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Kellie Harrington and Katie Taylor voted Ireland’s most admired sports stars

Irish boxing stars Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington are Ireland’s most admired athletes.

The lightweight duo proved themselves respect heavyweights finishing joint top of a poll to find Ireland’s most admired sports star.

The fighters shared Boxers 16pc of the vote each in the most admired sportspeople category, and thus the podium, while jockey Rachael shared 9pc of the vote with Jonathan Sexton for third.

Olympic gold medal-winning rower Paul O’Donovan, Paralympic gold and bronze-winning Ellen Keane, rugby player Tadhg Furlong and Ireland soccer captain Katie McCabe shared fifth spot on 4pc each.

Taylor, who has finished in top spot regularly over the last five years, won all three of her fights in 2021, including a massive win over former amateur rival Natasha Jonas, and goes into 2022 with as undisputed lightweight champ and a mega fight with Amanda Serrano in the pipeline.

Harrington became Ireland’s third boxing gold medal winner when she finished top of the podium in Tokyo.

The St Mary fighter’s brilliant gold medal win also ranked as the nation’s greatest sporting achievement of the year by 20pc of 1,000 surveyed, while the Irish rugby team’s defeat of New Zealand got 19pc. Rachael Blackmore’s victories at Cheltenham and Aintree received a 9pc share of the vote.

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Integral part of the Irish boxing community for over 13 years

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