Brendan Crossan takes a trip through 2024 and looks at the highs and lows of an unforgettable sporting year...
Best adrenaline rush: Knowing absolutely nothing about the pommel horse, it was quite the Saturday afternoon in August when Rhys McClenaghan won Olympic gold in Paris. Watching through clasped hands, never did you will an athlete to reach the end of their routine without making a mistake. This was redemption in its purest form. Having errored at the Tokyo Olympics, the Newtonards man returned to the greatest stage and produced a nerveless and flawless display.
Most memorable image: Cliftonville’s Ronan Hale bearing down on goal in the dying embers of the Irish Cup final at Windsor Park knowing he was going to score against Linfield and end the club’s 45-year wait for the silverware.
A week or so later, I met the Hale brothers – Rory and Ronan – in a local coffee shop. Ronan reflected: “Running towards the fans, I was milking it as much as I could because you’ll never get that chance again in an Irish Cup final - running the ball into an open net.
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“It was knowing that everyone belonging to me was in the stand. Every touch I was taking, the crowd was getting louder.
“I was actually going to shoot from a distance out, but I didn’t think my leg would hold up. As soon as I touched it, I was going to pass it in [from distance] but then I just kept dribbling.
“It was the anticipation; everyone knew I was scoring but they couldn’t celebrate until I did. It was the loudness of the crowd and then when I finally put it in, it was just elation. It was unbelievable.”
Understanding Crossmaglen: As the clock ticked down to Armagh’s ultimately successful assault on the All-Ireland, I met Oisin McConville on home soil for an engaging interview. Caolan Finnegan, his Crossmaglen club-mate, was gravely ill at the time and would ultimately pass away a couple of months later. At the tail end of the hour-long interview, the reader got a snapshot of what it is to be from the south Armagh village.
“I’m proud to be from here,” said Oisin. “I give out about ‘Cross, everything about the town. If things aren’t going right on the football pitch, if something goes on in the town that you’re not 100 per cent happy about – I suppose we have the same issues as every other small town.
“But you know what, I don’t know if it’s because you’re talking to me now, but there’s a young lad who’s sick at the minute - Caolan Finnegan – and you just see the best in people.
“There was charity walk the other day, 280 people, a truck run where I stood outside the barracks with my kids watching it. We can give out about each other here - but nobody’s allowed to give out about us.”
Still with grass under his feet: Hurling evangelist and Fermanagh hurling manager Joe Baldwin is an inspiring individual. In the days leading up to the Lory Meagher final, he described how suffering a stroke a few months earlier wouldn’t stop him from feeling grass under his feet.
“The stroke was an inconvenience,” Joe said. “I had to get better as quickly as I possibly could to get back onto the hurling field. I almost feel if there was a plane crash you’d just have to survive, you know? There’s something in you that you just have to keep going. You have to be doing something.”
A few days later, Fermanagh claimed their All-Ireland by holding off a spirited Longford at Croke Park.
Best podcast: The GAA Social and Thomas Niblock and Oisin McConville’s sit-down interview with Jody Gormley who died some weeks after its release. Uplifting on one level and desperately sad on another, the Trillick man was taken from this world far too soon - but his defiance and strength will reverberate for some time to come.
The final that should never have been played: It was sheer madness for the Antrim County Board to proceed with the Antrim Senior Hurling Championship final between Cushendall and Dunloy in Ballycastle back in October. ‘Storm Ashley’ was ripping through the north which made any sort of car journey dangerous. But the game went ahead as scheduled with Cushendall mastering the conditions better than their arch-rivals and retained the silverware in a gale-force wind.
Best spread: The Ulster Council pulled out all the stops at the Ulster SFC launch at the Ulster University in Belfast in March and probably went one better at the Ulster Club SHC final launch at The Dub in November. None of your ham sandwiches and custard creams here. No, make way for chicken tikka wraps, salted chilli goujons, sausage rolls. This was a feast fit for a king. Or a handful of lucky sports reporters. It was truly magnificent. Unforgettable. Well played the Ulster Council. Well played, indeed.
Best individual display: Seaan Elliott’s virtuoso display in Dunloy’s Antrim Senior Football Championship quarter-final exit to St Brigid’s at Cargin. Everything the Dunloy dual player touched that day was magical. The best footballer in the county.
Hanging up his whistle: The panto villain of the Irish League, Raymond Crangle finally hung up his whistle at the end of last season. One of the funniest men you’d encounter on a football field, the west Belfast man went from refereeing Belfast & District League games in his youth to officiating at top European club games. Now sitting in the stands assessing his former peers, Crangle is sorely missed on the field of play.
In an in-depth interview with The Irish News in April, he said: “I was just a boy from Ballymurphy who decided to take up refereeing at 27. It has been very good to me - and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Best lyrics: Take a bow Tullysaran Primary schoolteacher Catherine Holland for putting a brilliant Armagh spin on ‘The Greatest Showman’ hit song, ‘From Now On’. In an ode to their vice-principal and Armagh captain Aidan Forker, Ms Holland worked her magic – and the pupils did the rest.
“With 15 men from Maghery, ‘Nab and Crossmaglen, we’re proud of them. Let’s hold our flags up high and cheer – Mr Forker got us here. Up Armagh, Up Armagh, Up Armagh – and we will bring Sam home…”
In front of the great and the good at a special All-Ireland assembly, there wasn’t a dry eye in the school’s gym hall as the children belted out Miss Holland’s wonderful lyrics.
“It was very emotional and very thoughtful,” said Mr Forker. “It just typifies the people of Tullysaran, the community and thankfully my place in it a wee bit.”
Best speech: Aidan Forker’s on the steps of Hogan as Armagh won the All-Ireland. Few speeches will rival the Armagh captain’s for sheer emotion and life instruction.
“With faith and belief and hard work – anything is possible. Up Armaaaaagh…”
How victory backfired: The Manchester United board messed up royally by being seduced by the team’s FA Cup final win over rivals Man City in May and as a consequence they retained a beaten docket in Erik ten Hag for the new season.
It was always going to end in tears for the Dutchman and United as he was sacked a couple of months into the new season having wasted over £600m on over-priced players, few of whom were good enough to carry the weight of the famous red jersey.
Grump of the year: Ange Postecoglou wins this award hands-down. The Australian was everybody’s mate at the beginning of the season – but after some inevitable turbulence at Spurs, he hasn’t been able to crack a smile and seemingly has blamed everybody but himself.
Things you’d most like to see happen in 2025: Darren Gleeson back on a sideline and young Dylan Hume back playing for the St Mary’s Sharks. It was revealed that Tipp native Gleeson had cancer a few months after leaving the Antrim hurlers and had to step down from the Laois post.
Known as the Sergio Ramos of St Mary’s FC in Glengormley, nine-year-old Dylan Hume was diagnosed with Aplastic anaemia in July. The hope for the year ahead is that both are fit to resume their sporting passions.
Portaferry and Ireland’s finest: Ciara Mageean’s European gold in the 1,500m final in Rome stands out as one of the highlights of 2024 – but a terrible low followed when injury cost her a chance of Olympic gold in Paris only a few short months later. A brilliant ambassador for her sport and Ireland.
Words to the wise: Tyrone legend Peter Canavan has never been afraid to lend his support to causes that extend beyond the football field, including the campaign to see changes to the A5 road and pursuit of justice for the Kelly and Brown families.
Prior to Tyrone’s visit to Celtic Park to face Derry in a Division One game in early February, Canavan was one of the speakers at Free Derry Corner, a rally organised in support of the families of Patsy Kelly and Sean Brown who were murdered in deeply suspicious circumstances in 1974 and 1997, respectively.
Reflecting on the rally, Canavan said: “[They were] Two people no different than any other club doing their best. Their only crime was that they were very good at helping others. I would have seen it as an honour to speak out on behalf of the families.
“These things are about citizenship, about right and wrong, it’s standing up for right.”
Three cheers for Norway: For their national football team declaring they won’t play Israel in an upcoming World Cup qualifier due to the ongoing genocidal campaign on behalf of their government against the Palestinian people.
Staying humble and Karma: Ever since Erling Haaland’s classless dig at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, the big Norwegian hasn’t been able to hit a barn door.
Leaving the sidelines without a fuss: After winning five county championships, which included four-in-a-row, an Ulster title and reaching an All-Ireland final with the Dunloy hurlers, manager Gregory O’Kane bowed out at the of the 2024 season. With typical meticulousness, O’Kane harnessed the talented crop of youth coming through at the Cuchullains, delivering incredible success and producing a wonderful brand of hurling too.
Still doing it: Joe ‘The Goal’ Gormley – the Benjamin Button of Solitude.
The Lionel Messi of Fermanagh: Eimear Smyth is one of the best-kept secrets of Gaelic football. An unbelievably talented footballer, Smyth has been a driving force of the Fermanagh ladies. In August, the dazzling Derrgonnelly attacker grabbed 1-9 of Fermanagh’s 1-11 tally in the All-Ireland Junior final win over Louth at Croke Park.
Man of the year: Armagh footballer Niall Grimley for his resilience, his warrior spirit on the field of play, his skill and an indelible smile that has empowered so many.
End of an era: A teaching and coaching career that straddled four decades, Paul Hughes called time at St Patrick’s Maghera in 2024. No longer dictated to by the school bell, the Derrytresk man was in philosophical mood in the days before he drove through the school gates for the final time.
“What I’ve found over the years is that kids give you life. One thing that might be a bit scary [about retirement] will be missing that banter of a changing room and being among a group…
“If sport teaches you anything, you live in the moment. You enjoy the moment; you don’t plan too far ahead.”
An All Star that should have happened: Armagh goalkeeper Blaine Hughes.
A crying shame: When images of the Dutch fans colonising the fan parks at the 2024 Euro finals in Germany, it made the failure to start building work on Casement Park even more lamentable. The reluctance of political unionism to embrace the project, a vocal section of Northern Ireland fans and apathy in London put paid to Belfast hosting Euro 2028 final games.
Schooling Talkback: GAA President Jarlath Burns giving a masterclass on BBC Radio Ulster and rejecting the framing of the Casement Park debate that had engulfed the airwaves.
Best moment at Euro 2024: Lamine Yamal’s wonder strike in Spain’s semi-final win over France in Munich. One player who can become the next superstar of the game.
Costly conservatism: If Gareth Southgate had managed from the dug-out as well as he did in press conference rooms, England might well have won Euro 2024.
Lifting the autumnal gloom: Watching Tyrone duo Niall Morgan and Darragh Canavan during the early throes of the National Football League. The Red Hands were struggling at the time but Morgan’s goalkeeping and Canavan’s attacking play were pure magic.
Belfast’s Cinderella Man: Anthony Cacace’s climb to the top of the boxing world had more than its fair share of disappointments, but his story shows the power of perseverance. The west Belfast claimed the IBF super featherweight belt by stopping Joe Cordina in May and he earned himself another pay day with a gutsy points win over Josh Warrington four months later.
Pulling the wool over our eyes: Listening to Jim McGuinness at the Ulster Championship press launch towards the end of March, you sensed Donegal were only making up the numbers in 2024.
“We’ve been training with 20 players a lot of the time,” he said. “You’re into nine and 10-a-sides at the end of the training because you’re managing ones, people are not there, people are trying to get back, people are not ready to be back, people who were in the system that weren’t ready for the training and have fallen out of the system.”
A couple of weeks later, Donegal delivered a tactical masterclass in hammering a heavily fancied Derry and they went on to win Ulster in dramatic circumstances
Most dramatic nose-dive: The Derry footballers.
Best visit to the big house: It’s a toss of a coin between Cork toppling All-Ireland hurling champions Limerick and Armagh steadying themselves in their All-Ireland SFC semi-final before turning Kerry’s pitchforks to rubber.
The power of sport: Former boxing world champion and RTE Olympics pundit Bernard Dunne hit the nail on the head on how sport must occupy a higher status in communities.
“You see when we invest in sport, the reward – not just the athletes – the whole country gets and how it makes everybody feel,” Dunne said. “That needs to go up another level, it really does. And government and Sport Ireland need to look at that.
“Sport can change communities, it can bring people together. It changes people’s health, whether physical or mental. You don’t have to be an Olympic champion – but sport can make such an impact, especially in communities where kids can get into trouble.
“Sport teaches you about discipline, about respect, about following a plan, working on your own, working as part of a team. All of these things come from sport. The more we encourage young people to get involved in sport the brighter the future will be.”
Best party: Take your pick: The Athletic Grounds on the Monday night after Armagh’s All-Ireland win or Solitude following Cliftonville’s Irish Cup triumph. Two remarkable events that show how sport can lift the collective esteem of a community.
In Heimir, we trust: “Ireland can qualify for the 2026 World Cup finals.”
Best memory: Bringing a group of 10 and 11-year-old girls from St Malachy’s to compete in the Foyle Cup for the first time. Some of the memories made on those seven-a-side fields in the north-west will last a lifetime.
