Sycerika McMahon and Madeline Perry (July)Two County Down women have today been named as joint winners of The Irish Times / Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month' for the month of July. The Portaferry Swimmer Sycerika McMahon and Banbridge's squash player Madeline Perry have shared a memorable month for their respective sports, providing the judges with a hugely difficult decision due to the duo's winning performances, and July being named a Down Double. Perry now seeded in the top three after her Singapore Masters title, can boast her second 'gold' level tour title and ninth in all, seeing off the challenge of Britain's champion Laura Massaro and France's Camille Serme. Perry beat Serme in straight games before sealing the title - and a cheque for US$8,550 - and with an 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 win over Massaro; the world number five who had beaten the Irish champion in their previous meeting. Augusts' world rankings only see Malaysia's Nicol Ann David and England's Jenny Duncalf above her. Meanwhile her fellow county woman McMahon follows in the footsteps of another multi medallist Grainne Murphy, winning gold in the 400m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, setting new Irish records in both, whilst also picking up silver for 200m freestyle at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade. Since then McMahon gave another glimpse of her potential at the World Championships in China where she lowered her 50m breaststroke record again. |
Katie Taylor (June)Bray boxer, Katie Taylor, has added to her growing list of accolades today by being named The Irish Times / Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month', following her fourth successive title at the European Union championships in Poland in June. Her victory over Poland's Karolina Graczyk in the 60kg final was her 38th win in-a-row in major championships, adding to the World and European lightweight titles she currently holds. This is Taylor's seventh monthly Sportswoman award and she has already won the overall Sportswoman of the Year award in 2008, following her second world lightweight title at Ningbo, China. Taylor, 25 last month, is already back in training focusing on the October European Championships in Rotterdam, with the World Championships in China to follow. The latter, she says, will be the biggest tournament of her career so far as the event doubles as the London 2012 qualifier. One off day in China and her 2012 dream could evaporate. "Qualifying for the Olympics is my ultimate goal and there's no doubt that the next World Championships will be the biggest tournament of my life," she said. |
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Jenny Egan (May)Leading Irish canoeist, Jenny Egan has become the first canoeist to be awarded The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month' award for May, following her impressive performance in taking a silver medal in the 5,000m sprint canoe K1 at the World Cup event in the Czech Republic last month. A member of the renowned Salmon Leap club in Leixlip, Jenny's path to success was evident at an early stage with her performances at junior level placing 15th and 5th in successive years, and then claiming a silver medal at the 2005 World Junior Marathon Championships in Perth, Australia. Since entering the senior ranks in 2006, Jenny has made steady and encouraging progress, gaining her first medal with a bronze at the British Senior National Marathon Championship and achieving a ranking of 15th in Europe in the Under-23 category in her first year. Her big breakthrough came last year at the Senior Sprint Canoe World Cup in Szeged, Hungary where she took silver in the 5,000m becoming the first Irish female sprint canoeist to win a medal of any colour, and only missed out on gold by just six seconds to winner, Renata Csay of Hungary. Jenny's strong performances so far this year, saw her take a silver medal at the World Cup 2 race in the Czech Rep. The 5000m event is one of the most popular of all in championships. This was no exception; quickly a group of 5 girls broke from the field headed by Lani Belcher, Great Britain, Jenny Egan, Anna Adamova, Czech Republic and Kristina Zur of the USA. The Austrian, Anna Lehaci, could not keep up with the pace. So it was a four person fight for the medals. However, due to a miscalculation the bell for the final lap was sounded early confusing the athletes leading the race. Eventually all the athletes completed the full distance with Lani Belcher (GBR) sprinting to the Gold medal. Due to the confusion two silver medals were given to Adamova and Egan with Bronze going to Zur. |
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Nina Carberry (April)Nina Carberry, who recently became the second female jockey to win the Irish Grand National, has been awarded The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month' award for April. At a tender 25 years of age, Nina is well on the way to achieving legendary status and is seen by many in the sport as the best female jockey to have graced the turf, and no doubt her successful performance at Fairyhouse has boosted the Irish horse racing scene and will encourage increased female participation. Carberry's run on that Easter Monday was flawless aboard her inexperienced six-year-old horse, Organisedconfusion, whereby she finished a strong five lengths ahead of her nearest opponent, Western Charmer. Organisedconfusion became the first six-year-old to win the race since Tartan Ace in 1973 and pundits are applauding Nina as a professional rider living an amateur status. Since gaining her first winner on the Noel Meade-trained Sabrinsky in the Ladies Derby at the Curragh in 2001, Nina Carberry has rapidly become one of the best-known faces in Irish racing; a remarkable feat for an amateur rider. Her Festival tallies include, Champion Bumper at Punchestown, Cheltenham and the Aintree Grand National. Nina has won the Sportswoman of the Month Award on five occasions since the awards began in 2004. Back in 2005, she took her first award due to her Cheltenham success, when she won on Dabiroun in the Juvenile Novices' Handicap Hurdle, becoming the first woman rider in almost 20 years to win a professional race at the Festival. The 24 year old Meath jockey, who comes from a family steeped in horse racing, will join Irish female rugby captain Fiona Coghlan, golfing twins Lisa and Leona Maguire and cross country runner Fionnuala Britton in the race for the overall accolade of The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year 2011. |
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Lisa Maguire (March)Lisa Maguire, one of Ireland's teenage twin golf sensations, has won this month's Irish Times/Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month' award - another accolade to add to her recent win at the Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship . Lisa's performance in 2011 to date with third place at the Scottish Open, first at the Irish Close and her win at Cadiz has catapulted her into the world's top 10 amateur golf rankings for women golfers, where Leona currently lies 5th. Lisa now joins Irish Rugby Captain, Fiona Coughlan, Cross Country runner Fionnuala Britton, and her sister, Leona in the running for the title of 2011 'Sportswoman of the Year'. |
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Fiona Coghlan (February)Irish Rugby Prop and Captain, Fiona Coghlan has scooped The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month' award for February, following her successful campaign in leading from the front as captain in this year's 6 Nation's Championship. This is the first time an Irish rugby player has been awarded the accolade and no more well deserved than 'Chief' Coghlan with her strength from the front in driving an inexperienced team to success, including two wins so far against Italy and Scotland. Dealing with the loss of key players and competing with a new-look squad - including 10 uncapped players among the 25 selected for the 2011 Championship - Ireland have performed admirably with Fiona's leadership skills to the fore. Now one of the most experienced female Irish rugby players with over 50 caps to her name, the Clontarf native and Leinster senior squad member has no doubt felt the pressure of helping the new caps find their feet whilst trying to maintain the teams focus on the championship. No doubt Head Coach Philip Doyle is just as impressed with Fiona's captaincy skills as the squad are cited by rugby watchers as the most impressive team of the 6 Nation's campaign to date.Commenting on her 6 Nations crusade Fiona said, "We're still not where we want to be and we have two games to go, but we've taken plenty of encouragement from the three performances so far, and we're just delighted with how well the new players have done." The team remains third in the Six Nations table behind France and defending champions England. Their remaining fixtures will see Fiona lining out with her team-mates against Wales on the 13th of March before they wrap things up with a mouth-watering clash with England on Friday, March 18th. |
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Leona Maguire (January)
Considering it's four years since the Maguire twins, Leona and Lisa, won the first of our monthly awards you'd be forgiven for doing a double take when you read that they're still just 16 - and 16 is, it has to be said, is exceptionally young to be awards' veterans. Unlike so many sporting prodigies, though, who tend to fade from view after showing such early promise, the Maguires continue to progress and Leona is The Irish Times /Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the month for January. Last year was a particularly memorable one when they became the youngest players to appear in the Curtis Cup for Britain and Ireland, both registering victories in the singles on the final day. Shane O'Grady, who has worked with the twins since they were 10, noted recently how they had "grown a lot and got a bit stronger" over the winter, allowing them to add distance to their game. "Before they were always giving up 20 yards and couldn't get near the par fives, but they now hit it the same length as - if not a bit longer than - the top women amateurs." That development was in evidence at the Harder Hall Invitational Championship in Florida in early January when the girls opened their year impressively with top-20 placings, Leona finishing sixth. It was, though, a difficult time for the Maguires, who learnt of the sudden death of their grandfather on the day of the final round. By the end of the month however, they were able to pay a fitting tribute to him by dedicating their performances at the Portuguese Amateur Open Championship to his memory, Lisa coming 10th, making her the second highest finisher from Ireland and Britain. The top finisher? Leona. Incredibly, she won the tournament by 15 strokes from her nearest rivals, Germany's Karolin Lampert and Karlijn Zaanen of the Netherlands. She opened with a 66 to lead Zaanen by two shots, following that with a two under round of 70 on a testing day when play was suspended for a period because of heavy rain. Another 70 on day three stretched her lead to eight shots, before a final round of 68 gave her a quite remarkable victory in a tournament that featured over 80 of the top amateurs in Europe. Her goal, said O'Grady, was to break 10 under par - she finished on 14 under. "Lisa got a bit unlucky, particularly on the second day when they had a rain delay," he said. "But Leona gave the most complete performance I've seen from her on a long golf course." The twins combined, though, to win the Nations Cup section of the tournament for Ireland. That, then, was how the girls, who are in their transition year at Loreto Cavan, began the 2011 season in Europe. Next in their schedule is the Spanish Amateur Championship and beyond that "the plan is to play a tournament a month and then two a month when the season gets going," said O'Grady.
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