Meath Sports Awards: Who is in the running for our Sportsperson of the Year Award?
Every year there are brilliant sports people who achieve something that puts them in different stratosphere. A sportsman or woman who stands out from the crowd. It's someone with that x-factor who will end up with the 2023 Meath Chronicle Sportsperson of the Year award. In the past some of the country's top performers have claimed the prize. Among the three nominees for the award this time around are Bettystown's Republic of Ireland soccer star Evan Ferguson, Rathkenny legend and Meath Tailteann Cup winning captain Donal Keogan and Meath camogie and football dual star Aoife Minogue. They all have strong claims for the ultimate accolade but who is going to win? Which of the three selected can look back on 2023 and claim that, yeah, this was my year? Let's take a look how each of them fared out over the past 12 months.
THE NOMINEES
AOIFE MINOGUE
A member of that rare cohort of people - the dual county player - the Dunderry woman was an outstanding performer for Meath in BOTH camogie and Gaelic football. Truly outstanding. In camogie she played a major part in helping the Royal County to Croke Park, not once, but twice, to two national finals. Unfortunately for the talented midfielder and her colleagues in green and gold she ended up on the vanquished team on both occasions.
There was back in April the painful loss to Kerry in the National Camogie League Div 2A final. In the summer Meath reached the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie final against Derry and again lost - although this time it was only after a replay which was played in Clones.
Her schedule could be punishing at times, sometimes playing for the Meath senior football and camogie teams on successive days. On one weekend in March, for example, she turned out for the footballers in Cork in a National League game. The next day she was back in Trim appearing for the camogie team against Derry. She played the full game too, scoring three points. "I love playing both codes, that's why I do it," she told the Meath Chronicle and you had to admire her commitment to both causes.
With her distinctive, surging runs Minogue was a major addition to whatever team she played, often helping to turn defence into attack. She also regularly took frees, taking on the responsibility of converting chances that came her team's way. She also took on that tasks with great composure and skill.
DONAL KEOGAN
The Rathkenny player certainly had a very eventful year at both club and inter-county level. The wheel never stopped for this richly talented footballer as first he captained Meath to a Tailteann Cup success in the summer before, later in 2023, he was a major factor in ensuring Rathkenny won the Meath IFC.
Not that it was all over for him then either. Rathkenny then embarked on a rollercoaster ride through the Leinster Club IFC; an adventure that only came to a halt when they lost to Dublin side Scoil Ui Chonaill after a breathless, classic encounter that went all the way to a penalty shoot-out before a winner was found.
Whatever the game in whatever competition Keogan distinguished his display with a characteristic combination of class, intelligence, vision and full-on commitment. He shipped hefty hits that might have put others out of a game but not the Meath captain. Captain Fantastic.
He would ship the blow, dust himself off without complaining and continue on his way. No whinging, no histrionics, just typical honest-to-goodness endeavour, the kind that has endeared himself to the Meath and Rathkenny supporters down through the years.
He has enjoyed little success in his inter-county career as Meath football continues to go through a sustained lull so it was gratifying for Royal County fans to see him climb the Croke Park steps last summer to accept the Tailteann Cup on behalf of his colleagues. He used the occasion to make one of the best speeches on the Hogan Stand. It was some reward at last for a great player.
EVAN FERGUSON
At just 19 the soccer world is there for the young Bettystown man to be conquered and the talented young man is certainly going the right way about it. He has had a meteoric rise in the game and 2023 was full of more milestones passed by the young man who appears uniquely suited, tempermentally, to deal with the pressures involved.
The Bettystown man regularly played for the Brighton first-team last year and was rewarded with a new contract by the club towards the end of the year, a move perhaps partly prompted by speculation that some of the bigger clubs in England and in Europe were looking to add Ferguson to their squad. His consistency saw him nominated for the English PFA Young Player of the Year award last August, which was ultimately claimed by Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka. However, Ferguson did win the Young Men’s Player of the Year at the FAI International awards in June.
He also became the first teenager to score 10 or more goals in the Premier League in a calendar year since Wayne Rooney did it in 2005.
Ferguson continues to establish himself on the international stage since earning his senior debut in 2022. He netted his first goal against Latvia in March. His first competitive strike was against Gibraltar last summer with three goals scored in his eight senior Irish appearances so far.
All the statistics make for impressive reading but beyond all that, and perhaps most impressively, Ferguson had displayed a maturity and calm, unflustered temperament that appears ideal for the big occasion. It has all helped him to more than make his mark in an unforgiving environment.
With thanks to Bective Stud & Team Rooms / Meath Co Council / Meath Local Sports Partnership