Ireland’s top five greatest sports stars of all time

So many to choose from.

And to many, it is a cut-and-dried topic, with the Bray icon the undisputed, pound-for-pound No. 1.

But it's not that simple, and is slightly dismissive of the host of the world-class talent produced on this island.

In this piece I will judge the athletes on a range of criteria, with the main ones below and in order of importance:

• Stature in their respective sport and the difficulty of reaching the highest level
• Achievements
• Legend/icon status within Ireland
• Longevity

GAA fans should be fair warned that there won't be any stars from the Gaelic games, given its uniqueness as a sport that is almost entirely restricted to Ireland.

And trying to decide between the best hurling and Gaelic footballers would be a multi-article study in itself.

5. Sonia O'Sullivan

In our lifetime, we are unlikely to see an Irish track athlete achieve the same level of greatness as Sonia.

Throughout the '90s and up until the 2000 Olympics, she was one of the sport's premier stars, winning medals in the world's biggest races at various distances.

Unfortunately, as good as her accolades read, we all know it could have been even better, with some of her main rivals linked with doping scandals, while a devastating illness scuppered her chances at the '96 Olympics in Atlanta.

Nonetheless, she finished her illustrious career with the following: European gold and silver, world gold and Olympic silver in the 5000m; world gold at 1500m; Euro gold and silver at 10,000m; world cross-country gold at 4km and 8km.

There was a lot of competition for this last spot, with Paul McGrath, Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Donovan and AP McCoy all in the running.

4. Roy Keane

For many, Saipan would exclude the Corkonian from any such list, but his achievements in such a competitive sport and during such a competitive era make placing him at four nearly seem too low.

He was the driving force on the pitch behind England's most successful club team ever, winning seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a Champions League.

Individually, he was selected five times for the PFA Team of the Year, was chosen for the PFA Team of the Century, and was named PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2000.

If you were to put together a top-ten list of greatest ever Ireland performances, Keane would surely own half of them.

He dragged them to the 2002 World Cup, and even out of his prime was still able to will Ireland to great results, such as a 0-0 draw in Paris, against Zidane's France, during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

Perhaps the most obvious sign of his greatness is seen when listening to former teammates Ole Gunner Solskjaer and Ryan Giggs name him as first on the team sheet in their best XIs.

What puts him at four and not further up is the fact that he is not considered top 10/15 all-time in football.

3. Katie Taylor

If the only criterion were the level reached in their respective sport, then KT would be far and away the No. 1.

Not only is she considered by most to be the greatest female boxer of all-time, she kept on pushing boundaries and basically creating new achievements to unlock.

Her total list of accolades are too vast to write in full, but they include: six-time European champion and five-time world champion as an amateur, Olympic gold medallist in 2012, and holder of all four major belts in two different weight classes as a professional.

However, it was her trilogy against Amanda Serrano that will define her legacy, with each bout creating a new piece of history.

Taylor v Serrano I was the first female fight to headline Madison Square Garden, and was subsequently one of the greatest fights the sport had seen, being named Fight of the Year by Sports Illustrated and Event of the Year by The Ring.

Taylor v Serrano II, on the same card as Jake Paul v Mike Tyson, was shown on Netflix and became the most-watched women's professional sporting event in U.S. history.

Taylor v Serrano III headlined the first all-female boxing event at Madison Square Garden, and inevitably resulted in another victory for the Bray woman.

The fact that her Croke Park retirement is not even in her top five achievements speaks volumes.

As I write this, it feels wrong to have her anywhere other than top spot.

But the participation levels, and therefore likelihood of reaching the pinnacle of the sports in places 2 and 1, mark her down ever so slightly.

2. Rory McIlroy

With his completion of the career Grand Slam, following his victory at the 2025 Masters, the Holywood man put himself in an elite group of six men to have achieved this.

While it is still up for debate whether he is there yet, he is certainly on his way to being a top-10 golfer of all-time, while playing in the most competitive era in its history.

In terms of his legendary status within Ireland, he is not quite as high as others on this list, but he remains a global superstar and the biggest draw in golf since Tiger Woods.

Another reason for McIlroy's ranking is the standard of golf at the very highest level and the sheer difficulty of even making it as a journeyman pro.

Both Michael Jordan - possibly the greatest sportsperson in history - and Steph Curry have said that golf is the hardest sport on earth.

Rory could have another decade of high-level golf in him, and he is currently in the top 10 for European Tour wins and top 16 for PGA Tour wins, and will likely finish as the Ryder Cup's highest-ever points scorer.

1. George Best

Longevity is one of the criterion I am judging on, and Best is severely lacking in this regard.

But he ticks every other box, and reached the pinnacle of the world's most-played and most-popular sport.

He was 27 when he played his last competitive game for Manchester United and his best days were far behind him.

However, those years are enough to win him top spot for me, as he won practically all the game had to offer, with league titles, a European Cup and the 1968 Ballon d'Or.

In 2000, he came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote, and 26 years later he would still be considered one of the top 15 players ever to grace a pitch.