Where does Katie Taylor rank in Ireland's top 10 sporting greats?

KATIE Taylor bowed out in glory on Saturday night. What a remarkable person she is and what an amazing athlete she was. An Olympic gold medallist, she left the stage as the undisputed light-welterweight world champion having bested every opponent put against her including Chantelle Cameron, the one woman to beat her over her 10-year professional career. Where do her achievements and the impact she's had on her people rank in the pantheon of Ireland's greatest? Andy Watters had a look… George Best SIXTY years after he reached his playing peak the Belfast genius is enshrined as a football icon. A remarkably-gifted player he'd have been a star in any era. Born with incredible talent, he was quick, had the built-in radar required to succeed during a very physical era, he was two-footed, he could pass the ball, head it, score goals, tackle… Just a complete player. The Manchester United legend was a phenomenon and although he also became well known for his extravagant lifestyle and issues with alcoholism, he'll always be remembered for his brilliance with a ball at his feet. Katie Taylor HUMILITY, decency, hard-work, self-respect, excellence… The positive values the softly-spoken warrior from Wicklow extolled over the last 20 years make her a true role model. She won Olympic gold in London in 2012 and after disappointment at Rio four years later embarked on a thrilling 10-year career as a professional fighter that revolutionised women's boxing in particular and women's sport in general. Her career reached its peak on Saturday as 83,000 came to pay homage and play their part as she bowed out on an unforgettable night at Croke Park with the win that saw her retire as undisputed world champion. Rory McIlroy THE Hollywood native is one of only six players to complete golf's 'Grand Slam' of all four Major championships. A child prodigy, he delivered on his potential to become a superstar with an all-round skillset and temperament to master any and all conditions that makes him a favourite with fans all over the world. McIlroy's combination of monster driving off the tee, precision iron play and a delicate touch on the greens has enabled him to capture six Major titles including back-to-back Masters in 2025 and 2026. He's also a six-time Ryder Cup winner who is often refreshingly honest and forthright in interviews. Roy Keane HE came from nowhere. I can remember reading the match report in a Sunday paper about his debut for Nottingham Forest against Liverpool at Anfield. Before then I'd never heard of the Cork native. What a career he had at Forest under Brian Clough and then of course with Manchester United. An uncompromising leader and midfield general, he was an absolute colossus on the field. He won every major trophy with United and played at the 1994 World Cup with the Republic of Ireland. But he didn't go to the 2002 World Cup and we might have won it if he had. Brian O'Driscoll I WENT to one rugby match at the old Lansdowne Road and, would you believe it, it turned out to be O'Driscoll's home debut. He won his third cap that day against Argentina (the first two had come in Australia) and went on to win another 130 making him currently the sixth most capped international player. Retired as a bona fide Irish legend having proven himself good enough to play on any team in the world. He was an inspirational leader who contributed 245 points to Ireland's cause over a 15-year career that did so much to bring rugby from a niche sport to a national past time. David Clifford HAS there ever been a better Gaelic Footballer? There couldn't have been. Is he the best of all time? I reserved judgement on that but his consistency and genius have convinced me that the Fossa clubman genuinely is the G.O.A.T. A defender can come off the field satisfied that they did a good marking job on Clifford and he might still have scored 1-5 in the game! He's a player who can a game in a heartbeat. He scores goals when other forwards would take points and scores points when mere mortals would pass the ball. Worth the admission price on his own. Carl Frampton THERE were echoes of Frampton's style in the understated, feet-on-the-ground manner Katie Taylor went about her business. What a fighter he was. A supreme counter-puncher who made opponents miss and then made them pay. After beating Kiko Martinez on an unforgettable night at the Titanic Slipway and unifying the super-bantamweight world title by defeating Scott Quigg in Manchester, Frampton became Ireland's second two-weight world champion when he beat Leo Santa Cruz in New York to win the featherweight title. Immensely popular in and out of the ring, Frampton has become a popular TV pundit and is now a regular on the wing for his local soccer team. Rhys McClenaghan WITH no history of Irish success on the pommel horse to build on, McClenaghan had to blaze his own trail and he has conquered the world. A Commonwealth Games and European champion in 2018, he rebounded from disappointment at Tokyo in 2020 to win the World Championships in 2022 and 2023. His crowning glory came with gold at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. He's still just 27 so there's plenty more to come. Tony McCoy HE rode more winners than he had hot dinners during his career. 4,358 times he was first past the post. Unusually, the Moneyglass native didn't come from a horseracing background but he rode his first winner in 1992 aged 17. A man blessed with a truly unbreakable will, he rode his 4,000th winner 21 years later and by the time he retired in 2015 he'd won almost every major race over Irish over British jumps including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, King George VI Chase and the 2010 Grand National. Paul McGrath CROKE Park on Saturday night reverberated to the ominously jaunty strains of Italia 90 classic Put 'em under pressure . Of course McGrath was central to the success of Jack Charlton's ground-breaking sides that reached Ireland's first World Cup in 1990 and went to USA in 1994 as well. McGrath played in midfield in Italy and because of his deteriorating knees that meant he couldn't train later in his career he retreated to centre-back four years later. He kept out a star-studded Italy side almost on his own with a series of brilliant tackles and clearances as Ireland won 1-0 in New Jersey. Oooh-ah, Paul McGrath… Steven Roche WHO remembers him coming from nowhere to almost catch rival Pedro Delgado on a crucial stage of the 1987 Tour De France? Roche was exhausted after his effort but recovered to push on and become the first and only Irish man to win the greatest prize in cycling. 1987 was an outstanding year for the Dubliner who achieved the 'Triple Crown' by also winning the Giro d'Italia and the World Road Race Championship. After retirement he faced unproven allegations of performance-enhancing drug-taking and has strenuously denied them. Other contenders include: Barry McGuigan (Pedroza/Thank you very much Mr Eastwood/Caesar's Palace/bring Frampton to the top), Kellie Harrington (Olympic golds in Tokyo and Paris), Rory Best (captained Ireland to the Grand Slam in 2018), Joey Dunlop (26-time TT winner), Sonia O'Sullivan (world and European champion and silver medallist at 2000 Olympics in 5000m), Mary Peters (gold medal in pentathlon at 1972 Olympics), Steve Collins (Ireland's first two-weight world champion), Liam Brady (Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Ireland legend), Henry Shefflin (Kilkenny hurling icon), Kate O'Connor (European heptathlon champion), Dennis Taylor (1985 Snooker World Champion), Alex Higgins (1972 and 1982 Snooker World champion), Conor McGregor (UFC champion), Eamon Coughlan (World 5000m champion)