RTÉ Sports Person of the Year

Seán Kelly won in 1986.

Stephen Roche won in 1987.

Christy O'Connor Jnr won in 1989.

Mick McCarthy won in 2001.

Ronan O'Gara won in 2004.

Brian O'Driscoll won in 2009.

Graeme McDowell won in 2010.

Rory McIlroy won in 2011 and 2014

Katie Taylor won in 2012.

A. P. "Tony" McCoy won in 2013.

The RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Award is the titular award of the RTÉ Sports Awards ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the Irish sportsperson (from the island of Ireland), judged by a special panel of RTÉ journalists and editorial staff, to have achieved the most that year. The winner is selected by a public-vote from a pre-determinted shortlist. The first Irish sports award ceremony took place in 1985, and was closely modelled on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Three people have won the award multiple times: athlete Sonia O'Sullivan won the award five times, including a record three successive awards, and golfers Pádraig Harrington, with three wins, and Rory McIlroy, who won it twice. The oldest recipient of the award is Christy O'Connor Jnr, who won in 1989 aged 41. Rory McIlroy, who first won in 2011, aged 22, is the youngest winner. Ten sporting disciplines have been represented; golf has the highest representation, with seven recipients.

Eamonn Darcy, Ronan Rafferty and Des Smyth, who won the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1988, are the only non-individual winners of the award. Counting them separately, there have been twenty-seven Irish winners of the award, and five Northern Irish winners. The most recent award was made in 2015 to boxer Michael Conlan.

Winners

By year

RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Award winners

Year	Nat.	Winner	Sport	Rationale	Note
1985	IRL	McGuigan, BarryBarry McGuigan	Boxing	Defeated Eusebio Pedroza to become World Boxing Association featherweight champion.
1986	IRL	Kelly, SeánSeán Kelly	Cycling	He finished on a podium in a grand tour for the first time when he finished third in the 1986 Vuelta a España.
1987	IRL	Roche, StephenStephen Roche	Cycling	Winner of the 1987 Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and World Cycling Championships.
1988	IRL  NIR  IRL	Darcy, EamonnEamonn Darcy Rafferty, RonanRonan Rafferty Smyth, DesDes Smyth	Golf	For winning the Alfred Dunhill Cup.
1989	IRL	O'Connor Jnr, ChristyChristy O'Connor Jnr	Golf	For a stunning 2 iron shot on the last hole at the Belfry which he left just 4 feet from the hole during the successful 1989 Ryder Cup.
1990	IRL	Bonner, PackiePackie Bonner	Football	For his famous penalty save from Daniel Timofte of Romania at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
1991	IRL	Keyes, RalphRalph Keyes	Rugby union	Overall top scorer with 68 points at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
1992	IRL	Carruth, MichaelMichael Carruth	Boxing	Gold medallist in the welterweight section at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
1993	IRL	O'Sullivan, SoniaSonia O'Sullivan	Athletics	Silver medallist in the 1500m at the World Championships.
1994	IRL	O'Sullivan, SoniaSonia O'Sullivan	Athletics	Gold medallist in the 3000m at the World Championships.
1995	IRL	O'Sullivan, SoniaSonia O'Sullivan	Athletics	Gold medallist in the 5000m at the World Championships.
1996	IRL	Smith, MichelleMichelle Smith	Swimming	Triple Olympic gold medallist for the 400m individual medley, 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley, and bronze medallist for the 200m butterfly event.
1997	IRL	Doherty, KenKen Doherty	Snooker	Winner of the 1997 World Snooker Championship.
1998	IRL	O'Sullivan, SoniaSonia O'Sullivan	Athletics	Double gold medallist at the World Cross-Country Championships and double gold medallist at the European Championships.
1999	IRL	Keane, RoyRoy Keane	Football	Captain of the Manchester United team that completed a treble of English Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League successes.
2000	IRL	O'Sullivan, SoniaSonia O'Sullivan	Athletics	Olympic silver medallist in the women's 5000m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.	[1]
2001	IRL	McCarthy, MickMick McCarthy	Football	Secured qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup for the Republic of Ireland national football team.	[2]
2002	IRL	Harrington, PádraigPádraig Harrington	Golf	Member of the European team that won the 2002 Ryder Cup.	[3]
2003	IRL	Geraghty, BarryBarry Geraghty	Horse racing	Winner of the Aintree Grand National on Monty's Pass.	[4]
2004	IRL	O'Gara, RonanRonan O'Gara	Rugby union	Member of the Ireland team that won the Triple Crown in the 2004 Six Nations Championship.	[5]
2005	IRL	Ó hAilpín, Seán ÓgSeán Óg Ó hAilpín	Hurling	All-Ireland-winning captain with Cork and winner of a third All-Ireland medal.
2006	IRL	Shefflin, HenryHenry Shefflin	Hurling	Won his fourth All-Ireland medal with Kilkenny as well as being named Hurler of the Year for a second time.	[6]
2007	IRL	Harrington, PádraigPádraig Harrington	Golf	Became the first Irishman in over sixty years to win the Open Championship.	[7]
2008	IRL	Harrington, PádraigPádraig Harrington	Golf	Retained his title as British Open championship, thus becoming the first European to win back to back major championships.
2009	IRL	O'Driscoll, BrianBrian O'Driscoll	Rugby union	Grand Slam-winning captain and member of the Leinster team that won the 2008–09 Heineken Cup	[8]
2010	NIR	McDowell, GraemeGraeme McDowell	Golf	Winner of the 2010 US Open and member of the European team that won the 2010 Ryder Cup.	[9]
2011	NIR	McIlroy, RoryRory McIlroy	Golf	Winner of the 2011 US Open.	[10]
2012	IRL	Taylor, KatieKatie Taylor	Boxing	Olympic gold medallist in the women's lightweight section at the 2012 London Olympic Games.	[11]
2013	NIR	McCoy, TonyTony McCoy	Horse racing	18-times champion jockey who created history in November when he rode his 4,000th winner over jumps.	[12]
2014	NIR	McIlroy, RoryRory McIlroy	Golf	Won the 2014 Open Championship and 2014 PGA Championship, became the first European to win three different majors, and was a member of the European team that won the 2014 Ryder Cup.	[13]
2015	IRL	Conlan, MichaelMichael Conlan	Boxing	Won the gold medal in the bantamweight division at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships.	[14]

Shortlists

The winner is in bold.

2010

^[15]

• Katie Taylor (boxing)
• Graeme McDowell (golf)
• Gráinne Murphy (swimming)
• Tony McCoy (horse racing)
• Lar Corbett (hurling)
• Paddy Barnes (boxing)
• Tommy Bowe (rugby union)
• Derval O'Rourke (athletics)
• Rory McIlroy (golf)

2011

^[16]

• Darren Clarke (golf)
• Michael Fennelly (hurling)
• Sean O'Brien (rugby union)
• Katie Taylor (boxing)
• Rory McIlroy (golf)
• John Joe Nevin (boxing)
• Kevin O'Brien (cricket)
• Alan Brogan (Gaelic football)
• Robbie Keane (soccer)

2012

^[17]

• Fionnuala Britton (athletics)
• Rob Kearney (rugby union)
• Karl Lacey (Gaelic football)
• Rory McIlroy (golf)
• Michael McKillop (athletics)
• Joseph O'Brien (horse racing)
• Mark Rohan (cycling)
• Henry Shefflin (hurling)
• Jason Smyth (athletics)
• Katie Taylor (boxing)

2013

^[18]

• Robert Heffernan (athletics)
• Martyn Irvine (cycling)
• Tony Kelly (hurling)
• Michael Darragh MacAuley (Gaelic football)
• Tony McCoy (horse racing)
• Michael McKillop (athletics)
• Annalise Murphy (sailing)
• Joseph O'Brien (horse racing)
• Jason Quigley (boxing)
• Jonathan Sexton (rugby union)
• Jason Smyth (athletics)

2014

^[19]

• Niamh Briggs (Rugby)
• Seamus Coleman (Soccer)
• Briege Corkery (Gaelic football)
• Mark English (Athletics)
• Carl Frampton (Boxing)
• Rory McIlroy (Golf)
• Michael McKillop (Athletics)
• James O'Donoghue (Gaelic football)
• Jonathan Sexton (Rugby)
• Jason Smyth (Athletics)
• Richie Hogan (Hurling)
• Katie Taylor (Boxing)

2015

• Michael Conlan (boxer)

References