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Who is the Greatest Irish SportsPerson based on what He/She have Achieved...

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  • 27-11-2014 2:33pm
    #1
    OddsOnIB
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭


    Myself and my friends have debated this on numerous occasions, would just like to get a neutral perspective on who the Irish Public think is the Greatest Sports person to grace this island....Any Feedback would be greatly appreciated...


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    #2
    kellso81
    Registered Users Posts: 307 ✭✭kellso81


    Katie Taylor, without doubt


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    #3
    irishfeen
    Registered Users Posts: 8,061 ✭✭✭irishfeen


    kellso81 wrote: »
    Katie Taylor, without doubt
    Enough said really

    thread/


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    #4
    OddsOnIB
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭OddsOnIB


    So its unanimous Katie Taylor ? Over B.O.D?George Best?Joey Dunlop?Ken Doherty?Ap Mccoy?Padraig Harrington?


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    #5
    Pudsy33
    Registered Users Posts: 10,732 ✭✭✭✭Pudsy33


    Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Dan Martin have to be in the mix too.


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    #6
    kellso81
    Registered Users Posts: 307 ✭✭kellso81


    OddsOnIB wrote: »
    So its unanimous Katie Taylor ? Over B.O.D?George Best?Joey Dunlop?Ken Doherty?Ap Mccoy?Padraig Harrington?

    all been successful in their sports but none of them dominated over such a long period of time as Katie Taylor.


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    #7
    OddsOnIB
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭OddsOnIB


    Is Dan Martin Irish ?


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    #8
    Pudsy33
    Registered Users Posts: 10,732 ✭✭✭✭Pudsy33


    OddsOnIB wrote: »
    Is Dan Martin Irish ?

    Born in Birmingham to Irish parents and represent us so I'm taking him :pac:


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    #9
    OddsOnIB
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭OddsOnIB


    kellso81 wrote: »
    all been successful in their sports but none of them dominated over such a long period of time as Katie Taylor.

    Completely Agree...


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    #10
    OddsOnIB
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭OddsOnIB


    Pudsy33 wrote: »
    Born in Birmingham to Irish parents and represent us so I'm taking him :pac:

    Ah he's ours so...


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    #11
    OddsOnIB
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭OddsOnIB


    Could we claim Carl Frampton?Boxed for the Irish team , IBF world Champion.


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    #12
    Pudsy33
    Registered Users Posts: 10,732 ✭✭✭✭Pudsy33


    OddsOnIB wrote: »
    Could we claim Carl Frampton?Boxed for the Irish team , IBF world Champion.

    You mentioned Best so by default Frampton qualifies I guess.


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    #13
    walshb
    Registered Users Posts: 54,720 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    Katie Taylor for longevity and success combined. At the top 10 years now and still improving it seems.


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    #14
    trishasaffron
    Registered Users Posts: 922 ✭✭✭trishasaffron


    Michelle Smith?


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    #15
    Tugboats
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,011 ✭✭✭Tugboats


    ROY Keane


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    #16
    AndonHandon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,384 ✭✭✭AndonHandon


    Drico or McIlroy.

    Women's boxing isn't popular enough to class Katie as the greatest Irish sportsperson.


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    #17
    The Bould Rabbit
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 423 ✭✭The Bould Rabbit


    kellso81 wrote: »
    all been successful in their sports but none of them dominated over such a long period of time as Katie Taylor.

    If that's the criteria needed to be the best then look no further than Tony McCoy.

    Nearly 4,300 career wins as a pro and champion jockey now for 19 years on the trot.


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    #18
    berger89
    Closed Accounts Posts: 387 ✭✭berger89


    Aidan O'Brien? Not a sportsperson per say, but the man is a Genius.


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    #19
    wreckless if true
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 77 ✭✭wreckless if true


    I genuinely don't even think katie Taylor should be even mentioned when speaking about best Irish sports person. I know I will be given plenty of abuse for this but I'm entitled to my opinions whether you agree or not.

    Reasons being , look at the sport she has dominated, women's boxing, look at the numbers of competitors that take part in this particular sport, very very very low and lower as you age due to liklehood of pregnancy. Taylor was not born with a god given skill (unlike best , Keane, McIlroy) she developed and trained her ass off to be top of her sport and the fact that she happens to take part in a sport which has very low participants makes it incredibly easy for her to reach the very top of it.

    Compare this to say a young soccer or rufby or golfer or hurler player, who like Katie Taylor works his/her ass off and has a similar level of talent to their chosen sport . but simply because the numbers that participate in mainstream sports like I mentioned it makes it a hundred times harder to reach the very top like Taylor has done in her niche sport .

    Anyone who says Taylor should be considered greatest Irish sports person makes the argument of 'being top of her sport for 10years'..

    Could we also say John o Shea (1champs league, 4/5 league titles, 100 intl caps) is greatest Irish sports person of all time with that same argument of being top of their chosen sport for the last 10 years?! I don't think he is by any stretch of the imagination but worth making a point.

    To me Rory McIlroy or henry or Brian o Driscoll HAVE to be our greatest Irish sporting greats , all are or were at THE very top of their particular sports for a very long time, Rory will go down in the history books IMO a lot more to come there. But the fact that the sheer numbers that compete in these sports makes it so so incredibly difficult to reach the heights they reached and the longevity of their greatness in such competitive fields should see them be without question regarded as our countries greatest sporting icons .


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    #20
    The_Kew_Tour
    Registered Users Posts: 34,056 ✭✭✭✭The_Kew_Tour


    If it's on numbers, then that surely rules out Rugby, and Golf to some extent?

    Very few countries play Rugby and Golf ain't very Global although its in lot big countries.

    Hurling is only played in Ireland too.

    The numbers in women boxing ain't as low as some think. Its very popular in USA and Russia for instance. Hardly tiny countries.

    I bet she has taken on as many opponents from different countries as BOD has played in International rugby.

    She is a high class athlete. You only have to look as the comments the Irish Boxing men's team say about her when they Sparring with her. And before and he says she be murdered by a male fighter what about Tennis etc.

    To me she is the greatest. 5 time world champ and Numerous Europeans along with Gold in Olympics. Nobody comes close to that in this Island.


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    #21
    Nunu
    Registered Users Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭Nunu


    Sonia O'Sullivan.
    World Class in an extremely competitive and world class field.
    Lack of an Olympic Gold shouldn't cloud this but sadly does among the general population.


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    #22
    The Bould Rabbit
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 423 ✭✭The Bould Rabbit


    berger89 wrote: »
    Aidan O'Brien? Not a sportsperson per say, but the man is a Genius.

    Not taking anything away from that but having the best of Coolmore's production lines being sent to Ballydoyle helps a lot.


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    #23
    walshb
    Registered Users Posts: 54,720 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    The Bould Rabbit wrote: »
    If that's the criteria needed to be the best then look no further than Tony McCoy.

    Nearly 4,300 career wins as a pro and champion jockey now for 19 years on the trot.

    And the horses did most of it....


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    #24
    walshb
    Registered Users Posts: 54,720 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    wreckless if true wrote: »
    Reasons being , look at the sport she has dominated, women's boxing, look at the numbers of competitors that take part in this particular sport, very very very low and lower as you age due to liklehood of pregnancy. .

    How many take part? How many train and dedicate themselves to do well in the sport? Likelihood of pregnancy? Let us apply that to any physical based female sport then....


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    #25
    Ave Sodalis
    Registered Users Posts: 7,548 ✭✭✭Ave Sodalis


    walshb wrote: »
    And the horses did most of it....

    As a horse person, I really really hate this... It's usually solved by sticking a person on a horse and getting them to even just walk... then they usually see the balance and fitness required to do something as simple as that. As for jockeys, they train for years with most of their training on balance and fitness. I've been riding for about ten years and wouldn't be able to win a race if you put me in one. Yeah, the horse does the running, but the jockey tells it how and when to do things. Racing isn't just sticking a heap of horses onto a track and getting them to run as fast as they can. It's a partnership and yeah, the horse does a lot of the running part but that doesn't take away from the work jockeys themselves do. If it was a simple as the horse doing most of the work, why do people like Tony McCoy and Ruby Walsh stand out? They're not the only ones to get top horses, yet both of them run winners again and again.

    I'm going to go ahead and throw Bertram Allen into the mix. Another equestrian, a showjumper this time and one of the youngest (19) to have successfully competed at international level, beating people who have twenty years more experience than him. Just won the Irish Young Sports Star of the Year. He's 19th in the World Rankings which seems like a lot but given the amount of people in the rankings, and given his age, it's one hell of an achievement, especially considering he's actually highest out of all the Irish riders. Most people his age aren't jumping anywhere near the level he's at.


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    #26
    super_furry
    Registered Users Posts: 27,322 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    Between O'Driscoll, McIlroy and O'Sullivan for me. As has been mentioned, Taylor is a big fish in a very small pond


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    #27
    blue note
    Registered Users Posts: 4,510 ✭✭✭blue note


    Mcilroy, Sean Kelly and bod for me.


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    #28
    efb
    Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    1. McIlroy
    2. Harrington
    3. Taylor


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    #29
    locum-motion
    Registered Users Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    sup_dude wrote: »
    As a horse person, I really really hate this... It's usually solved by sticking a person on a horse and getting them to even just walk... then they usually see the balance and fitness required to do something as simple as that. As for jockeys, they train for years with most of their training on balance and fitness. I've been riding for about ten years and wouldn't be able to win a race if you put me in one. Yeah, the horse does the running, but the jockey tells it how and when to do things. Racing isn't just sticking a heap of horses onto a track and getting them to run as fast as they can. It's a partnership and yeah, the horse does a lot of the running part but that doesn't take away from the work jockeys themselves do. If it was a simple as the horse doing most of the work, why do people like Tony McCoy and Ruby Walsh stand out? They're not the only ones to get top horses, yet both of them run winners again and again...


    I couldn't agree more.


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    #30
    EICVD
    Registered Users Posts: 1,005 ✭✭✭EICVD


    Conor Mcgregor.....


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    #31
    locum-motion
    Registered Users Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    sup_dude wrote: »
    ...I'm going to go ahead and throw Bertram Allen into the mix. Another equestrian, a showjumper this time and one of the youngest (19) to have successfully competed at international level, beating people who have twenty years more experience than him. Just won the Irish Young Sports Star of the Year. He's 19th in the World Rankings which seems like a lot but given the amount of people in the rankings, and given his age, it's one hell of an achievement, especially considering he's actually highest out of all the Irish riders. Most people his age aren't jumping anywhere near the level he's at.


    While Bertram Allen's doing well*, give him a few years more before nominating him as the Greatest Irish Sportsperson. If he builds on the potential he's showing, he might make it eventually. But he's still not even the Greatest Irish Showjumper YET. Stars of yesteryear like Eddie Macken, Paul Darragh, James Kernan, Ned Campion, and newer names like Cian O'Connor**, Jessica Kurten (née Chesney) - to name but a few - probably all have a greater claim to that title.

    *: His finish in the jump off at the Horse of the Year Show on Sunday was impressive - he really went for if and posted the fastest time by over a second. Unfortunately he dropped a pole off the 2nd last and finished 7th, behind the 6 slower riders who went clear.
    **: Although tainted by a drug scandal 10 years ago, he has come back well to win a medal in London 2012.


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