Meath Sports Awards a big occasion

The Meath Sportsperson of the Year for 2017 will be selected this Friday night at the annual Meath Sports Awards at Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim.

You will be able to get updates on our Facebook and Twitter throughout the evening from about 7.45pm.

 The Awards were inaugurated in 2007 following an initiative by the late John Cusack of the Cusack Hotel Group with the emphasis firmly on recognising the achievements of top Meath sportsmen and women on an annual basis.

Each month, since inception, the Meath Chronicle sports department has selected a monthly winner based solely on the achievements in that particular month.

Each monthly winner is eligible for the overall award and this year there are 13 nominees due to the selection of joint-recipients for March, Gordon Elliott and Robbie Power, for their achievements at Cheltenham. Gordon Elliott was also the winner of the inaugural award for 2007.

The awards were not solely designed to honour those who have achieved sporting greatness and become household names, but also to recognise the achievements of the men and women who dedicate so much time to club and county in their chosen sports.

An Outstanding Achievement category and a Hall of Fame award was added in 2008 and a young sportsperson was honoured for the first time in 2010.

The Cusack Hotel Group has supported the sportsperson of the year consistently and with enthusiasm for the past 11 years with Axa Insurance on board for the young sportsperson category for the 2016 recipient.

The overall awards are designed for the 10th year by local woodturner Seamus Cassidy who is based near Beauparc.

Popular RTE sports presenter Evanne Ni Chuilinn will host the awards ceremony for the seventh successive year. Evanne took over the reins from Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh who was MC for the first four (2007-2010).
 

MONTHLY WINNERS

January - Casey Dunne: Ashbourne RFC and Casey Dunne basked in a significant success of the All-Ireland Junior Cup with a 22-20 win over Enniscorthy. Later in 2017 Casey was included on the Irish team that took part in the Rugby League World Cup in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

February - Elizabeth Morland moved up to the senior ranks in 2017 and continued on her winning ways at the AAI National Indoor Championships in the 60m hurdle in a time of just 8.5 seconds. In the u-20 Europeans in Italy she set a national record in the heptathlon, fifth overall on 5,801 points.
 

March (joint) - Gordon Elliott has enjoyed plenty of good days on the racing tracks of Ireland and Britain in recent years. He certainly enjoyed a fruitful few days in Cheltenham last spring - where he scooped the ‘Leading Trainer Award’ with six winners on the famous Cotswolds course.
March (joint) - Robbie Power won the Cheltenham Gold Cup guiding the Jessica Harrington-trained Sizing John to victory. He also won with Supasundae in the Coral Cup and Rock The World in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup. He won the Irish Gold Cup and his first Irish Grand National.
 

April - Under coach Alan Kingsley Navan RFC did the business and won the AIL Div 2C title on a fine spring day in April 2017 with a 15-5 victory over Sligo at a rocking Balreask Old. After 18 games Alan Kingsley and his charges were the All-Ireland League champions.
May - Derek Coogan steered Navan Cosmos to the 2017 NEFL Challenge Cup final ending disappointing results that included defeats in the 2015 and 2016 finals. “This has been three years coming and maybe this one feels sweeter now because we lost the last two,” Derek said of the win over Bellurgan.
 

June - Dunboyne jockey Padraig Beggy landed the Epsom Derby on Saturday 3rd June 2017 on board Wings of Eagles for trainer Aidan O’Brien at the expense of the more-fancied O’Brien runner Cliffs of Moher.Wings of Eagles was one of six Ballydoyle-trained runners in the race.
July - Ronan Kearns plotted the path to Leinster u-17 FC glory for Meath as his team negotiated Dublin twice along the way. All-Ireland glory ultimately evaded the young Meath side as they lost out to eventual winners Tyrone in a thrilling encounter in Clones, but they were superb in the Leinster competition.
 

August - Nick Fitzgerald guided Meath to an impressive showing in the Leinster MHC where they enjoyed a good win over Westmeath before narrowly going down to Laois in a thrilling contest at O’Moore Park. He then guided Meath to the All-Ireland MHC B title with a win in the final against Down.
September - Cian Carey returned to Mondello Park for the in September 2017 and added his name to the illustrious list of winners of the historic Leinster Trophy. He also had the best possible end to his maiden F3 season in November as he stormed to victory at Oulton Park in Cheshire.
 

October - John Davis guided Meath to their third All-Ireland Camogie final in eight years when his side claim victory the hard way against Cork in a thrilling replay in Limerick to lift the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie title and secure their place in the senior ranks for 2018.
November - Trim jockey Colin Keane put a perfect seal on his first champion jockey title by reaching 100 winners on the final day of the 2017 flat campaign at Naas with a double on Inscribe for his boss Ger Lyons and Warnaq for Kilmessan handler Matthew Smith.
December - Keith Donegan scooped a $200,000 jackpot at Wild Horse Pass racing circuit in Chandler, Arizona. The 20-year old Navan man topped champions from nine countries for a place in the 2018 Cooper Tyres USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and will be based in Florida for 2018.

YOUNG SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR

Dunshaughlin teenager Rachel Huijsdens has been selected as the Meath Chronicle / Axa Insurance young sportsperson of the year for 2017.
The Dunshaughlin girl is highly regarded as one of the country’s leading young basketball players. Last year she was part of the Ireland team that gained promotion to the European Div A grade for the first time. Two weeks ago she was in action for DCU Mercy Super League (senior women) and u-20 teams in two National Cup semi-finals in Cork and now has a finals weekend to prepare for.
At the u-18 Women’s European Championship Division B finals in Dublin last August she played a major part for Ireland in securing victories over Macedonia, Slovakia, Moldova, Great Britain and Ukraine.
She has played against Germany, Poland, Israel, Ukraine, Slovakia, Great Britain, Lithuania, Croatia, Netherlands, Argentina, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Greece, Estonia, Romania, Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, England, Scotland, Macedonia, Moldova, Bulgaria and Slovenia.
She is also a talented GAA player and had a starring role in helping Meath lift the Ladies Leinster MFC B title and she starred at midfield as Meath beat neighbours Westmeath in a thrilling Leinster decider at Clane.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT NOMINEES

The nominees will each receive an award to recognise their achievements and the guests on the night will vote for the overall winner.

The nominees are:

Pat Kenny (Navan RFC)

Padraig McKeever (Simonstown Gaels)

Jack Regan (Kiltale HC)

Aileen Donnelly (Kilmessan Camogie Club)

Vikki Wall (Dunboyne Ladies)

Sinead Hackett (Meath camogie team) 

Natalya Coyle (Irish Modern Pentathlon team)

Lyndsey Conway (from Ratoath, Ukraine Taekwon Do team).