Rugby Nominees In The Running For RTE Sports Awards

The Ireland Women’s team, Leinster, Jonathan Sexton and Philip Doyle are among the nominees for this year’s RTE Sports Awards. The ceremony will be broadcast live on RTE Two and RTE.ie on Saturday, December 21.

The December 21 ceremony will see the outstanding Person, Coach and Team of the Year recognised for their achievements.

The nominees for the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year are: Rob Heffernan, Martyn Irvine, Tony Kelly, Michael Darragh Macauley, Tony McCoy, Michael McKillop, Annalise Murphy, Joseph O’Brien, Jason Quigley, Jonathan Sexton and Jason Smyth.

Hefferan became the World Champion in the 50km walk, while Irvine was a gold medallist at the World Track Cycling Championships.

Kelly was among the stars for Clare as they secured All-Ireland hurling glory, while Macauley shone for Dublin during their successful football campaign.

Paralympic stars McKillop and Smyth were both double-gold medal winners at the World Championships, while Murphy won gold in the Laser class at the European Sailing Championships.

In racing, O’Brien broke Michael Kinnane’s 20-year-old record by riding 128 winners on the flat, while McCoy hit a remarkable career milestone by riding his 4,000th winner.

Middleweight boxer Quigley became the first Irish male to win silver at the World Boxing Championships, and also took gold at the Europeans, while Sexton won RaboDirect PRO12 and Amlin Challenge Cup titles with Leinster and started all three Tests for the Lions as they claimed a series win in Australia.

The award winner will be decided by a panel of RTÉ Sport journalists and editorial staff.

The nine nominees for Team of the Year include the four All-Ireland winners from their respective codes in Gaelic Games: the Clare hurlers, Dublin footballers, the Cork Ladies Football team and the Galway camogie team.

The Ireland Men’s Boxing team have been nominated for their exploits at both the World and European Championships.

The Grand Slam-winning Ireland Women’s rugby team and Leinster Rugby, who won both the RaboDirect PRO12 and the Amlin Challenge Cup, the Paralympic Swimming team, which brought home a best ever total of eight medals from the World Championships and Airtricity League winners St. Patrick’s Athletic have also been nominated.

The Team of the Year will be selected by a public phone and text vote on the night. Voting details announced at the beginning of the programme and on www.rte.ie/sport.

The Cpach of the Year award is selected by a panel of journalists from various Irish outlets and publications.

This year’s nominees for Coach of the Year are Liam Buckley of St. Patrick’s Athletic, Ireland Women’s rugby coach Philip Doyle, Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald, Dublin football manager Jim Gavin, racing trainer Willie Mullins, Cork ladies football manager Eamonn Ryan, Irish boxing coach Billy Walsh and Galway camogie manager Tony Ward.

The winner will be selected by a panel of representatives from 18 national media outlets.