Between the Euros, the Olympics and the November internationals, it's been a positively mental year for Irish sport.
Over Christmas, we've all reflected on the landmark events, but we felt it necessary to remember some of the lesser-spotted achievements from Irish sport this year.
In no particular order, here are five of the most compelling, radar-slipping moments from 2016:
Luke Keeler vs Tom Doran, Round 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ahOpHz0Dc
Irish boxing didn't quite get the result it was looking for, as Dublin's amicable middleweight prospect 'Cool Hand' Luke Keeler was bombed out in the second round of his rematch with Wales' Tom Doran - the only man to have previously beaten him in his professional career.
Despite the emphatic result, the pair's emphatic throwdown live on Sky could have swung either way; after a tentative opening, all hell broke loose during the second half of round one, as Keeler dropped Doran with a stunning right hand before getting caught with a swift counter-left whilst trying to finish the job.
Reeling, the smiley Dub was then caught with a number of pinpoint shots by his stone-cold courageous adversary, landing on his backside as a crazy opening round drew to a close. He failed to recover, and was stopped a round later, but for while it lasted, this was a proper Irish sporting spectacle.
Tipperary's 'upset' of Cork in the Munster Football Championship
It speaks to the footballers' position in the GAA pecking order - in both counties, that is - that just 2,734 were in Semple Stadium to witness the Premier County's first win over the Rebels in senior championship football since 1944.
When you consider the figures Tipp had lost that winter and spring, it put the seven-point underdogs' achievement in further context.
In October, it was announced that Colin O'Riordan - one of the best young players in the country - would be departing for Aussie Rules. The 20-year-old, 2014's Young Footballer of the Year, joined the Sydney Swans on a two-year rookie deal.
This was followed two months later by Steven O'Brien choosing hurling as his priority. O'Riordan and O'Brien had formed a ferocious midfield partnership as Tipp reached the 2015 All-Ireland U21 final.
The conveyor belt of setbacks for manager Liam Kearns, however, wasn't finished rolling.
In May, Liam Casey, Jason Lonergan and Kevin Fahey decided they would be spending the summer in the US rather than line out for the Seniors. All three had played in that U21 final defeat to Tyrone a year previous.
Nonetheless, Tipp sunk their southern neighbours with two injury-time placed balls from Kevin O’Halloran - this following a late Cork levelling. Their 3-15 to 2-16 win was one of the best football matches all year, and their first Championship win over Cork in 72 years.
Kellie Harrington wins World silver in
The House That Katie Built received planning permission for an extension in 2016. Cork woman Christina Desmond closed the year out with a bronze medal at the European Championships, while six months previously, her Dublin counterpart Kellie Harrington became just the second Irishwoman ever to medal at a boxing World Championships.
Nrrowly beaten by China's Wenlu Yang in the final, Harrington would later star as part of RTÉ's Olympic boxing coverage, providing bluntly scathing assessments of the tournament by which her own remarkable achievement became somewhat overshadowed.
She might herself have rectified many of the wrongs both caused and suffered by Ireland's boxers at Rio were it not for the problem of, well, logistics; Harrington's light-welterweight division is simply not included amongst women's boxing at the Olympics.
Nonetheless, she enters 2017 as a World silver medallist, and just the fifth Irish fighter - male or female - to have contested a world final.
Olive Loughnane recognised as world champion seven years after winning World silver
GOLD for @OliveLoughnane - Seven years after the Berlin World Championships, Olive is recognised as the race winnerhttps://t.co/XCCy0AEPTg
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 6, 2016
Loughnane finished in runners up spot at the 20k race walk World Championship back in 2009, but the winner, Russia's Olga Kaniskina, was this year disqualified having been implicated in 'that' doping scandal.
Her seven-year wait came to an end at this year's European Championships, when the 40-year-old was presented with her retrospective medal by IAAF president Seb Coe, before Amhrán na bhFiann rang out and the tricolour was raised at a special ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.
In 2009, Loughnane produced a season’s best time of 1:28:58 to follow Kaniskina across the whitewash in Berlin, seeing off Chinese walker Liu Hong in the battle for silver.
On being presented with her new gold medal seven years later, Loughnane told the Irish Times: “There’s value in sentiment and it was great to share the moment with all the Irish fans here.”
Cork City u19s' European odyssey
17 - GOALLLLLLLLL @CorkCityFC - We've got a game on here as Aaron Drinan finds the bottom of the net! 1-1! #UYL🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/Gw1WwZ9VAX
— SSE Airtricity League (@SSEAirtricityLg) November 2, 2016
On a historic year for League of Ireland clubs in Europe, Stephen Bermingham's young men from Leeside were the first Irish team to ever represent their country in the UEFA Youth League.
Having dumped out HJK Helsinki in the previous round, the Rebels welcomed Italian u19 champions AS Roma - fresh off their own 4-0 win over Inter in the Supercopa - to Turners Cross for a Last 16 clash.
After the Italian giants were pulled from the hat, right-back Pierce Phillips - in the middle of studying for his Leaving Cert - told the Evening Echo:
We’re practically training full time around school and work at the moment so we’re well prepared. It’s unbelievable to be facing a club that big.
A crowd of almost 3,000 witnessed them go behind to a soft Davide Frattesi goal early doors before standout talent Aaron Drinan levelled matters with a superb finish on 20 minutes.
Drinan then missed a penalty to put City 2-1 up, and despite forcing Roma back into their own territory for much of the second half, conceded two late, breakaway goals to lose a tremendously entertaining first leg 3-1.
The return leg, considered a formality for Roma (as indeed was the first), was eventually won by the Italian capital club 1-0.
Nonetheless, as Dundalk did at senior level, Cork made quite the impact on European u19 football, with last season's national u19 champions once more proving that - as a squad - they remain a coming force in Irish football.
Incredibly professional performance by @CorkCityFC U19s superb ambassadors for club & for youth football in Ireland #standupforthecorkcity pic.twitter.com/npKB8FBKxh
— Lisa Fallon (@lisafallonsport) November 23, 2016
