2015 was a year to remember in sport. It was no different from other years in its ability to raise our morale, generate fierce passion and make our world a better place.
Sport is the heartbeat of the nation, the thread of conversation that rolls from playground to water cooler. It unites us as a community whether physically at a match or a training session or in a virtual sense through the millions of us that tune in to watch the great moments of sporting theatre that roll out across our television screens and through our mobile devices.
The real beauty of sport is the anticipation, the hope of what might be, the magic that comes from looking forward.
2016 has enough gems in place already to make the passing of this year go by without regret.
But before we let it slip away here are some of the moments and the snapshot memories that will make it live long in the memory of those who watched, those who cheered, those whose financial support made it possible and those of us for whom sport is as important to us as the blood in our veins.
66 medals were won by Irish athletes in 2015 in international competition, a 20 per cent increase on 2014
Special Olympics Ireland athletes won 26 gold, 28 silver and 28 bronze medals at the 2015 World Games
13 World and 1 European Championship medals were won by Irish Paralympic athletes on the Road to Rio 2016
Joe Ward and Michael Conlan won gold at the European Elite Championships in Bulgaria, with Dean Walsh bringing home bronze
Mark English won silver in the 800 metres at the European Indoor Championships in Prague
Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe was crowned men’s champion at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships in Bath
The Irish Hockey Team beat England to win bronze at the Euro Hockey Championships in London
The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland qualified for the finals of the Euro 2016 Championships, the first time we have both travelled to a major tournament at the same time.
The Ireland Men’s and Women’s senior cricket teams qualified to compete in the World Cup to be held in India in March, a stunning achievement for a nation not (yet) deemed worthy of full test status in the sport.
The Irish Rugby Team retained the RBS Six Nations and were joined in doing so by the Irish Women’s team.
The Irish Men’s Hockey Team qualified for the Rio Olympic Games
Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry won on the US PGA Tour
Leona Maguire became the World Number One Ranked Amateur Golfer
Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai for the third time
5 Irish golfers – Paul Dunne, Jack Hume, Gary Hurley, Gavin Moynihan and Cormac Sharvin – took part in the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team which was victorious over the USA
Team Ireland Equestrian Showjumping Team won the Dublin Aga Khan Nations Cup
Willie Mullins trained an astonishing record breaking eight individual winners at the Cheltenham Festival
4,500 competitors travelled to Ireland to take part in the Dublin Marathon.
Dublin staged its first International Ironman Triathlon
Over 350 people from around the world attended the first Sports and Tech event held in Dublin in November.
102,384 children took part in Kellogg’s GAA Cul Camps in 2015
Over 31,000 supporters were at Croke Park to support the teams taking part in the TG4 LGFA All Ireland Finals, resulting in the largest attendance at a European female sporting event in 2015
Those of us who give our time in a volunteer capacity within sport gave a value in our time of €1.3 billion
The sports sponsorship market climbed in value to €152 million
Sport for Business named the 50 Most Influential Women in Irish Sport
The Ireland v England Six Nations match, was worth €21.3 million to the economy with 15,000 visitors spending an average €764 during their trip
Basketball Ireland announced that both the Men’s and Women’s Senior international teams would be competing again on a European stage in 2016.
Conor McGregor became UFC World Champion
Sport for Business continued to grow adding 22% to our online traffic in the last six months, despite shifting ever more content towards a metered paywall, and breaking through 30,000 individual readers of our specialist content over that same period.
We could not do it without you our members, friends and colleagues in sport. Thank you for your continued support.
Images thanks to Inpho.ie, Facts and Statistics thanks to the Federation of Irish Sport, various other sources and those whose achievements made them possible.
