In a sporting context, 2023 wraps as a year of incredible highs and devastating lows. That's common enough but from the Irish rugby team to Katie Taylor, many of the country's greatest sporting heroes experienced the full gamut of emotion this year.
The more things changed this year (Ireland played in its first Women's World Cup, Ireland now has world record in male swimming), the more they stayed the same (Ireland lost a World Cup quarter-final in rugby).
In the end, we're just grateful for the likes of Ciara Mageean, Shane Lowry and Katie Taylor, who act like a mirror for the best virtues of this nation.
With that in mind, here is out ranking of the biggest and best moments in Irish sport over the last 12 months.
Balls.ie's top 11 best moments of the Irish sporting year
11. Rhasidat Adeleke breaks more records
Here are some of the things that Rhasidat Adeleke did this year: Set new Irish records for the 200m and 400m both indoors and outdoors, won 400m silver at the NCAA indoor championships, won 400m gold at the NCAA outdoor championships, turned pro, finished fourth in the 400m final at the World Championships in Budapest.
Just catching up on NCAA results from last night and Rhasidat Adeleke's 22.52 is out of this world 💥
Fastest 200m by an Irishwoman in history and in top 10 on European indoor all-time list over the distance 🇮🇪
She could win Olympic/world medals... pic.twitter.com/aO01wepiRM— Tim Adams (@TimAdams76) January 22, 2023
It's just over a year since the sprinter from Tallaght started properly training for the 400m. Already, her Irish record of 49.20 - set in Austin in June - makes her the 21st fastest woman of all-time for the distance.
Finishing fourth at the World Championships was a disappointment because there's always disappointment about finishing fourth.
Here the thing: She's only 21 and this year her priority was not the World Championships but the NCAA season. Next year - an Olympic year - Paris will be her focus. Strap yourself in for one of the great Irish athletics careers.
10. Limerick do the four in a row
Throughout the 2023 hurling championship, there were moments where it felt like Limerick were vulnerable, that there might be a chink in the armour. Clare hit one in Munster and Tipperary landed some blows.
In the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway and the final against Kilkenny, they trailed by six points at stages. Yet, they came back, like a boxer letting their opponent punch themselves out or a middle distance runner timing their moment to perfection. They won both the semi-final and final by nine points.
Watch the Full-Time Highlights of Kilkenny v Limerick in the 2023 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final here on #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/COgUUsRKxl
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 23, 2023
Limerick enter 2024 on the verge of history. We are where we were in 1945 with Cork and 2010 with Kilkenny. Neither could get over the line.
It's hard to see Limerick not breaking the tape and becoming the first county to win five consecutive All-Ireland hurling titles.
9. Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy win worlds again
At this year's World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy underlined their status as the boat to beat in the men's lightweight double sculls at the Olympic Games in Paris.
The Corkmen beat their Swiss rivals by just under a boat length to claim gold and secure a hat-trick of world titles as a pair, adding to their victories in 2019 and 2022. For O'Donovan, it was his fourth consecutive title.
9 September 2023; Fintan McCarthy, left, and Paul O'Donovan of Ireland celebrate after winning gold in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls Final A during the 2023 World Rowing Championships at Ada Ciganlija regatta course on Sava Lake, Belgrade. Photo by Nikola Krstic/Sportsfile
8. Munster end their Leinster and trophy hoodoos
For much of last season, it looked as though Munster were on course for another disappointing campaign. They had experienced a number of poor results and looked very likely to extend their trophy drought into a 13th year.
Yet after a season defining trip to South Africa in April, Munster became a different force. The emergence of Jack Crowley and the return of RG Snyman were both massive, but there was a greater purpose to the team.
And then there the slights.
Leinster sent out their second team to play Munster in the Aviva Stadium at the semi-final stage. Crowley won the game with a ROG-esque drop goal. The Stormers saw that highlight and went mental, thinking the league was theirs. Munster duly flew to Cape Town two weeks later and found a way to win.
Their 16-15 victory in that fixture not only reignited a rivalry that had been dormant for far too long, but it also gave them the belief that they could go to South Africa and beat the Stormers two weeks later.
Take. A. Bow. @MunsterRugby. 👏
6️⃣th consecutive match away from home.
1️⃣1️⃣ years since last title win.
2️⃣2️⃣/2️⃣3️⃣ finalist away from home.
Deserving Campions of the #BKTURC title. 🏆#URC #UnitedWeRise | #STOvMUN pic.twitter.com/kg9Heq96WI— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) May 28, 2023
The URC triumph gave players such as Peter O’Mahony and Keith Earls the trophy that they deserved after soldiering away at the province for so many lean years. It also gave hope that the province could become a real force in European rugby once again.
That would be a huge thing for Irish rugby as a whole.
7. Daniel Wiffen sets sets Ireland's first swimming world record
On December 10th in Romania, Daniel Wiffen had the swim of his life as the broke the sport's oldest world record. The 22-year-old from Down swam 7:20.46 for the 800m freestyle, breaking the 15-year-old record of his hero, Grant Hackett. The Australian had first broken the record in 2001, two weeks after Daniel was born.
𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 👑
Last night Daniel Wiffen took 2.96 seconds off Grant Hackett’s 15-year-old 800m Freestyle World Record 🔥👇
Congratulations @WiffenDaniel , @swimireland 👏pic.twitter.com/AcngKsfskF— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) December 11, 2023
"I think that was his last record on the books, and for it to be the oldest world record standing is amazing. Three seconds off it was class," said Wiffen.
"He texted me after the race saying 'Well done' and to take it in because world records don't happen that often."
That swim earned Wiffen his third gold medal of the European Short Course Championships, adding ones he had already won in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events.
Wiffen is going to be a major medal contender for Ireland at the Olympic Games in Paris.
6. Cluxton, Fitzsimons, and McCarthy break records as Dubs return to the top
30 July 2023; Dublin players and record 9-time All-Ireland winning medallists, from left, captain James McCarthy, Stephen Cluxton and Michael Fitzsimons celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The Dublin juggernaut that dominated the vast majority of the 2010s endured two comparatively "barren" years in 2021 and 2022, with several of the stars who defined that six-in-a-row team stepping aside as a new era began under Dessie Farrell.
2023 was to be a year defined by that core group of players, with the returns of Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, and - most spectacularly - Stephen Cluxton ultimately making an enormous difference on their march to Sam Maguire.
Mannion was man-of-the-match in the final against Kerry, while Cluxton and teammates Mick Fitzsimons and James McCarthy broke the record for most All-Ireland medals won by a single player.
All three are now tied on an astonishing nine medals. The Jacks are back.
5. Rhys McClenaghan becomes a two-time world champion
Rhys McClenaghan is an anomaly in Irish sport. We are not a country that has been blessed with a huge number of top class gymnasts down through the years, with the 24-year old a clear exception.
He has been operating in the highest echelons of the sport for a number of years now, winning his first senior European gold in 2018 before a bronze followed at the worlds a year later.
His gold medal at the World Championships in Antwerp back in October feels like a monumental moment. It was his second successive triumph in the event, having also claimed the top prize in Liverpool a year earlier.
Rhys McClenaghan receives his Artistic Gymnastics World Championships gold medal and Amhrán na bhFiann plays in Antwerp 🥇
Report: https://t.co/RMMm4L3Msm#ARTWorlds2023 pic.twitter.com/cvaEwSVCpQ— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 7, 2023
He would follow up that achievement by being named as the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year for 2023.
Looking forward to 2024, McClenaghan will be hoping to reach even further heights. His mistake at the Tokyo Olympics was a crushing one, entering the event as a medal favourite only to slip on the pommel horse. At Paris, he will be hoping to banish those demons and hammer home his status as one of the finest gymnasts in the world by claiming Ireland's first ever Olympic medal in the sport.
4. Katie Taylor avenges defeat in Dublin
When Taylor-Cameron II was announced, a common reaction was 'why?'. For all of her greatness, it seemed to most that Katie Taylor had finally met her match in Chantelle Cameron: a younger, stronger, more powerful puncher. Time waits for no woman, or so we told ourselves.
Yet the moment Matchroom's cameras caught Taylor leading her team into the 3Arena, it was obvious this was a fighter ready to drop a proverbial hammer. In her rematch with Chantelle Cameron, Katie Taylor showed all of the warrior spirit that has turned her into Ireland's greatest ever boxer.
Plenty to shout about!
Katie Taylor celebrates defeating Chantelle Cameron in their undisputed super lightweight championship fight at the 3Arena!
📸 @SportsfileSteve https://t.co/Scf2VoHB7C#katie #katietaylor #CameronvsTaylor2 #boxing pic.twitter.com/xN5oPB6M8k— sportsfile (@sportsfile) November 25, 2023
She and her trainer Ross Enamit hatched the perfect plan to neutralise Cameron's lethal jab and Taylor popped with energy and power throughout the ten rounds. The final scorecards were close, just as they were in May, but there was no questioning who had won the fight.
Taylor doesn't seem too bothered with sentimentality, but it was heartwarming to watch her mingle with loved ones and friends like Amy Broadhurst ringside after the victory. She'd never had her hand raised in the middle of the ring as a professional fighter. While it's clear the defeat she endured in May took her to desolate places, she took that hurt and turned it into something that couldn't be contained.
Whatever happens with the trilogy, and wherever it happens, Taylor proved all of those dumb enough to doubt here wrong. She's done it before and she'll do it again.
3. Ciara Mageean finishes fourth in the worlds
2023 was the best season of Ciara Mageaan's career.
In May, she set a new Irish 800m record, running 1.59.28 in Manchester. Two months later, at a Diamond League meeting in Monaco, she broke Sonia O'Sullivan's 29-year-old Irish mile record by 2.68 seconds. Her mark of 4:14.58, set during a race in which Faith Kipyegon took nearly five seconds off Sifan Hassan's world record, makes her the fifth-fastest woman of all-time for the mile.
That form augured well for the World Championships in August. It was the most excited she'd been before a major championships.
Mageean came agonisingly close to a medal in the 1500m, running 3:56.61 - breaking her own Irish record - as she finished fourth, 0.61 behind bronze medallist Sifan Hassan.
"To come away with fourth is so bittersweet. I'll probably have a wee bit of a cry.
"But many years ago I wouldn't have dreamt of fourth in the world.
"I just know that I have it, it's there. Another year to Olympics."
- @ciaramageean. 💚#TeamIreland #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/sO5fa1OLlD— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) August 22, 2023
"I'll probably have a wee bit of a cry!" she told Virgin Media after the race.
"But, honestly, I've had the season of my life. Many years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed of fourth in the world at senior level...[now] I'm going out there and I'm disappointed with this."
She rounded out the season by dropping that 1500m record to 3.55.87 at the Brussels Diamond League meeting.
She even broke a Parkrun world record before Christmas.
2. Katie McCabe's Olimpico in Perth
If you were to pick any way for Ireland to score their first-ever goal at a Women's World Cup, your star player whipping in a wonder goal straight from a corner wouldn't be a half-bad option.
Straight from a corner Katie McCabe gives Ireland the lead against Canada with four minutes gone #wwc2023
📺Watch https://t.co/2W5kFtUgZE
📻Listen https://t.co/QHSJNYlfx8
📱Follow https://t.co/wLYTuOnlvw pic.twitter.com/PAscA2LWRh— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 26, 2023
Katie McCabe's stunner in the opening minutes against Canada sent the Irish fans in Perth wild and gave those watching at home hope of a famous result. Unfortunately, the experience of the Canadian team shone through, with Ireland's second successive defeat confirming their first-round exit.
Though Ireland were to exit the World Cup at the group stage, McCabe's goal was a true highlight of the Irish sporting summer - and was ultimately nominated for goal of the tournament.
With Eileen Gleeson confirmed to stay on as permanent coach after a flawless Nations League campaign, the future looks bright for the Girls in Green.
1. Ireland win the Grand Slam
It is often forgotten considering how the World Cup would play out later in the year, but Ireland’s performance in the 2023 Six Nations was absolutely extraordinary.
An Irish team winning a Grand Slam is no mean feat. After all, it had only been previously accomplished on three occasions. There was a sense that Andy Farrell’s team were in a good place to make it four in 2023.
Their performances over the course of the tournament were incredible, especially in the game against France. It was all capped off by a victory over the old enemy England in Dublin on St Patrick’s weekend. Tournament endings don’t get much more spectacular than that.
1948. 2009. 2018. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 🏆
☘️ #GrandSlam pic.twitter.com/XdXHX9jgmF— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 18, 2023
The disappointment that would follow in the World Cup has somewhat taken the shine off of this triumph, but in a vacuum, Ireland winning a Grand Slam is a sporting achievement that is hard to top.
SEE ALSO: The Balls 2023 32 County Quiz Of The Year
