On the soccer front, Irish fans finally closed an odd-numbered year in good spirits, making a nice change from the more familiar tale of counselling brought about by play-off heartbreak or attempting to escape the reality of embarrassing campaigns. Some will keep questioning Giovanni Trapattoni's selection policy and tactical mindset, but anyone who book-ends a decade-long gap in qualifying for major tournaments deserves to be applauded. The wily Italian also guided us to a rare trophy, even if it was the Carling Nations Cup. Robbie Keane broke the 50-goal barrier for his country and extended even further the odds on any future Irishman ever taking his remarkable record. Followers of the club game here will also remember the year fondly after Shamrock Rovers advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, even if they were the only one of the 48 participants not to gain a single point from six games. Completing the feel-good factor for the sport in Ireland was the staging of that tournament's final in the remodelled Aviva Stadium in May, when then-Porto striker Falcao notched the winner for his team against local rivals Braga.
The football world at large was dominated by Barcelona, who claimed their third Champions League success in six years with a masterful 3-1 win over Manchester Utd at Wembley. The magnificent Catalan side also won their third consecutive La Liga title and recently claimed the Club World Cup in Japan, all the while reinventing the way football is played. It wasn't a bad year for United, either, who broke Liverpool's long-standing record for league titles and will enter 2012 looking good to retain the Premier League crown. That is despite the best efforts of Manchester City, who may push them all the way if they have the bottle to go the distance in a title chase. It wasn't all rosy in the football garden, though. FIFA, the sport's governing body, reached a nadir with multiple cases of corruption within the organisation and president Sepp Blatter's continuing tendency to spout soundbytes of such idiocy that George W Bush seems like Oscar Wilde in comparison.
In GAA, Kilkenny reclaimed top spot in hurling after a memorable win over reigning champions Tipperary in the most eagerly-anticipated All-Ireland final in history. Dublin's league triumph and run to the All-Ireland semi-finals showed them as a coming force while Limerick can also be pleased with their efforts, which included a Munster under-21 title, particularly after the chaos of 2010. The likes of Galway and Cork had a summer to forget while Clare, sadly, are further than ever from reliving the glory days of the mid-90s.
On the big ball front, the world's greatest novelists could not have concocted a more dramatic finale to the championship than what Stephen Cluxton delivered on a sunny day at Croke Park in September as Dublin ended their 16-year wait for Sam Maguire against old foes Kerry, who must still be wondering how they lost from what appeared an unassailable position. That heart-stopping climax resurrected what had been a mundane tournament, personified to the extreme by Donegal, who LOST an All-Ireland semi-final despite only conceding 0-8 to their opponents.
Irish rugby veered between ecstasy and despair in 2011. Unquestionably the highlight was beating Australia at the World Cup, while we also had the pleasure of seeing off England in our first Six Nations campaign back at Lansdowne. Just as Ireland appeared to be on the verge of greatness, though, we once again threw it all away with an insipid performance against Wales that maintained the tradition of a quarter-final World Cup exit. At least the clubs had tangible success, with Leinster producing a storming second half performance to overcome Northampton and win their second Heineken Cup, Munster claiming the Magners League (now called the RaboDirect Pro 12, God wasn't it grand when it was just simply the Celtic League) and Connacht making their Heineken Cup debut.
The World Cup ended with New Zealand finally living up to their billing on the biggest stage of all in front of their own fans, although they were pushed the whole way in the final by France. Ah yes, the French, that notoriously unpredictable shower who could so easily have won the tournament despite losing two games in the group stage, one of those against Tonga. Even then they were only spared an early exit when they scored a last-minute try from a scrum, which they chose from a penalty even though a very kickable three points would have been enough to see them through. Still, at least they're not England, who turned into a journalist's wet dream with all their shenanigans in the southern hemisphere.
Ireland's golfers generally had a good year of it, with 22-year-old Rory McIlroy closing in on top spot in the world rankings and winning the US Open to put his potentially career-crippling US Masters collapse behind him. He wasn't our only Major champion this year; Darren Clarke took top honours in the British Open at Royal St. George's. Elsewhere, Graeme McDowell continues to impress, although it's been a difficult 12 months for the once-mighty Padraig Harrington.
There was rare Irish representation at the Wimbledon championships in June, with Conor Niland coming within one game of taking on former world number one Roger Federer. The singles tournaments were ultimately won by Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova. In Formula 1, Sebastian Vettel cruised to his second consecutive world title. On the darts front, the once-dominant Phil Taylor is now facing stringent competition from the likes of Adrian Lewis, who took the PDC World Championship, and fast-improving Premier League winner Gary Anderson. Taylor's premature exit from the 2012 World Championship earlier this week ought to further incentivise the chasing pack to knock the Stoke-born legend off his perch. Ireland's own Brendan Dolan made headlines by reaching the final of the Grand Prix in Citywest in October.
Meanwhile Katie Taylor underlined her reputation as one of the greatest female athletes in the world by winning the European Amateur Championship for the seventh year in a row. More success surely beckons in 2012. And while I confess to being indifferent as ever to cricket, it would be folly of me not to acknowledge the Ireland team's shock win over England, of all nations, at the World Cup in March. That said, don't even bother trying to teach me the rules or persuading me to watch it! On a more sombre note, horse racing is much the poorer for the injury-enforced retirement of the great Denman.
That was quite a lot of sporting headlines packed into 12 months. With Euro 2012, the Olympics and old favourites such as the Champions League, All-Ireland championships and Heineken Cup to keep us entertained next year, another historic year of sport is about to unfold.
As a late Christmas bonus...the 1st annual Togher Perspective awards:
The 'gotcha' award - it may seem like a fun way of sharing your thoughts, but when you're in the public eye you really have to think twice about what you post on Twitter. Dutch has-been footballer Ryan Babel, general pain in the rear Joey Barton and some Samoan rugby player whose name I can't be arsed looking up are among those whose tweets got them into hot water.
The 'melodramatic news reporter' award - Jim White on Sky Sports News jumps with excitement when he hears a sliver of a transfer rumour, so imagine how short of oxygen he must have been after the January day when Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll all made unexpected big-money moves.
The 'all credit to impartiality' award - former Dundalk FC player John Murphy now does radio commentary on the Lilywhites' matches and when Glentoran came to town, he was neutral as ever: "The referee has given a penalty to Glentoran. I didn't see it myself but it was a disgraceful decision!"
The 'think of the children' award - management can be a stressful business and it's easy to get caught up in the white heat of Munster championship battle, which may explain why RTE cameras caught ex-Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald shouting "ah for f**k sake Barry that's bulls***!"
The 'be grateful for small mercies' award - with one win, six points and 115 goals conceded in 36 league games, it's been a pretty dismal year for Galway United, but Estonian top flight club Ajax Lasnamae trumped the Tribesmen for morale-sapping fare with no wins, four points and the meagre total of 192 goals against in the same number of matches. At least Galway didn't lose 11-0, 12-0 (both at home), 13-1 and 14-0 at any stage in the Airtricity League.
The 'tis a great day for bog snorkeling' award - hurling matches on muddy pitches are nothing new, but people who have been going to county finals since before I was born couldn't remember worse conditions for the big day than what Crusheen and Sixmilebridge had to endure at Cusack Park in October.
The 'pressure is for tyres' award - to land a match-winning drop goal with the last play of the game is pretty impressive; to do so two weeks in a row is phenomenal. When you need someone with an Arctic temperament, who would you rather have than Ronan O'Gara?
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