Fallen stars: John O'Sullivanon sportspeople who departed after a long innings and those cut down in their prime

Sporting obituaries are normally fact- based, sombre tributes to figures that have impacted on lives and minds in a national or international environment, but the mysterious death of the Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer transcended that very notion.

The former Kent and England batsman was found dead in his hotel room in March just a matter of hours after Ireland's sensational Cricket World Cup victory over Pakistan.

Woolmer, 58, was initially thought to have been poisoned in his Kingston, Jamaica, hotel but three months after the inquest had returned an open verdict, it was announced he had died of natural causes.

He scored over 1,000 runs in 19 tests for England between 1975 and 1981 before going on to become a celebrated coach.

In January, the veteran Curragh trainer Con Collins (82) passed away. His most notable triumph was winning the 1984 Irish Oaks with Princess Pati.

That month also marked the tragic death of the young Irish jockey Damien Murphy (23), who had ridden 12 winners in Ireland before moving to Australia in 2005. He died following a fall at the Wellington track in New South Wales.

The American horseracing world finally bade farewell to Barbaro, who won the 2006 Kentucky derby but in his very next race broke a leg. His owners held out hopes of a recovery but eight months later, in January, the horse was put down.

Séamus Ó Riain, president of the GAA from 1967 to 1970, died in January at the ripe old age of 91. A native of Moneygall, on the Tipperary-Offaly border, he was a man of many talents: teacher, hurler, footballer, referee, athlete, administrator, and historian over his long and fruitful life.

He had the distinction of being the longest-surviving former president.

Liam Reidy (83), the former Kilkenny All-Ireland-winning hurler who went on to become president of the Golf Union of Ireland in 1992, died last February.

He played in the 1947 All-Ireland final in which Kilkenny beat Cork by 0-14 to 2-7, and in two other finals. He became an accomplished golfer, winning the Waterford Crystal Scratch Trophy in its inaugural year, 1957, and served as chairman of the Leinster Branch (GUI) from 1987 to 1991.

The month of March marked the passing of the veteran BBC tennis commentator Bill Threlfall (81).

Born in Penang, Malaya, he was a decent player, good enough to play at Wimbledon, but it was his caustic wit and understanding of the sport that made him a renowned commentator on radio and then with ITV, BBC and latterly, Sky Sports.

Another former president of the GAA, Con Murphy (84), died in April.

He won four All-Ireland senior hurling medals with Cork in the 1940s, and when he retired from playing he took up refereeing and officiated in the All-Ireland senior

finals of 1948 and 1950.

In 1976, he became president of the GAA, overseeing the official opening of the 50,000-seat Páirc Uí Chaoimh that year. He was awarded the freedom of Cork in 1995.

Alan Ball, who died aged 61, had been the youngest member of England's 1966 soccer World Cup-winning team. The flame-haired midfield dynamo was awarded the man-of-the-match accolade in the final.

He played for various clubs, scoring more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years, before going into management.

The month also saw the passing of the former Ireland international flanker and coach Jimmy Davidson (64).

Jimmy D, as he was affectionately known, made his Ireland debut against France at Lansdowne Road in January 25th, 1969, going on to win six caps.

Having coached Ulster, he succeeded Mick Doyle as Ireland coach in 1987, his three-year tenure marking him as progressive and radical. He eventually became a respected analyst on television and also wrote a newspaper column.

Eamon Coleman (60), who in 1993 had masterminded Derry's solitary All-Ireland senior football win, passed away in June.

He won All-Ireland minor and under-21 titles as a player before guiding his native county's minor football team to an All-Ireland minor title (1983) and their senior counterparts to the National League in 1992 before claiming Sam Maguire a year later.

The Baltray native Clarrie Reddan (née Tiernan), a celebrated golfer who won a national crown in 1936 and played Curtis Cup in 1938 and 1948, died aged 90.

She represented Ireland with distinction in 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1947, 1948, 1949 and again in 1955.

The Northern Ireland and Wolves striker Derek Dougan, who died aged 69, enjoyed an illustrious playing career before going on to be a television pundit and players' union representative.

Irish soccer lost one of its biggest and most colourful characters, the man widely regarded as Mr Shelbourne.

Ollie Byrne joined the board of Shelbourne in 1976, while also working as a music promoter, handling acts like Deep Purple, Phil Lynott and Joe Cocker.

In the late 1980s, he and the businessman Tony Donnelly took charge of Shelbourne and set about reversing the fortunes of a club in serious decline.

In the ensuing years, Byrne's beloved Shels won six League Championships, four FAI Cups and one League Cup and came close to competing in the group stages of the Champions League.

The Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta (22) died three days after collapsing on the field during his team's Spanish league game against Getafe.

September saw the passing of the Sunderland hero Ian Porterfield (61), who scored the winning goal in the 1973 FA Cup final against Leeds.

The month also marked the death of the Dubs and Cuala icon Mick Holden (51).

A member of the 1983 All-Ireland-winning Dublin side that defeated Galway in the final, he also played with the Dublin hurlers and won Railway Cup medals in both codes.

A helicopter crash claimed the life of the Scottish rally superstar Colin McRae (39).

In October, the USA's Al Oerter (71), a discus great who took gold in four successive Olympics to become one of track and field's biggest stars in the 1950s and 1960s, died of heart failure.

Irish golf lost Pat Turvey, secretary of the ILGU from 1984 to 2000.

And rugby lost the former Welsh centre Ray Gravell (56) and the former Scotland wing Bruce Hay (57).

Gravell was the classic crash ball centre, celebrated for the mantra, "Get your first tackle in early, even if it's late."