2012 was a mad, mad year for Irish sport, the kind of eventful, heartbreaking year we may never see again. To commemorate it, Balls.ie writers Xavier McDaniel, PJ Browne, Paul Ring, Will Slattery, and Cian Tracey have offered their reflections on the year that was.
Countdown from #20 – #11 below. Read #30 - #21 here #20 - #11
#10. Shoes Off For The Boys In Green
I saw this guy with the megaphone arrive in the square in the Poznan square five hours before the Italy match flanked by about 30 Ireland fans. That was when I knew the party was about to start. I had seen him on youtube a week previous, leading the 'Shoes Off' cheer. This is but one of the countless daft but incredible moments of drunkenness to be filmed in Poznan and Gdansk. Nearly every Irish adult male I know spent some part of June in one of those cities. Everyone's stories are slightly different, but there are a few similar overarching themes. This clip is especially nice because the sheer volume of the singing suggests the crazy optimism we all felt in the hours before Croatia thrashed us. XMcD
#9 John Joe Nevin unveils the Mullingar shuffle
During his Olympic semi-final win against Cuba's Lázaro Álvarez, John Joe Nevin produced some marvelous footwork. We later learned that it was known as the 'Mullingar Shuffle'. It showed a real brashness and confidence not often seen in Irish competitors.
You loved it, we loved it.
The move even spawned its own music video.
[veoh width="640" height="480"]http://www.veoh.com/videos/v36034063eCGprdcK[/veoh]
And Ryan Tubridy learned the move on the Late Late Show.
PJB
#8 Usain Bolt proves he is the greatest of all time
Legend, icon, superstar, immortal. The media will need to invent new clichés and adjectives to keep up with Usain Bolt’s unprecedented success. 2012 was meant to be the year where Bolt’s bravado was shattered by Yohan Blake at the London Olympics. Instead it was Bolt’s chance to go where no man had gone before and capture back-to-back individual sprint doubles.
It was the little touches that reminded the public why they loved Bolt in the first place. The laughing and joking with the Olympic volunteers moments before his big race was a reminder that his relaxed demeanour isn’t an act, which is refreshing in an era of moody, tight-lipped athletes. While he doesn’t conduct his business with humility, he competes with an unparalleled excellence and for those hoping 2012 was the year for him to be humbled, you might be waiting a good deal longer. WS
#7 Torres knocks Barca out of the Champions League final, gives Gary Neville an orgasm, proves the Mayans right
After withstanding a Barcelona barrage, and their captain’s stupidity, Chelsea were on the verge of reaching the Champions league final when in keeping with the theme of the night, Ashley Cole hoofed a clearance deep into the Barca half in stoppage time. Fernando Torres had stayed in his own half and thus had stayed onside. With Busquets pursuing in vain, Nando - whose career had been increasingly measured in terms of the sitters he'd missed - calmly rounded Victor Valdes and tapped the ball into an empty net confirming Chelsea’s place in Munich.
That was the mere setting to the real story though. Gary Neville had taken the punditry world by storm in his first season and perched high in the Camp Nou he delivered the commentary moment of the year. In his unmistaken Mancunian drawl he screeched as Torres dribbled around Valdes and as the ball reached his destination, he broke one superlative into a three part event. UN—BEL---LIVABLE! PR
#6 Aguero Wins City The League At The Death, United Can Only Look On
13/5/12. A day that was truly unforgettable regardless of what team you support. Going into the dying stages of the final day of the Premiership, Man United were seconds away from retaining the title. The brilliant Sky coverage of showing the split screen between the two games has never been so dramatic. On the bottom right hand side, you had images of Phil Jones and his United team mates celebrating in from of their fans at the Stadium of Light. Everything had gone according to plan. They had beaten Sunderland while City shockingly trailed a ten-man QPR heading into injury time.. Or so they thought. First Dzeko levelled the match. And then, in what was almost the last play of the game, Balotelli sent Aguero into space with three men around him and after a drop of his shoulder and a swing of his right boot, Aguero wrote himself into the Man City history books. City had won their first English League title in 44 years.
As the news filtered through to the United players, the utter devastation was contrasted perfectly to the pure elation in the scenes at the Etihad stadium. In what was the most dramatic of finishes to a Premiership season, the commentary from the legend that is Martin Tyler was fitting. His 'Aguerrooooooooo' reaction has been seen plastered all over flags at the Etihad this season and no matter how many times you watch and listen to that moment, it never fails to send a shiver down the spine. CT
5. Zlatan Ibrahimovi's Overhead Wondergoal against England.
There comes a time when words fail to describe what you have just witnessed. Zlatan Ibrahimovich's outrageous effort against England in November was one of those moments. Having been taunted by the English fans throughout the game with chants such as "You're just a s**t Andy Carroll, Ibra shut them up in a moment of absolute individual brilliance. A long and hopeful punt down field looked harmless until Joe Hart came steaming out of his goal and made a hash of the clearance. What happened next was just breathtaking.
From an acute angle and all of at least 30 yard, Zlatan attempted the sublime and how it came off! As the ball looped over Joe Hart and into goal it sent English commentator for the night, Stan Collymore into an orgasmic fit which wasn't too dissimilar to that of Gary Neville's reaction to Fernando Torres' goal against Barcelona. In what was the first ever game to be played at Sweden's new national stadium, it was a goal truly worthy of the occasion. If there is a goal scored at that stadium that eclipses Zlatan's, I sure hope I am around to see it. CT
#4 Joe Canning Goal In The All-Ireland Final
The only moment of these 30 that I witnessed person. I was eight rows up in the Davin Stand, right behind goal. Firsthand, I've seen the Cluxton free, the mad McMenamin goal and an incredible catch by Ken Griffey Junior in Yankee Stadium in 1992 and this was by far the most incredible sporting moment I had ever watched unfold for me. Sitting at near-ground level behind goals, is generally burdensome for hurling, but I was perfectly placed for that goal. There was a beautifully simple set-up to it. A massive Skehill free was hoovered up by James Regan, who ran a massive ring around a still-napping Brian Hogan. And then, enter Canning. Joe had drifted out into midfield and sprints into focus alongside Regan and put in a polite request for the sliotar.
Youtube does the greatness of the goal no favours. In real time, it was one of most incredible hurling goals ever scored. Canning took the puck somewhere around the top of the D. His eye was on goal from the second he received the Regan pass. There was a black and amber sea that Canning merely sprinted around. 7 of Kilkenny's starting 15 can be seen looking dejected in the moment after the puck rippled against the net. When the space opens for him, he continues in the direction of space instead of heading for goal. From the stands, you could see the whites of Canning's eyes. He was like a rampaging bullock. The puck cannoned into the net. The euphoria in the ground in the moments after was manic. Absolutely manic. You had to be there. XMcD
#3 Mo Farah's Impossible Double
2012 really belonged to Mo Farah. Not only did he become the first Briton to walk away with the 10000m/5000m double but he also became the proud owner of a cool new nickname. Farah was one of the most iconic athletes of the London games and along with Jessica Ennis and Greg Rutherford, won a gold medal on one of the most successful sporting nights in British history.
The image of him arms outstretched crossing the line as already generated countless memes and the outrage on Twitter at his omission from the top 3 of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award shows just how high an opinion is now held of him.
And Farah definitely gets some bonus points for providing not one, but two Gary Neville like reactions among the BBC panel during his two medal winning races. WS
#2 The Fields Of Athenry In Gdansk
It was a miserable night in Dublin. Monsoon season. If you were in town, it meant there was no choice but to sit down and suffer through the second half of Spain-Ireland. Starting Cox was the first insult. Paul Green's introducton was treasonous. Cesc's goal was cruel in its brilliance. Our insignificance as a footballing country, and possibly as a people, was never more pronounced. And then in the minutes before the final whistle, the keening began. I was in a packed, crap pub on Nassau St and I could hear it over the barroom chatter. The chorus of the Fields. Over and over, for eight long minutes. Depending on your level of cynicism, it was either the most poignant gesture of grief and solidarity that the Irish male could ever collectively summon in the face of four years of endless disappointment on the pitch (but mostly off it) OR a pathetic act of drunken, sentimental submission when anger - against Trap, Delaney, the team, and being Irish in the age of austerity- was the only justifiable and logical emotion. It was definitely the most complicated Irish sporting moment of the year. The Apres Match that followed cut deep. XMcD
#1 The Moment Katie Taylor Was Announced As The Gold Medalist
There are things about the Katie Taylor experience that I was wary of when the bandwagon set out for the ExCel in early August - the God stuff, the canonisation of her in the media to Marian status, the simple truth that 60kg women's boxing isn't the most competitive sport in the Olympics - but after the mad Jones fight, Taylor converted most of the cynics and her greatness was pretty apparent. Now all she had to do was win gold. After the endless hangover of the Euros, Ireland needed to win something. We'd been hearing Taylor was a shoe-in for a gold for at least a year. I've always sensed that that desperation fuelled a big chunk of Katiemania.
Many people didn't like Ochigava, but there a bit of Drago in her. She knew the media and the crowd were against her and she played the villain role perfectly. She also fought a brilliant fight for gold, neutralising Taylor and turning the home advantage against her. To some, certainly to herself, she was the winner.
I was never sure that Taylor would win. It seemed that close after the fourth. The only thing that assured me was a voice that told me Taylor had to win, that this was destined. (But imagine if she had lost? This would have been the disappointment that would have sent the nation collectively over the edge.) The wait in the ring for the announcement went about 45 seconds. The agony that accompanied that delay and the joy that we all felt was proof of how badly we all wanted Taylor to win. More than just jump on the bandwagon of someone who might win gold, we had taken a wild ride with an elite, once-a-generation athlete. The adoration heaped on Taylor in the minutes, days, weeks and months that followed were more than deserved.XMcD
