RTÉ Sport
Nominees Announced for The RTÉ Sport Team of the Year 2014
In association with the Irish Sports Council
*Sports Person of the Year and Manager of the Year nominees embargoed until 6.00pm, Sunday 7 December*
RTÉ Sport today announced the shortlist for the RTÉ Sport Team of the Year Award. The nominees for RTÉ Sport Sports Person of the Year Award and the RTÉ Sport Manager of the Year Award will be announced exclusively on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 this Sunday 7 December. The winners will be revealed and presented with their awards at The RTÉ Sport Awards in association with The Irish Sports Council which will be broadcast live on RTÉ One, Sunday 21 December at 9.30pm.
Presented by Darragh Maloney, the live show will review what was another momentous year for Irish athletes and teams, and look back on the dramatic and memorable sporting moments of 2014.
This year the highly-coveted RTÉ Sport Team of the Year Award will again be open to a public vote. The public will be able to vote for their favourite Irish team of 2014 by phone and text on the night. Voting lines will be open on the night with details announced at the beginning of the programme and on www.rte.ie
Celebrating the collaborative achievements of Irish athletes, the RTÉ Sport Team of the Year shortlist features: All Ireland Champions for the 9th time in 10 years, the Cork Ladies Football Team. It was double-glory for Cork as the camogie team also picked up the All Ireland Championship, Cork Camogie Team. Dundalk FC picked up the League Cup and became League of Ireland Champions for the first time in 19 years. The Ireland Men’s Rugby Team claimed the Six Nations Championship and picked up victories against South Africa and Australia in the autumn. Kerry completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes by winning this year’s All Ireland Football title. The All Ireland Hurling Champions for the seventh time in nine years were Kilkenny.
*Sports Person of the Year and Manager of the Year nominees embargoed until 6.00pm, Sunday 7 December*
The RTÉ Sport Sports Person of the Year shortlist to be announced on Sunday Sport features the following 12 nominees: Ireland’s top points scorer at the Rugby World Cup and World Player of the Year nominee, Niamh Briggs; Everton’s Player of the Season and PFA Premier League Team of the Season representative, Seamus Coleman; All Ireland Ladies Football AND Camogie Champion, Briege Corkery; the man who picked up Ireland’s first ever 800m medal at a major outdoor Athletics Championship, European Bronze medalist, Mark English; the IBF Super Bantamweight Champion of the World, Carl Frampton; British Open and USPGA Champion AND hero of Europe’s resounding Ryder Cup triumph, Rory McIlroy; double European Paralympic Gold Medallist, Michael McKillop; All Ireland Football Champion and the Footballer of the Year, Kerry’s James O’Donoghue; Ireland’s mercurial number ten, the only Northern Hemisphere World Rugby player of the year nominee, Jonathan Sexton; with two more gold medals at this year’s IPC European Championships, Jason Smyth; All Ireland Hurling Champion and Hurler of the Year, Kilkenny’s Richie Hogan; World Champion for the fifth consecutive occasion, Katie Taylor.
In recognition of the huge effort behind the scenes and on the sidelines, the RTÉ Sport Manager of the Year award features the following 10 nominees: Brian Cody – the mastermind of an incredible ten All Ireland Hurling titles with Kilkenny; Jim Culloty – the man responsible for training Lord Windemere to Gold Cup glory; Éamonn Fitzmaurice – plotted Kerry’s route to becoming All Ireland Football Champions; Stephen Kenny – led Dundalk to the their first League of Ireland Championship in 19 years; Paul McGinley – Europe’s inspirational Ryder Cup Captain; Aidan O’Brien – became the first Trainer to win three consecutive Epsom derbies; Joe Schmidt – led Ireland to Six Nations glory; Éamonn Ryan – the man behind Cork Ladies Footballers’ incredible ninth All Ireland title in TEN years; Shane McGuigan – trained Carl Frampton to becoming the IBF Super Bantamweight Champion of the World; Pete Taylor – coached his daughter Katie to a remarkable fifth consecutive World title
The awards ceremony will also see the RTÉ/Irish Sports Council’s Hall of Fame Award presented to a very special Irish sporting legend.
Date: Friday 5 December 2014
Further information: Fergus McCormack, RTÉ Television, 01 208 3117 / 086 8674751. Email: Fergus.mccormack@rte.ie
Note to Editor:
The winner of the RTÉ Sport Team of the Year will be selected by the public via phone and text vote.
The winner of the RTÉ Sport Sports Person of the Year will be selected by a panel of RTÉ Sport journalists and editorial staff.
The winner of the RTÉ Sport Manager of the Year will be selected by a panel of representatives from 18 national media outlets.
For more information see www.rte.ie/sport/