{"id":11627,"date":"2026-08-20T18:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/?post_type=sport&#038;p=11627"},"modified":"2026-08-26T13:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:01:23","slug":"sports-awards-2026","status":"publish","type":"sport","link":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/sport\/sports-awards-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"SPORTS AWARDS 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The UCD Athletic Union Council Sports Awards took place in the Astra Hall in May, recognising the achievements of over 550 UCD sportspersons from 30 clubs<sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ireland and UCD Athletics Club hammer thrower Nicola Tuthill was named this year&#8217;s recipient of the <strong>Dr Tony O&#8217;Neill Sportsperson of the Year Award<\/strong>, becoming the first individual to win the honour on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UCD Ladies and Men&#8217;s Boat Club was recognised as<strong> Elite<\/strong> <strong>Club of the Year<\/strong> following an impressive 12 months of success at both national and international levels. The UCD Rugby U20A Men&#8217;s team claimed the <strong>Elite Team of the Year Award <\/strong>after securing the JP Fanagan Premier 1 title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the other award winners, the UCD Women&#8217;s Rugby first team was named <strong>Varsity Team of the Year<\/strong> after a perfect season in which they captured all four trophies on offer. Meanwhile, UCD Tennis Club was honoured as <strong>Varsity Club of the Year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The<strong> David O&#8217;Connor Memorial Medal<\/strong> was presented to Ladies Boat Club athlete Orla O&#8217;Sullivan, while Eimear Muldoon of the Ladies Boat Club received the <strong>Gerry Horkan Club Administrator of the Year Award<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The inaugural <strong>Club Sustainability Award<\/strong> went to UCD Archery. UCD Cycling&#8217;s Noel McGlynn was named <strong>Graduate of the Year<\/strong>, while Keira Duffy received the <strong>Volunteer Coach of the Year Award<\/strong> in recognition of her work with UCD Mountaineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>Club Inclusion Award<\/strong> was presented to UCD Karate, and UCD Cycling also took home <strong>Club Event of the Year <\/strong>for organising the Hill Climb National Championships. Michael Mullane of UCD GAA was awarded the <strong>Dr Padraic Conway Memorial Medal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UCD Athletic Union Council Sports Awards took place in the Astra Hall in May, recognising the achievements of over 550 UCD sportspersons from 30 clubs. Ireland and UCD Athletics Club hammer thrower Nicola Tuthill was named this year&#8217;s recipient of the Dr Tony O&#8217;Neill Sportsperson of the Year Award, becoming the first individual to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12232,"template":"","sport_categories":[273],"class_list":["post-11627","sport","type-sport","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sport_categories-273"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SPORTS AWARDS 2026 - 2026 Sport Shorts - UCD Connections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/sport\/sports-awards-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SPORTS AWARDS 2026 - 2026 Sport Shorts - UCD Connections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UCD Athletic Union Council Sports Awards took place in the Astra Hall in May, recognising the achievements of over 550 UCD sportspersons from 30 clubs. 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