The people of Ireland have spoken
2019 lads...What. A. Year.
A lot has happened over the past 12 months: the "10 Year Challenge", an anti-climatic Storm Lorenzo, Maura Higgins putting Longford on the map, the Dubs did 5-in-a-row AND 3-in-a-row, Jim Gavin's departure, Maria Bailey swung into the headlines, the Fyre festival went down in flames - as did Notre Dame, Liverpool won the Champions League, Ireland had a mare at the Rugby World Cup, Greta Thunberg stomped her carbon-neutral footprint, winter came and Game of Thrones ended, the FAI went belly up - and that's only a fraction of what went on.
The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show asked listeners to give us their favourites of the year, and they answered in their thousands. So here's what the people of Ireland loved the most:
Woman of the Year - Katie Taylor
In what was an amazing year for Irish women in sport (Dublin's 3-in-a-row / The Irish women's hockey team getting to the World Cup final and qualifying for the 2020 Olympics / Cavan golfer Leona Maguire putting her stamp on the LPGA / Sanita Puspure winning gold at the Rowing World Championships, etc.), Katie Taylor proved the knockout lady in our vote.
The "Bray Bomber" brought her professional boxing record to 15-0, becoming a two-weight world champion along the way. She is now the undisputed lightweight and WBO super lightweight champ.
Man of the Year AND Sports Moment of the Year - Shane Lowry (and his Irish Open win)
The King of Clara set the tone early in the year with a narrow win in the Abu Dhabi Championship, but it was his 6-shot victory at The Open in Royal Portrush course that crowned him Champion Golfer of the Year.
This was the 32-year-olds first major win and his celebrations were even more impressive than his golf:
Guinness ✅
Trad band ✅
The Claret Jug ✅
Shane Lowry knows how to celebrate a big win!!!! pic.twitter.com/myICLOrJpr
— Today FM (@TodayFM) July 22, 2019
Song of the Year - Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
Every so often, an artist rises from obscurity and wows the world with a sound we haven't heard before. Billie Eilish was the phenomenon of 2019 with her 'pop-trap' track 'Bad Guy' that she co-wrote with her brother Finneas.
The now 18-year-old hypnotised audiences across the globe and clocked up chart No.1's along the way.
Take it away Billie:
Irish Song of the Year - Outnumbered by Dermot Kennedy
Back in 2018, the Dublin singer had the power over us all with his beautiful, raspy soulfulness, and he wowed us even more in 2019.
With a plethora of performances on some of the world's biggest chat shows, killer sets at EP and Glastonbury and massive gig announcements for 2020 (not to mention his two sold-out 3Arena shows this December) - let's just say things are going well for him.
Outnumbered sure has become an anthem and is one of the stand out tracks from his hugely successful debut album, Without Fear....
Album of the Year - Without Fear by Dermot Kennedy
Kennedy became the first Irish artist to score a No.1 with their debut album in nearly 20 years. It held the top spot in the UK and Ireland for weeks and has loads of other gems to delight us in the new year.
Here's Iano's chat with the man himself back in October:
Movie of the Year - Joker
"Joker is brutal, dark and a compelling origin story of a man's painful journey to self destruction"
When the world learned that Joaquin Phoenix was set to become the new Joker, nearly everyone had the same thought, "It'll be hard to beat Heath Ledger".
Jared Leto's attempt at the iconic role in Suicide Squad was a complete joke altogether, but Joaquin wasn't focusing on the past.
Phoenix brought a fresh approach with the notion that the Joker is a person that already exists within Arthur Fleck "trying to emerge". The actor lost over 23kg and developed a new laugh to play Fleck, revealing that some of the other steps affected his emotional and mental wellbeing.
Joker was in fact declared the most profitable comic book movie of all time, becoming the first R-rated movie to pass $1 billion at the global box office. A worthy winner!
Book of the Year - Once, Twice, Three Times An Aisling by Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen
After nearly a decade of anecdotes and antics on their #OMGWACA closed Facebook group, buddies Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen released their highly-relatable character 'Aisling' to the world in 2017 via their first book, 'Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling'.
Fast forward to 2019 and the best-selling authors are now not once, not twice, but three times a winner of this category - yep, it's 3-in-a-row!
Ian spoke to authors Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen about their win for the third year in a row! Listen below:
TV Show of the Year - The Young Offenders
Season two can be the making or breaking of any TV series, but thankfully for the Corkonian characters, it was the former.
Conor, Jock & Co. had us in stitches yet again throughout 2019 and with season 3 being confirmed, what's to say they won't be here again in 2020?
Oscar winning stuff from Billy Murphy right here. #TheYoungOffenders, Monday at 9.30pm. pic.twitter.com/3GV9HDu83z
— RTÉ2 (@RTE2) December 6, 2019
Irish Moment of the Year - Late Late Toy Show / Sophia Maher's Speech
This category was more or less voted for in two halves. 50% of voters wanted the show itself to win, whereas the other 50% felt 8-year-old Sophia Maher's inspirational 'Bullies never win' speech warranted it.
We think it was all amazing but that Sophia's moment was defining:
Ryan sent over a message to Ian to thank him and his listeners for voting the Late Late Toy Show The Irish Moment of the Year:
Gig of the Year - Westlife at Croker
2019 was certainly one for the comebacks and that's exactly what happened for Shane, Mark, Nicky and Cian.
Not only did their album debut at No.1 on the UK and Irish charts, and their lead single Hello My Love top the iTunes charts, their ‘Twenty Tour’ sold a record 600,000 tickets across 27 cities and 13 countries - including 2 sold-out Croke Park gigs in July - a moment Shane described to us as "the best moment of Westlife".
With a ground-breaking Stadium Tour yet to come in 2020, which includes headlining Wembley Stadium (August 22nd) and Cork's Páirc Uí Chaoimh (August 28th &29th) for the very first time, they're only getting warmed up.
Podcast of the Year - The Two Johnnies Podcast
Tipperary's finest, Johnny B & Johnny Smacks have gone from strength to strength throughout 2019.
With millions of views on their YouTube channel, sold out gigs the length and breadth of Ireland and a best-selling book, they're living up to their "Drive it, Drive it, Drive it" slogan.
Their biggest draw though is 'The 2 Johnnies Podcast', which has been the most listened to podcast in Ireland for aaaaaaaages now.
Comedy and life stories from the duo with lots of special guests. "It's hotter than fresh tay!! - as we found out:
Here's what the 2 lads had to say about getting the win:
Gift Grub of the Year - The FOGs feeling 'Good As Hell'
In what was a rollercoaster year for Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara and Alan Quinlan, or 'The FOGs' (Fear of Gods) as they're known, the rugby legends burst back onto the scene (after a brief break-up) with their version of Lizzo's 'Good As Hell'.
Joe Schmidt needed something to boost team morale after the loss to Japan, so he asked the lads for a favour:
Breakfast Moment of the Year - Shauna O'Reilly Creating the word "Absolutle"
Shauna "Shaz" O'Reilly has been a huge part of the Breakfast Show over the past number of years and you are always guaranteed to get a laugh from the Kildare native.
One of the best laughs we had all year (and our listeners too obviously) was when Shazza was delivering a Showbiz story and unknown to her at the time, created a word that we all now use here in Today FM HQ on a regular basis.
Introducing..."ABSOLUTLE":
Word of the Year - "Brexit"
2018's Word of the Year was "Backstop", so it's no surprise to us that Brexit tops the poll this time round.
#Brexit was Ireland's most tweeted about topic during the year - plus the top trender internationally - but will the recent UK General Election help make the "B" word go away? Only time will tell.
To listen to the full podcast, just click play!
Happy Christmas and here's to a MASSIVE 2020 for all of us!
