It’s been a magnificent year for women’s sport in Ireland, and that was reflected in the 2022 RTÉ Sports Awards, with three of the four major awards going to women.
Katie Taylor collected the main prize, winning Sportsperson of the Year for a third time after a stellar year in which defended her title as undisputed lightweight world champion. She became the first woman to headline Madison Square Garden in New York with her victory over Amanda Serrano and later defeated Argentinian Karen Elizabeth Carabajal in London.
20-year-old Rhasidat Adeleke picked up Young Sportsperson of the Year for her record-breaking year—she set a new Irish 400m record in May before breaking it herself at the European Championships in Munich, where she finished 5th. She also broke the Irish 60m indoor record this year.
Rhasidat Adeleke is the 2022 RTÉ Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year!
Watch the RTÉ Sport Awards live on @RTEOne & @RTEplayer
📺 Watch live – https://t.co/hFIl8syXm3
📱 Updates – https://t.co/dn1Cy5WBni #rtesport pic.twitter.com/kroMu2VzvK— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 17, 2022
Vera Pauw, unsurprisingly, is Sports Manager of the Year, after Ireland’s WNT qualified for a major tournament for the first time ever. Her side will head to Australia and New Zealand next summer for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
A massive bualadh bos for Ireland WNT Manager Vera Pauw 👏👏👏
RTÉ Sport Manager of the Year 2022#COYGIG pic.twitter.com/ugJpkVfSgL
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) December 17, 2022
The history-making team themselves lost Sport Team of the Year to lightweight double sculls pair Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, but it’s hard to begrudge the men after they claimed yet another World Title.