Rhys McClenaghan wins Sportsperson of the Year
Limerick are Team of the Year
Andy Farrell wins Manager of the Year
Evan Ferguson named Young Sportsperson of the Year
The RTÉ Sport Awards 2023 took place live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player and in front of a live studio audience in RTÉ tonight (Saturday 16 December, 2023). Presented by Joanne Cantwell and Darragh Maloney, the Irish sporting achievements of 2023 were celebrated and honoured.
Brighton’s teenage sensation Evan Ferguson was named RTÉ Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year as 2023 saw him become only the fourth player ever to score a Premier League hattrick at 18 years of age.
Andy Farrell was revealed as the RTÉ Sport Manager of the Year as his Ireland team won the Six Nations Grand Slam in a year in which he was also named World Rugby Coach of the Year.
The all-conquering Limerick hurlers swept all before them again in 2023 and were this evening winners of the RTÉ Sport Team of the Year award.
Paralympic sprinter Jason Smyth was tonight inducted into the RTÉ Sport Hall of Fame. The Paralympic and World Champion retired this year having never lost a competitive Para Athletics event throughout his entire career.
Finally tonight, in a year in which he became a back-to-back world champion, gymnast Rhys McClenaghan was named the RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the Year. As well as claiming the gold medal in the pommel horse event at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Rhys also won his second European Championship pommel horse gold this year.
Commenting on tonight’s awards, Declan McBennett, Group Head of Sport RTÉ, said “Yet again Irish sport not only competes but dominates on a world stage. The scale of Irish success in a global setting is remarkable to the extent whereby we are now disappointed when our participation ends early in World Cup years, while the standards in domestic sport excel year on year. RTÉ Sport is in the privileged position of bringing more free to air sport than ever to our audience and we look forward to a phenomenal year of Irish sporting success in 2024.”