Burning Issue: What was the Irish sporting highlight of 2012

It was a brilliant year for Irish sport. But which of these three moments was the highlight of an action-packed year? Three JOE writers argue the case for their choice.

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Adrian Collins says... while it feels pretty odd to be going on about a semi-final instead of a final as the best moment, the Leinster/Clermont game in April was as tense as it gets.

It was gripping right from the first minute, and was Leinster's toughest test on the road to the trophy. The final with Ulster should have been the place where the cup was won, but Leinster's momentum and confidence from winning such a tight, physical game meant that the men from Ravenhill were up against an unstoppable force by the time they reached Twickenham.

Even in the build-up, everyone knew this was going to be a close run thing, with the bookies giving neither side the edge. It's been a while since Leinster fans have had anything but success to worry about, but Clermont away was always going to present a huge challenge for any team.

The game had everything that you could want from a rugby match: physical tackling, free flowing play, and a last five minutes that would have had more than a few of us under a lot of stress. The first half was won from the boot, and Leinster went in trailing, looking in real danger of not mounting a come back. The Clermont crowd were playing their part too, making incredible noise and letting the ref know what they thought of every decision that didn't go their way.

The second half was where the real nail biting started, as Leinster stepped it up a gear. Just after the break, an incredible line break from Kearney set up Healy for a great try. Kearney also slotted over one of the best drop goals you'll ever see, given that it was 45 metres out and it was a high pressure situation. But he only scored that because of his GAA upbringing, didn't he?

The last few minutes showed the grit of a side who were absolutely obsessed with winning, and but for a slight bit of luck with Fofana dropping the ball at the line in the last minutes, Leinster were out at the penultimate hurdle.

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The assault on the Leinster defence continued into the 82nd minute, when O'Brien was able to steal the ball to cap an incredible performance and seal the win. What a game.

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Sean Nolan says... when a 1/6 favourite loses in any sport, it is pretty memorable. When that favourite is beaten out the gate it is even more memorable. And when that favourite is the greatest hurling team to ever run out on a field then it will live on as one of the sporting highlights of the decade, never mind the year.

Kilkenny’s mauling at the hands of Galway in the Leinster hurling final on July 8 this year was the only sporting moment of 2012 when I literally stared open mouthed at the TV. Yes I screamed and shouted a lot during the Olympics as Katie, John Joe, Paddy, Michael Conlon, Jason Smyth, Michael McKillop and Mark Rohan all did us proud, and yes, I was slack-jawed during Euro 2012 for all the wrong reasons.

Rory McIlroy’s ascension to the pinnacle of his game was very pleasing and Leinster’s annexation of another European title was a joy to watch too.

But that game of hurling was stunning and will stay with me for longer than all the others. It was like everything we knew about the game was wrong; all wrong. The mighty Cats took 20 minutes to score a point. By then, the Tribe had 1-6. At half-time, Brian Cody’s men trailed by 14, the sort of margin they doled out, never received.

Joe Canning’s early goal, and David Burke’s major midway through the first half, were top class finishes and Kilkenny went from supreme masters of hurling to also-rans in the space of 35 scintillating minutes. It was like we had stepped into a parallel universe.

Galway held them at arms length for the second half, winning by 10 and while a draw, and a Kilkenny win would ensure the biggest prize of all in hurling ended up by the Nore yet again in 2012, that magical day in July was the sort of upset that makes us all remember why we watch sport. Epic, dramatic and unforgettable and the runaway winner for highlight of the year in my book.

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Conor Heneghan says... a couple of weeks back, I wrote a small piece in these pages in favour of Katie Taylor winning the upcoming Sports Personality of the Year award and that although there were some very worthy contenders, that there could only really be one winner.

And continuing on that theme, when Irish people recall their most memorable moments of 2012, not just in the sporting landscape, the image of Katie beaming with a gold medal around her neck and with an Irish flag held proudly aloft will be very hard to beat.

Olympic gold medals are something that can never be taken for granted, certainly not in Ireland where we have only won nine in more than a century, but such was the expectation on Katie’s shoulders that anything but a gold would have been regarded as a disappointment.

And talented though she is; that pressure must have been remarkably difficult to deal with, particularly as people had been talking about Katie winning the gold for ages beforehand and were treating the Olympics almost as a coronation rather than a series of very difficult challenges that had to be overcome.

And difficult they proved to be. The semi-final against may have been something of a non-event but Natasha Jones was no slouch and Sofya Ochigava showed more than occasional glimpses of the fighter who had actually defeated Taylor in the past.

When Katie’s victory was confirmed, it seemed like relief more than joy was the overwhelming emotion and although the sight of Katie being given the gold medal will live long in the memory, there was another moment prior to that was actually my personal favourite of the last 12 months.

As the bell for the final round rang and with the outcome far from definitive, Katie shot a glance over at her father Pete in her corner, almost worriedly looking for reassurance that she had done enough to come out on top.

With a look, Pete gave her the nod and although you always knew it anyway, when they embraced afterwards, you realised once again that Pete Taylor was not simply Katie’s coach but her Dad too.

It was the highlight of the Olympics, the highlight of a brilliant year and one that like Houghton’s goals against England and Italy, Michael Carruth’s gold, Stephen Roche’s Tour de France and all the other great Irish sporting moments, will live for a very long time in the memory.