectations were there for Tipp to kick on in year two and the early signs in the league were optimistic but after suffering their first league loss to Limerick in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, there was a sluggishness to Tipp’s play that they struggled to shake off.

The league semi-final loss to Clare set the alarm bells ringing ahead of the championship opener against Limerick where Tipperary suffered a fifteen point defeat. The only bright spot was the character shown in the six days that followed before they had to go to Waterford on a Saturday evening to get a result to save their season, and despite suffering some big blows in the game, kept coming back and in the end secured a deserved draw.

It generated some momentum for the two week build-up to the Cork game in Thurles which proved to be an away game at home such was the sea of red in the venue as the rebel hoards came in their thousands, off the back of their win over Limerick a week pervious. Tipp went toe to toe with Cork in the first half but were blown away in the second for an eighteen point defeat, and elimination from the championship before the final home game against Clare where they saved face with a strong second half performance in a three point loss to the eventual All-Ireland champions.

Disappointment of the Year

2024 was a great year for Tipperary Camogie, with a Munster and All-Ireland Minor title added to by a Munster Intermediate and Premier Junior All-Ireland title while the seniors won their first National League title in twenty years with a win over Galway at Croke Park.

However, missing out in another All-Ireland semi-final was a sore one to take again as Galway overturned the league final loss with a last gasp win in Nowlan Park, Tipp’s sixth successive All-Ireland semi-final defeat.

The top end of camogie is so competitive now that there are no givens but all Tipperary can do is keep knocking on the door and eventually it will open, particularly with the level of underage talent coming through.

Story of the Year

The continued rise of Nenagh Ormond. 2024 was the year the cherry and whites made another leap up the club ladder with a dominant annexing of the AIL Division 2A title.

It was a truly impressive campaign with fifteen wins from their eighteen games to emerge as runaway winners and with it promotion to the second tier. They haven’t settled for that and the first half of the current season sees them lie second in the table, suffering one defeat from nine games, that a last gasp loss to top of the table Old Belvedere.

To show that Nenagh have ambitions beyond this division, they accounted for Cork Con in the Munster Senior Cup and in the New Year have a semi-final joust with Young Munster in a repeat of the 2023 final which arguably infused Nenagh with the belief that they belong at this level.

2024 was great, 2025 has the potential to be even better for Nenagh Ormond.