Craig Breen
First on this list is our own South East star, Craig Breen.
The rally driver lost his life in April, in a crash when testing for the Croatia Rally.
The Hyundai driver's car was damaged when a fence post intruded on the side window of Breen’s cockpit, and the 33-year-old succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul said:
“Road conditions were slippery and the car slid off the road at a relatively low speed and made contact with a wooden fence. A post from this fence intruded into the cabin through the driver’s side window. Craig was a wonderful person and that is true of his family and friends. The rallying community has really pulled together and it’s a mark of the high regard with which Craig was held."
Heartbreaking scenes unfolded at the hugely emotional funeral for the beloved rally driver.
His heartbroken sister Kellie said it was “mission accomplished” in his goal to “make people proud” while rally sponsor James Coleman said he was the “people’s champion”.
Jim McCourt
Olympic medallist Jim McCourt passed away in June.
The boxing star won a bronze medal for Ireland in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the lightweight division.
McCourt was rated the number-one amateur boxer in the world for four years. A master of defence and counterpunching, he was inducted into the Irish Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame.
His nephew Frankie McCourt posted: "My Uncle my Coach my Hero the great Jim McCourt. Rest in peace.."
Hugh Russell
The Belfast native returned from Moscow with a flyweight bronze in 1980, Ireland’s first Olympic medal in 16 years (since Jim McCourt).
At the homecoming celebrations, Russell was exhausted and thinking of not attending.
His mother, Eileen, insisted that he go and luckily for him, he did, because it was there that he met the love of his life, Kathy.
Kathy later told him
“You may have brought back bronze from Moscow, but you struck gold when you met me.”
Russell passed away in October 2023.
Rosemary Smith
Smith entered her first rally as a co-driver.
After deciding that navigating was not to her liking, she switched to driving.
A pioneer of Irish motorsport, Rosemary Smith won the 1965 Tulip Rally outright in a Hillman Imp.
She founded a driving school in the 1990s and became the oldest person to have driven an 800bhp racing car when she did a test drive with the show car of Renault F1 on the Circuit Paul Ricard as part of a filming day.
Smith passed away in December, following a battle with cancer.
Séamus Lydon
Galway football legend Seamus Leydon passed away in October.
The Dunmore MacHales man was part of the Galway three-in-a-row team from 1964 to 1966.
He was a very stylish footballer with a fabulous left boot and was picked on the first-ever All-Star team in 1971 at corner forward.
In 1999, Seamus was voted onto the Galway Team of the Millennium, a fitting reflection on one of the finest forwards ever to wear the maroon jersey.
John Keenan spoke with fond memories of Leydon:
"He was running through on the right, then he swerved to the left. I was out there, left corner forward. He was left half. I moved out to take my back away and Seamus put in under the crossbar, goal. The best goal I ever saw.”
Syd Millar
Syd Millar was a pillar of Irish rugby.
He played for Ballymena RFC and Ulster.
Millar would also represent Ireland and the Lions in a glittering career.
He became chairman of the Irish Rugby Union in 1995 and from 2003 until 2007 was chairman of the International Rugby Board.
Former Lions captain Willie John McBride stated that Millar had given "his whole life to the game."
A true servant to Irish Rugby.
To all the sports stars, local, national, and international, who lost their lives in 2023 - may they rest in peace.
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