Countdown to annual sports awards
The seventh annual Meath Chronicle / Cusack Hotel Group sportsperson-of-the-year wards will take place at Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim on Friday 17th January next with popular MC, RTE’s Evanne Ní Chuilinn, returning to host the event for the third time.
The overall 2013 Meath Chronicle / Cusack Hotel Group sportsperson of the year will be selected from the 12 monthly winners - the December monthly winner will be announced in next week's Meath Chronicle.
The montly winners so far for 2013 are:
January - Ger Lyons (horseracing)
February - Natalya Coyle (modern pentathlon)
March - Barry Geraghty (horseracing)
April - Rory McNamara (golf)
May - Peter Dempsey (motorsport)
June - Joanna Morgan (horseracing)
July - Michael Newman (football)
August - James Scully (swimming)
September - Shane Barrett (football)
October - Susan Oakes (equestrian)
November - Gary Rogers (soccer)
December - TBA
Last year's winner was Olympic medal winner Cian O'Connor
YOUNG SPORTSPERSON
This year for the first time, there will be six nominees for the young sportsperson category.
Three outstanding achievement awards will also be presented.
Three of the nominees for the 'youth’ award are featured in this week's edition of the Meath Chronicle
Keith Donegan (motorsport),
Maedbh Smyth (rugby)
Amanda McQuillan (soccer).
The remaining three nominees will be announced and featured next week.
CATEGORY AWARDS
The three winners in the 'outstanding’ category for 2013 have also been finalised.
Declan McCabe (Summerhill GFC).
He guided Summerhill to the Keegan Cup with a tremendous victory in the decider against Na Fianna. The success was all the more noteworthy as Summerhill lost their first two games in the qualifying phase of the SFC when they were beaten by Rathkenny and Skryne.
McCabe and his players regrouped and embarked on a seven-game unbeaten run that took them to their second Keegan Cup success in three years.
Marie Louise Reilly (Ireland and Leinster rugby).
She was a member of the Ireland team that won the Six Nations Grand Slam for the first time with the home games played at Ashbourne, although for 2014 the action will switch to the Aviva.
The Summerhill woman finished the year on a winning note also as she helped Leinster to a hat-trick of victories in the inter-provincial series.
Lyndsey Conway (Taekwon-Do).
The Ratoath woman achieved an unusual success when she won two gold medals at the World Taekwon-Do Championships in Spain as a member of the Polish national team.
She also sustained an injury as she was bidding for a third medal and is currently recuperating at home in Meath after surgery before Christmas.
A limited number of tickets are available for purchase for the evening, contact Knightsbrook Hotel reception at (046) 9482100.
Conall Collier