The Sportswoman of the year awards take place today, with The Irish Times honouring the top Irish female sports stars of 2016 and their magnificent achievements.
Past winners include the likes of Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor, and the incredible Cork GAA history-makers Briege Corkery and Rena Buckley - and this year's list of nominees are made up of 16 great athletes, from across 12 different sports.
"Despite the rhetoric, the good intentions, the marketing campaigns and investment, the gender gap remains wide. According to the fresh data released this week, both interest in sport and participation in organised sports is still a predominantly male thing..." Mick O'Keefe explains why new thinking is needed for more female involvement.
The latest report to be undertaken on the League of Ireland has a few too many recommendations that could be filed under "The Bleeding Obvious" - for Emmet Malone's liking. A large part of this 12-week project was spent talking to those who are all too familiar with the league's failings he says.
“There was no meaningful comparison with other leagues of similar size and no suggestion whatsoever that the association provide significantly increased funding to clubs.”
In his column this morning Liam Toland explains how Connacht can exploit Kurtley Beale's defensive enthusiasm when the teams return for their Champions Cup second leg pool encounter on Saturday.
“Of course, Beale is a phenomenal athlete with an amazing football brain.. but he will have to adjust his defensive aggression. And this will afford Connacht more opportunities to exploit him.”
UFC dual-division champion Conor McGregor has been named Ireland's most admired sports star of 2016. In the PSG Sport and Sponsorship Sentiment Index, the 28-year-old MMA fighter was selected by 16per cent of those surveyed as their most admired sportsperson. However, it is McGregor's popularity with young people that is the most striking aspect - one in every three 18 to 34 year olds said he was the Irish sportsperson they admired most.
Anthony Daly's Munster hit 1-5 without reply late on to seal the province's 46th GAA Interprovincial hurling crown against Leinster at Semple Stadium last night.
