Two Mayo sportswomen honoured at prestigious awards ceremony

Legendary Mayo Gaelic football star Cora Staunton, who won four All-Irelands and three National League titles with the county, has been honoured with the Irish Times /Sport Ireland Outstanding Contribution to Sport Award.

In addition to her county medals, Staunton, who made her debut for the county team in 1995 aged just 13, won six All-Ireland ladies club football championships with her club Carnacon.

Speaking at the Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman Awards she said she was honoured to receive the award. And she outlined the role of football in her life.

“When you look at the list of people who have won this award, it’s a huge honour for me and one I’m very privileged to get.

"Football has given me everything, my job, I work with Mayo Sports Partnership, I coach with Ballina Stephenites and I’m involved in coaching my own club Carnacon. It consumes every day, I do a bit of work in the media as well. I love it, it has given me huge opportunities.”

She also talked about the importance of giving back to the sport.

“I think it’s right to give back. You mightn’t have the time, but you make the time. I’m very conscious of that in my own club where I’ve been coaching underage for the last number of years. I’m very busy in what I do in work and the other sides of coaching but it’s really important.

“I was that young girl at one stage that needed people to coach me and they did that. I didn’t get to where I was on my own, it’s your family, your coaches. So, it’s hugely important to give back. But I really enjoy it, everything in sport I really enjoy.”

In a senior career which spanned 24 years in total in the red and green of Mayo, she amassed a total of 11 All Star Awards. She retired from intercounty football in 2019.

Despite her retirement from football, Staunton continued to play Aussie Rules, having become the first overseas player to be drafted in the fledgling Women’s Australian Football League when she was selected by Great Western Sydney Giants for the 2017 season.

She went on to score over 50 goals in her Aussie Rules career before retiring in 2023. She also played soccer, winning an FAI cup medal in 2006 and captained Castlebar to a first Connacht Rugby Women’s Leage title back in 2013.

Staunton, is now a respected football analyst and commentator with RTE. Her autobiography, called Game Changer, was named the 2018 Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year.

Several years ago she was asked by The Irish Times what advice she had for young people looking to get into sport.

“The biggest piece of advice I could give to young people, whether you’re male or female, is it can take you a long time to find the sport that you love or have a passion for.

"You don’t have to play sports at an elite level or very competitive level and sometimes I don’t even like to use the word sport, I like to say interest because it doesn’t always have to be sport.

"You might be involved in dance, or you could be involved in music, or be involved in drama.

"It can take a long time to find your interest and what you need to do is keep trying and trying out things and finding out what you like.

“I’m often asked at school talks what my favourite thing is about sport, is it winning in Croke Park? Travelling to Australia? They’re all great things but it’s the people that you meet within sport that are without a shadow of a doubt the biggest reason that we keep continuing to play sport. It’s the team-mates, the friends, the coaches, all of these people, they become lifelong friends.”

Meanwhile, Mayo basketball ace Hazel Finn received the Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Month award for January for her superb performance in the Paudie O’Connor National Cup final triumph with Liffey Celtics.

Speaking afterwards Finn said: "It was a real honour to receive Sportswoman of the Month in January in recognition of coming off the bench to help seal Liffey Celtics' National Cup Final win over Killester.

"To be presented with the award in person today at the Irish Times and Sport Ireland ceremony in front of my parents, sister and brother was an incredibly proud and special moment and one I will always remember and cherish. This is an award that’s gone to so many people I admire, so I'm delighted and honoured to be counted among them."

As well as producing a typical tigerish defensive display in that final win over Killester, the 21-year-old from Kiltimagh, scored 13 points and chipped in with eight rebounds.

Not surprisingly she was named MVP, her first time to win MVP as a senior player. But Finn who is now a student in Trinity College and playing with Trinity Meteors, highlighted the contribution of all her teammates.

“I’m not just being nice saying this, but all the team were MVPs that day. Everyone did their job and that’s how we won the game. The young girls coming on too, they put everything on the court, this is just a really talented team.

"Days like that don’t come around very often, so you have to take it all in and celebrate them as much as you can,” she stated.

That win capped a hectic couple of months for Finn, as she had only made her senior international debut a couple of months before in an away defeat to Latvia in Riga. That day she was Ireland’s joint top scorer with 13 points. A bright future undoubtedly beckons for this rising basketball star.

O’Connor named Sportswoman of the Year 2025

Kate O’Connor, who crowned an unbelievable breakthrough year by winning silver in the heptathlon at the World Championships in Tokyo in September, was named The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 2025.

The award caps an amazing 12 months for the 25-year-old Dundalk-based track and field star who medalled in all four of the championships she entered and announced herself on the world stage as one of the best all-round women athletes in the world.

In a year of outstanding achievements her silver at the World Championships in Tokyo was the crowning glory. As well as scoring five personal bests in the seven events, she attained a tally of 6,714 points, smashing her own Irish record set in July.

She told reporters afterwards she never imagined herself winning the overall award.

“To be honest I’m speechless that I’ve won this award. I was here last in 2019 after I’d won the U20 silver medal and not for one second did I ever imagine myself winning the overall award, so it truly is an honour. And when I look at the names on the list of previous winners, I genuinely can’t believe that I’m toing to be amongst all these women.”

And she described the year as hectic but brilliant. “It’s just been such an insane year,” she said. During indoors I just got on a roll and just started to pick up medals, I enjoyed that feeling and I didn’t want to stop. And hopefully it doesn’t stop for the next few years.”

With that silver medal-winning performance, O’Connor, who has been trained by her father Michael since she was 10-years-old, becomes only the sixth Irish athlete to win a medal at the World Championships and the first Irish athlete to win an outdoor multi-event medal.