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This year’s Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year for 2025 is Kate O’Connor. Graduate of Ulster University, winner of four medals at European and World level, and stealer of the nation’s heart
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Cora Staunton is the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Contribution Award.
he Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year awards take place in Dublin today, celebrating a year of achievement that is stunning every which way you look at it.
The winner will be one of the 15 monthly award recipients, with March, August and September each requiring two winners to reflect the weight of achievement in those periods.
At one end of the spectrum are athletes whose dominance has become almost expected.
Katie Taylor and Katie McCabe, both former Sportswomen of the Year, again set benchmarks. Taylor, a five-time overall winner, added another defining chapter by defeating Amanda Serrano for a third time at Madison Square Garden. McCabe combined club success—winning the Champions League with Arsenal—with decisive international impact in Ireland’s Nations League playoff victory over Belgium.
Katie-George Dunlevy, who appeared on the monthly winners list for the eighth time, once again demonstrated the global standard she sets in para-cycling, this time alongside pilot Linda Kelly.
In swimming, Ellen Walshe closed her year with European short-course gold and silver, reinforcing her position at the top end of her sport.
Alongside those established figures, 2025 also marked a breakthrough year for a new cohort.
Boxer Aoife O’Rourke matched her sister Lisa’s achievement by becoming a world champion. Ultra-runner Caitríona Jennings joined her sister Sinéad on the awards roll, while Kelly Brady’s debut season with Athlone Town stood out as one of the most impactful first years in League of Ireland women’s football. Orla Comerford’s double world sprint titles further underlined the depth of Ireland’s elite talent pool.
Team sports and Olympic disciplines both delivered. Hazel Finn transitioned from domestic basketball MVP to international standout, while Aoife Wafer’s performances earned her Six Nations Player of the Tournament, reflecting rugby’s continued momentum in the women’s game.
Athletics again proved a cornerstone, with Kate O’Connor and Sarah Healy delivering medal-winning performances, and cycling’s Lara Gillespie and rowing’s Fiona Murtagh converting early-season form into world championship success.
Murtagh’s progression—from European silver in June to world gold in Shanghai in September—was one of the clearest examples of how Irish athletes are now converting development into podium outcomes. Gillespie’s world championship gold in Chile told a similar story.
Ultimately, no doubt after much debate, a unanimous decision was reached on the overall Sportswoman of the Year.
That winner will be announced today, joining a roll of honour dating back to 2004 that includes Cathy Gannon, Briege Corkery, Derval O’Rourke, Katie Taylor, Olive Loughnane, Gráinne Murphy, Nina Carberry, Fiona Coghlan, Rena Buckley, Annalise Murphy, Jessica Harrington, Kellie Harrington, Sanita Puspure, Rachael Blackmore, Amy Broadhurst and Katie McCabe.
Sport for Business Perspective
This event is one of the best of the year, celebrating incredible achievement with friends and family of those who put it all on the line, and some of us who can only marvel at what they have achieved. We will update this story with the winner after they are announced this afternoon..
Image Credit: Irish Times / Sport Ireland
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