Five in a row – Katie Taylor named Sportswoman of the Year

Katie Taylor was today crowned the Sport Ireland/Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year.

It’s the fifth consecutive year the Bray native has picked up the accolade.

The undisputed lightweight champion of the world was rewarded for another sensational year in the ring.

Taylor, bounced back from the disappointment of seeing a mega fight with Amanda Serrano cancelled to defeat fellow top end lightweight Delfine Persoon during in August’s Fight Camp.

The 34-year-old Olympic Gold medal winner then produced a sensational display dropping and out pointing mandatory challenger Miriam Gutierrez in the Wembley Arena in November.

Taylor, who won her first monthly Sport Ireland / Irish Times award as far back as 2005, also finished the year on top of the Pound for Pound list and was voted the Boxing Writers Association of America’s Female Fighter of the Year.

Kellie Harrington was the other boxer on the list and may have been in with a shout for victory had the Olympic gone ahead.

As well as Harrington, Taylor saw off the likes of Fionnuala McCormack, Katie-George Dunlevy, Eve McCrystal, jockey Rachael Blackmore, football player Diane Caldwell, Cork Gaelic footballer Orlagh Farmer, sprinter Gina Akpe-Moses, middle-distance runner Ciara Mageean, handball’s Martina McMahon, rower Sanita Puspure and golfer Stephanie Meadow.