First Time For Everything – Katie Taylor LOSES public poll
Katie Taylor has lost her title as Ireland’s most admired sports star.
The game-changing boxer has held the crown since 2016 but was this week overtaken by recently retired rugby player Johnny Sexton.
The Irish out-half was selected by 22% of Irish adults as their favourite athlete in a survey carried out by sponsorship advisors ONSIDE between September 22-27, bringing to an end Taylor’s seven-year reign.
Roy Keane, Paul O’Connell and Rory McIlroy were ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Conor McGregor, Shane Lowry and Katie McCabe rounded out the top 10 for most admired sportsperson.
John Trainor, founder and CEO of Onside, said Sexton has built an avid fan base of almost 850,000 Irish adults who rate him as their number-one Irish sports star.
“Katie Taylor heads into her rematch with Chantelle Cameron at the 3Arena later this month 7% behind Sexton in second place, a significant 10% dip in her result since 2021.
“Meanwhile, having captained the Irish Women’s Football Team to their first ever World Cup this summer, Katie McCabe moved up 22 places and into the Top 10.
“Other female sports stars scoring strongly in the star tracker included Rachel Blackmore, Kellie Harrington, Sonia O’Sullivan and Leona Maguire.”
Irish-boxing.com has previously argued as someone who completely reshaped a sport, Taylor is the country’s greatest-ever athlete. Victory over Cameron in November would see her cement that status and may just see her return to the top of the Most Admired poll.
