THE LAST POINT: Eoin Gallagher looks back over hectic 2024 sporting year

We continue our review of the 2024 sports year and this time is the turn of our own Eoin Gallagher, who joined the Observer back in August, takes an intriguing look back over the past 12 months with some very different takes on the sporting year.

The Kinlough native and former Melvin Gaels & Leitrim underage keeper has some thought provoking choices on the highs and lows and what caught his eye during 2024 so, sit back and enjoy his musings!

HIGHLIGHT

The Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final replay between Mohill and Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins was one hell of a game. The two finals had everything you could want: History made, last-minute equalisers, big hits, huge scores and drama, drama, drama. On top of that, the penalty shoot-out finish was a fantastic spectacle to decide the kings of Leitrim. There is a lot of animosity to penalty shoot-outs in the GAA. Many punters  proclaim the unfair pressure it puts on players and the brutality of losing a game that way. I do not dispute these facts - but I don’t see them as a mark against penalties. Football is an inherently unfair endeavour and losing is always brutal. Penalties create a situation where anyone can win or lose, depending on who can hold their nerve. And they make one hell of a spectacle!

LOWLIGHT OF THE YEAR 

The biggest disappointments in sports happen outside of the field, ring - or in this case cage. Conor McGregor’s rape conviction earlier this year was a win for Nikita Hand and for other survivors of sexual violence who seek justice. It was also the death blow for anyone who hoped Conor McGregor might not be too far gone down the path he was obviously treading. The result was overall a good one for sure but it was a reminder of how far we have gone from the wild days nearly a decade ago, when a young kid from Dublin took over the UFC, capturing the imagination of the world with an Irish flag on his back.

Those days are long gone now. The love McGregor garnered from the majority of Irish people has turned to sour disdain as his career progressed and his antics quickly went from lovable showboating to vile thuggery. It is a tired story in sports; the hero becomes the villain as fame, money, and power corrupt them while they drink their own kool-aid (or in this case whiskey). Now he is reaping the rewards of his behaviour and rightfully so while those whose imaginations were captured by his rise a decade ago are left with the carcass of the phenomenon he represented. When you think of the positive and historic sports story that could have been, it is all the sadder watching what it has devolved into.

PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

Ilona Maher showed herself to be a powerful force as the USA rugby team took bronze at the Paris Olympics. But she was also delivering a powerful message of body positivity in sports off the pitch. The 200-pound rugby player stood out for wearing red lipstick during games and for her stance against stereotypes in sports. For her, the idea that female athletes need to give up looking feminine to play sports is wrong. She touted the fact that she could look well and still batter players around the field while doing it. She also highlighted the fact that athletes comes in different shapes and sizes. This was clearly a great message for people to hear generally, especially for young people, who might feel they don’t have a place in sports because of how they look. Different bodies suit different sports. As long as people are out and active, and enjoying themselves.

TEAM OF THE YEAR

Melvin Gaels were my team of the year. As a Kinlough native, I will come across as biased here, but if I can’t do it here, where can I do it? Melvin Gaels came from behind in nearly every game in their intermediate campaign, digging themselves out of more holes than any other team I have seen this season. Admittedly, they dug many of those holes themselves, but that is beside the point. 

For those who don’t know, in the final, they mounted an unreal comeback to beat an impressive Allen Gaels team. Eight points down with about ten minutes left, I remember being in the stands and turning to our sports editor, John Connolly, and asking “Do you believe in miracles?”. “Not unless they score a goal in the next five minutes,” was his response. They didn’t. Instead, they bagged three in the last seven to win by a point. 

Those who were there (or who have seen videos afterward) will agree when I say that the Gaels won't be winning any awards for their behaviour at the final. Frankly, it was disgraceful stuff. But the fact is manners don't win football games, what wins football games is skill, aggression, game sense, and an utter unwillingness to be beaten. And when it mattered this year, Melvin Gaels had those in spades which is why they are my team of the year.

HERO OF THE YEAR

My hero of the year is obscure to Irish eyes - Dutch Paralympic cyclist Caroline Groot. While I was working in the Netherlands, I got the chance to speak with her several times before she went to the Paralympics where she won a Gold medal and set a new world record. Her story is fairly inspiring -  a promising ice skater, competing for the Dutch underage team, she had her Olympic dreams tragically snuffed out at 16. An injury on her left leg required surgery but the procedure went wrong and she was left paralysed from the knee down. Having a life changing injury is a harrowing ordeal for anyone, let alone for a young aspiring athlete.

Many would have given up and wallowed in self-pity. But she didn’t. She found paralympic cycling a couple of years later and now at 26 years old she is a paralympic champion. After winning the gold medal, she promptly retired from the sport to pursue her other dream of becoming a criminal lawyer -  I love to see someone go out on top. Speaking to her, she was clearly a dedicated and hard-working athlete but more than that she was an unbelievably humble person - which is why I am sure she would hate me writing this. A great athlete, a lovely person and, to me, hero of the year. 

PERSON THAT MADE YOU GO WOW IN 2024 

It is funny that massive moments happen in minority sports all the time huge upsets,  feats of individual heroism and brilliance rock a whole sport and mark the culmination of an athlete's life work which  few people give enough of a damn about to notice. One such event happened in the women’s 52KG Judo competition at the Olympics. 26 year old Diyora Keldiyorova defeated the 2020 Olympic champion and four-time world champion, Japan’s Abe Uta, before going on to win Uzbekistan’s first gold medal in the sport. This will mean very little to many readers, but this was one of the biggest upsets of the Olympics! Abe Uta is a phenomenal fighter, in her prime and one of the most dominant competitors in the sport right now. Like most Japanese fighters her style is steeped in tradition - a  blend of technical brilliance, fluidity of movement, and perfect timing. To watch it is like poetry in motion. Keldiyorova lost twice to her in major tournaments in recent years and was the underdog here. She had to come from behind to beat Uta  - brilliant achievement and one hell of an upset.

ONE THING I’D DO TO MAKE SPORT BETTER IN 2025 

I would like to see a lot of things done differently in the GAA but  I will restrict myself to saying that everyone should chill out a bit!  The constant ramping up of expectations on GAA players is absurd to me - and anyone outside of Ireland I have described it to. The demands on individual players is a joke, an increasingly unfunny one! Harder training sessions, gym, nutrition, recovery, putting off holidays, being restricted in what they can do in life for fear of missing training and not looking committed enough.

That is saying nothing about young players being dragged between different teams and codes with no regard for their personal well being - which we all know happens. We are coming out of the rest season right now but everyone knows teams have been training for weeks. Managers fear they will fall behind in the arms race for the next season if they are not pushing out the boat constantly with little to nothing said about the need for players to recover physically, and mentally from the previous season. 

Everyone wants to win, but that level of personal buy-in takes the good out of playing the game at all. Rural clubs are in trouble I hear! Want a solution? Give players a place they enjoy going to, a place where they can train and get something positive out of it an not an extra job. I mainly aim this at club teams, county players have made their beds and can sleep in them, or at least step up and advocate for themselves.