From Tokyo to Timoleague and Miami to Mallow, West Cork athletes made history in 2025. KIERAN McCARTHY on the top 20 standout stories that defined an incredible sporting year

1 KINGS OF MUNSTER

Kilbrittain struck a blow for every hurler in West Cork when they captured the Munster junior hurling championship title in Mallow in late November. This was proof that this region can produce quality hurlers, as Kilbrittain completed the double, adding the Munster title to their Cork premier junior crown won the month before. Mark Hickey and Bertie Butler scored the goals in an emphatic 2-17 to 0-9 victory over Waterford side Kilrossanty in the provincial win, and it led to another homecoming parade in Kilbrittain. For a team that didn’t get out of their group in the 2024 county championship to now conquer Munster, it’s been a remarkable rise.

2 THE WORLD STAGE

So, we know by now that Nicola Tuthill is a special talent, and her achievements this past year were further proof that West Cork is home to one of the country’s most exciting rising stars. The Kilbrittain hammer thrower enjoyed superb success in 2025: U23 gold at the European Throwing Cup, silver medals at both the European U23 Athletics Championships and World University Games, but it was Nicola’s eleventh-place finish at the senior World Athletics Championship in Tokyo in September that was more evidence of her incredible talent. At just 21 years of age, to qualify for the World final, in her first senior Worlds, and then finish 11th suggests that the best is yet to come.

Kilbrittain's Nicola Tuthill in action at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

3 TOP MARKS

This is a collective, rather than one single success, but such was the head-turning achievements of West Cork secondary schools in the world of rugby, they have to be recognised. We had Sacred Heart Secondary School Clonakilty winning the Munster Girls Cup senior and junior double for the second year in a row. Bandon Grammar School made a big breakthrough with their first Munster Schools Boys Junior Cup triumph, and they were also named Munster Rugby School of the Year 2025. Also in Bandon, Hamilton High School won the U19 Mungret Cup final in just rugby’s second year in the school. Clonakilty Community College and Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí continue to push forward too. It all emphasises that the conveyor belt is strong.

4 THE ONE THEY WANTED

Kilmacabea manager Donie O’Donovan compared Leap village on the Monday night after they won the Cork Junior A Football Championship title to Electric Picnic, and you can understand why: the celebrations that greeted this success were like nothing the village had seen. Having dominated Carbery, winning five JAFC titles in nine years, Kilmacabea wanted the county crown, and a place in the county premier junior grade. There was a final loss and semi-final heartbreak before, but on November 30th the Kilmacs beat Donoughmore (1-14 to 1-7) to win the title they really wanted. Magical. A fairytale ending to this chapter, as we move into the next chapter.

5 GOAL-DEN TOUCH

While the battle for the Ireland No. 10 jersey rages on, there is no disputing Jack Crowley’s class, and growing importance to Munster; think of his performance in the URC win against Leinster in Croke Park in October. But who will ever forget the Bandon Rugby Club prodigy’s superb drop goal in an epic 25-24 Investec Champions Cup knockout round-of-16 win over La Rochelle on French soil. Drop goals are one of his calling cards – remember his sweet strike against Leinster in the 2023 URC semi-final? Back to La Rochelle though, and Jack’s sweet 68th-minute drop goal gave Munster enough of a lead to fight off the home side’s late rally. An irony here is that Ronan O’Gara, himself a drop goal specialist, is in charge of the French side.

Munster's Jack Crowley scores a drop goal despite Stade Rochelais' Ultan Dillane's best efforts in their Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 tie in La Rochelle last April.

6 HEAVYWEIGHT PUNCH

Skibbereen rower Fintan McCarthy entered uncharted waters in 2025, swapping the security and knowledge of lightweight for the unknown of heavyweight. He had little choice, as the lightweight option had been dropped from the Olympic schedule. So, to win THREE medals in the Irish men’s double in his first year at heavyweight is encouraging ahead of the next Olympic cycle. After bronze medals at the Europeans and the World Cup in Lucerne, Fintan partnered Philip Doyle to bronze at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai in late September. Add in World gold in the Irish mixed double alongside Mags Cremen, as Fintan’s story begins a new chapter: heavyweight hero.

7 DOHENYS BIG DAY

THE bridesmaids had their big day – and they deserved it. Dohenys’ ladies footballers had endured challenging days in the county junior A championship, losing three of the four previous finals. But they finally had their moment in the spotlight in October, beating Bantry Blues by 1-12 to 1-4 to finally win the title that had eluded them. Dohenys mentor Miriam Forbes remarked: ‘We were fed up with being bridesmaids and never being the bride.’ But with heroes all over the field, including Abbie McCarthy and Ava O’Donovan who combined for 1-7, Dohenys won the title they wanted.

8 RETURN TO SUMMIT

Fiona Everard told herself that if she was ever in the position to win another national senior women’s cross-country title, she would enjoy it more than in 2023. That year, her first at senior level, the Bandon AC athlete wanted to make sure she crossed the finish line in first place, but at the 2025 championships held in Derry in November, Fiona found herself powering to glory – and a second senior title in just three years – so she could enjoy the run to the finish line. Fiona quipped: ‘One hundred metres from the finish I started smiling and I couldn’t get it off my face!’ A career-best top-10 finish at the Euro Cross-Country then followed.

9 FOUR-MIDABLE

Clonakilty Soccer Club has emerged as the new force in the West Cork League, nudging Drinagh Rangers off top spot. The evidence is overwhelming: in the 2024/25 season, Clon won FOUR trophies, including defending their Premier Division title and Beamish Cup crown. Add in the Premier Division Cup and Michael Cronin Cup, and you can see how dominant Clon were this year. More proof of their standing as the best in the region is they clinched the Premier Division title with a 4-2 away win against their main title rival, Drinagh, in early May. A statement win.

10 MIGHTY MEABH

Months before Troy Parrott’s last-gasp heroics fired the Republic of Ireland to a World Cup qualifier victory in Hungary, a young Skibbereen teenager did likewise for her school in an All-Ireland senior A final. The big difference: Skibbereen Community School had an All-Ireland cup to bring back West after beating Loreto College Cavan 2-10 to 3-6 in a thriller at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. With seconds left, ice-cool Meabh Collins kept her cool to land a famous winning point for her school. When the ball left her right foot, its final destination was never in doubt. The stuff of legend, as the Skibbereen school were crowned All-Ireland champions. Magical by Meabh.

Skibbereen Community School's Niamh O'Sullivan, Hannah Sheehy and Becca Sheehy celebrate the All-Ireland success.

11 SISTER ACT

Saturday, July 26th is a date that the Sexton sisters, Hannah and Laura, will never forget – on the same day and on the same road, the Timoleague throwers created road bowling history when they won the Munster senior and junior finals within hours of one another at Bauravilla. This was unique, and memorable. Hannah got the better of Hannah Cronin in the senior final, to recapture a title she had held in 2022. It was younger sister Laura’s turn to conquer Munster then when she came out on top against Darcy O’Brien in the junior final. Double delight subsequently became All-Ireland glory when Laura went on to win the inaugural All-Ireland ladies junior title.

12 ENYA’S ON SONG

Enya Breen marked her first appearance in a Rugby World Cup in style – the Castletownshend woman scored a try against Japan in Ireland’s opening Pool C contest at Franklin’s Gardens in late August. It was a dream debut for Enya who powered over the line for Ireland’s sixth try in a convincing 42-14 in Northampton. The importance of a West Cork woman performing on the biggest stage cannot be understated. It highlights, again, that this region is producing top-class players in both men’s and women’s rugby.

13 DOUBLE DELIGHT

Sunday, October 19th is a day they’ll remember in Ballinascarthy for years to come, as the club’s camogie and football teams both won titles at the same time on the same day. In Castle Road, the Bal camogie team defeated Sliabh Rua to capture the county intermediate championship, and earn promotion to the premier intermediate ranks for 2026. Closer to home, the Bal hurling team reclaimed top spot in Carbery when they won the division’s junior A hurling championship title, beating Kilbree in Kilbrittain; a fourth Flyer Nyhan Cup success in seven seasons. So, two brilliant Bal successes in one day, with several families having players on both teams. Pride of the parish.

14 WONDER WALL

The Wall clan from Kilbrittain have had some year, with twins Philip and Kate both winning county and Munster titles, the former with Kilbrittain hurlers, and the latter with St Finbarr’s camogie team. Since Philip and Kilbrittain take the No. 1 spot in this list, here it’s all about Kate who hit a stunning 2-4 when the Barrs won the Munster senior club championship final in November, beating De La Salle. Kate’s haul included a late winning goal. Carbery has a knack of producing quality camogie players, Kate included. The Walls alone are a hurling conveyor belt.

Kilbrittain woman Kate Wall scores a goal for St Finbarr's in their Munster senior camogie final win.

15 COACH CONOR

Conor Hourihane’s contribution to West Cork sport is immense. So many firsts from a West Cork perspective. Our first Premier League footballer, first senior Republic of Ireland international, first local man to play in all four top leagues in England, and score in them too. An incredible career. Now he’s in the next chapter: the first West Cork man to be a head coach of an English Football League team when he took the reins at Barnsley last April. Just 34 years old, this is an endorsement of Hourihane’s standing as a talented coach/manager. Stepping into this world was always part of the plan, and he has taken it in his stride.

Bandon man Conor Hourihane is the head coach of Barnsley.

16 GUESS WHO’S BACK?

We all love a good comeback story. Who doesn’t? But it’s even better when it’s one of the good guys on the way back up – and Darragh McElhinney ticks this box. The Glengarriff athlete endured incredibly challenging 2023 and ’24 seasons, describing some parts as ‘horrendous’, but he got back on track this past year, posting personal bests in the 1500m, mile, 3000m and 5000m. Not just PBs, but world-class times that saw Darragh qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September. He was back on the main stage. Just turned 25, there’s real optimism that the best is yet to come.

17 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

It was fitting that in a year that celebrated 100 years of Carbery GAA, we had West Cork links to an All-Ireland football victory. Take a bow, the All-Ireland winning Cork minor ladies football team that had a strong West Cork connection. Skibbereen teen Allie Tobin was captain fantastic, her O’Donovan Rossa club-mate Éabha O’Donovan was a star attacker, as was Ilen Rovers’ Kate Carey who was player of the match in the All-Ireland final win against Dublin. Between them, Kate and Éabha scored 3-4 in the decider. Also, Castlehaven’s Ellen Connolly was part of the set-up, so West Cork LGFA had their own Fantastic Four!

18 THE PERFECT RACE

Laura Nicholson is not short of choices when it comes to selecting her highlights of 2025. In her final year with the University of Toledo in Ohio, the Ballinascarthy woman swept to glory, awards, personal bests and school records across several distances, and she brought that form back home to Ireland during the summer. When Laura dominated the women’s 1500m at the national senior championships on August 3rd, to win her first-ever Irish senior title, athletics legend Sonia O’Sullivan said Laura ‘ran the perfect race’. High praise. She then went on to compete in her first senior World Athletics Championships in Tokyo the following month.

19 MESMERISING MESSI

Evan Deasy had quite the adventure in September – the Bandon teen was crowned the inaugural Más+ by Messi 1v1 World champion in Miami, and won the title in front of the great man himself. To many, Messi is the greatest of all time so to impress the Argentinian superstar is an achievement in itself – and Cobh Ramblers striker Deasy did, proving himself to be the best one-on-one player in the competition, displaying his very own Messi magic.

20 REBELS’ RISING

On the inter-county scene, little compares to the colour and noise that follows the Cork hurlers. Okay, the Rebels didn’t finish the season with the All-Ireland that’s so desperately craved, but there were great moments along the way, including the dramatic Munster hurling final win against Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds in June. Cork derailed the six-in-a-row chasing Green Machine on their home turf, emerging winners after the first-ever penalty shootout in the Munster SHC. Fine margins, but the Rebels ended a seven-year wait for this provincial title. Now, to end the long wait for the Liam McCarthy ….