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Year in Review

From the Aviva to Zurich -- It's our A to Z of the sporting year

Katie Taylor, Odell Beckham Jr and Joe Brolly all make our list too.

Tommy Bowe and Peter O'Mahony celebrate after the game ©INPHO ©INPHO

A – Aviva Stadium As well as hosting the Six Nations, November internationals and Euro 2016 qualifiers, the Lansdowne Road ground held the FAI Cup finals — won by St Patrick’s Athletic and Raheny United.

B – BOD Ireland’s greatest rugby player of the professional era hung up his boots in May but went out on a high by winning the Six Nations championship and the Pro12 final.

C – Cody The Kilkenny senior hurling manager won a 10th All-Ireland title — eventually defeating Tipperary after a replay.

D – Davy Russell The Irish jockey had three winners on the final day of Cheltenham including his first Gold Cup victory with Lord Windermore.

E –Eamonn Fitzmaurice Managed Kerry to their 37th All-Ireland SFC title in September.

F –Five world titles in-a-row We’re talking about Katie Taylor, who continued her dominance in women’s boxing by winning a fifth consecutive gold medal in South Korea in November.

Katie Taylor in Dublin Airport after winning a fifth lightweight title at the AIBA World WomenÕs Elite Championships

G – Götze As in Bayern Munich midfielder Mario Götze — sprung from the bench to score Germany’s winning goal in the World Cup final.

H – Hogan Kilkenny’s star midfielder Richie was rewarded for his performances in Kilkenny’s All-Ireland-winning side with Hurler of the Year.

I – Ireland’s U19s ’The History Girls’ made it all the way to the last four of the UEFA European Championships under manager Dave Connell.

J – James O’Donoghue After winning his first All-Ireland title, the 24-year-old Kerry forward got his second Allstar and won Footballer of the Year.

K – Keane Ireland skipper Robbie won the MLS Cup and the league’s MVP award while his namesake Roy was never far away from the news throughout 2014.

L –  La Decima Real Madrid lost out to city rivals Atletico Madrid in La Liga but were European champions for the tenth time.

UFC 178 Mixed Martial Arts AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

M – McGregor The Irish UFC fighter’s star continued to rise as he returned from a knee injury to make light work of Diego Brandao and Dustin Poirier.

N – Niamh Briggs The full-back scored 40 points at the World Cup as Ireland had wins over New Zealand, the US and Kazakhstan en route to the World Cup semi-finals.

O – Odell Beckham Jr Greatest NFL catch ever? It’s certainly up there.

P – Puskas Award Irish striker Steph Roche did the unimaginable by making the final three for Fifa’s goal of the year prize.

Q – Quotes There were plenty of memorable soundbites, including this:

This does not f*****g slip.  This is gone. We go to Norwich. Exactly the same. We go again!”

R – Rory The current world number one golfer had two Major wins, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship, and took the Race to Dubai.

Super Bowl Football Paul Sancya Paul Sancya

S – Seattle Seahawks Back in February, the world tuned in to see the Seahawks outscore the Denver Broncos by 35 points at Super Bowl XLVIII.

T – Toulon Inspired by captain Jonny Wilkinson, the French club retained their European title with a convincing win over Saracens at the Millennium Stadium.

U – UFC Dublin 9,500 fans showed up at The O2 Arena for Irish MMA’s biggest ever event.

V – Vuelta a Espana Won by Alberto Contador, Ireland’s Dan Martin finished seventh.

W – “Well Joe Brolly, what do you think of that?” Kieran Donaghy’s now famous post-match interview after Kerry saw off Donegal to win the Sam Maguire.

X – Xabi Alonso Everyone’s favourite midfielder hung up his international boots but is still going strong at Bayern Munich this season.

Y –YBIG The Ireland supporters’ group expressed their frustration at FAI chief John Delaney’s treatment of fans.

Z – Zurich The city where Mark English won his bronze medal in the 800m final of the European Championships.

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