Meath Sports Awards - MARCH (three of four) KEITH DONOGHUE

The countdown is on for the Meath Chronicle Sportsperson of the Year awards with the 13th annual ceremony scheduled for its traditional home at Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim next Friday evening.

TICKETS
You can still buy tickets as there is limited availability - If you wish to attend contact Linda Cahill in the Meath Chronicle by Wednesday - linda.cahill@meathchronicle.ie or the Ticketline at (046) 9079654 - 10am - 2pm - Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

The overall 2019 Sportsperson of the Year will be selected from the monthly winners who will each be honoured on the night in recognition of their specific achievements during 2019.

The 2019 Sportsperson of the Year awards will be hosted by RTE’s Evanne Ni Chuilinn.

The list of contenders is listed at the end of this article and in this piece the focus is on one of the four March winners, jockey Keith Donoghue.

KEITH DONOGHUE

Dunshaughlin jockey Keith Donoghue was in the limelight at the Cheltenham Festival when partnering Tiger Roll to victory in the Cross-Country Chase.

It was a second successive victory for the jockey in the prestigious race, while Tiger Roll created his own little piece of Festival history with a fourth win at Cheltenham.

Wednesday 13th March 2019 was all about Tiger Roll, Keith Donoghue and Gordon Elliott as the Aintree Grand National winner romped to victory in the Cross-Country Chase at Prestbury Park.

A Skryne footballer, Donoghue steered Tiger Roll impressively as he landed his fourth Cheltenham Festival win with an utterly dominant performance in the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase.

“He's definitely a legend in my eyes anyway, he's some horse and that was some performance. He tanked the whole way and he kept going, he has got the heart of a lion,” the Dunshaughlin man told ITV Racing immediately after the race.

“What he's done is serious, he's won at four Cheltenham festivals in three different races, a Grand National and a Munster National, what a trainer Gordon (Elliott) is to get him back here every year.

KEITH AND TIGER ROLL WINNING AT NAVAN

"He's had his problems but Gordon's got him to Cheltenham every year, what a trainer. This is a dream come true for me, last year was unreal but this year you appreciate it more."

The win marked a remarkable return from injury for Keith after he broke his nose and fractured his eye socket in a bad fall at Limerick after Christmas 2018.

MONTHLY WINNERS

January - Gavin Kennedy (Ashbourne RFC); February - Shane Aston (Trim AC); March - Ger Lyons (horseracing), Andy McEntee (GAA); Keith Donoghue (horseracing), Gavin Cromwell (horseracing), April - Ray Moloney (Navan RFC), Gordon Elliott (horseracing); May - Eamonn Murray (GAA); June - Nick Fitzgerald (GAA); July - Donal Keogan (GAA); August - Colin Keane (horseracing); September - Brian Carroll & Gary McConnell (handball); October - Cian Carey (motorsport); November - Mary Watters (athletics); December - Alan Murphy (Trim Celtic).

OTHER AWARDS 
Other awards that will be presented include

Team of the Year - Na Fianna Camogie (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Outstanding Achievement Male - Jack Regan (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Outstanding Achievement Female - Natalya Coyle (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Young Sportsperson of the Year - TBA on the night (selected by Meath Chronicle)

There will be some Facebook live from the Knightsbrook next Friday night.