The brightest stars in Ireland’s sporting firmament will be honoured tonight at the RTÉ Sport Awards, which will be broadcast live on RTÉ One from 9.40pm.
Presented by Darragh Maloney, the live awards ceremony, held in association with Sport Ireland, will feature the RTÉ Sport Person of the Year Award, RTÉ Team of the Year Award, RTÉ Manager of the Year Award and RTÉ Hall of Fame Award.
UFC Featherweight world champion Conor McGregor, who is in contention for the Sport Person of the Year accolade, was initially nominated after his interim title win against Chad Mendes.
McGregor went on to scale even greater heights with a dramatic first-round knockout success against Jose Aldo last weekend to seal his place as the biggest name in UFC.
There are 14 nominees for the individual award in total.
Leighton Aspell became the first jockey to win back-to-back Aintree Grand Nationals for 41 years last season.
Rena Buckley earned camogie and football All Stars in a year that saw her win her 15th and 16th All-Ireland titles.
Michael Conlan became the first ever Irishman to win world championship gold with his bantamweight success in Doha. Fellow boxer Andy Lee defeated Matt Koborov to become the WBO middleweight champion of the world.
Shane Lowry won a first US Tour event, picking up the prestigious World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational in August.
Jack McCaffery enjoyed a superb season which saw him named Footballer of the Year as Dublin were crowned All-Ireland football champions.
Rory McIlroy finished a disrupted year as Europe’s top golfer by winning the Race to Dubai.
Michael McKillop won Double IPC world championship gold, bringing his all-time major championship gold-medal haul to 12.
Paul O’Connell led Ireland to their second Six Nations title in two years and was named Player of the Tournament in the process.
TJ Reid was named Hurler of the Year as Kilkenny racked up another All-Ireland hurling title.
Ireland’s Sophie Spence was nominated for the title of World Women’s Rugby Player of the Year.
Richie Towell played a pivotal role for Dundalk as they won the SSE Airtricity League title and FAI Irish Daily Mail Cup, netting 25 goals from midfield and earning amove to Brighton.
Jon Walters was the man manager Martin O’Neill singled out as the "epitome" of the Republic of Ireland’s team spirit, as he scored the goals that secured Ireland a place at Euro 2016.
This year the highly-coveted Sport Team of the Year Award will again be open to a public vote. The public will be able to vote for their favourite Irish team of 2015 by phone and text.
Voting lines will be open on the night, with details announced at the beginning of the programme.
Celebrating the collaborative achievements of Irish athletes, the Sport Team of the Year shortlist features a deep list of 13 teams.
Dublin's footballers completed a league and cup double in 2015. Kilkenny's hurlers claimed back-to-back All-Ireland titles.
Cork's camogie stars emulated the Cats by winning back-to-back All-Ireland titles.
The Cork ladies football team Cork won their 10th championship in 11 years. Dundalk won back-to-back SSE Airtricity League titles and sealed the double by winning the FAI Irish Daily Mail Cup.
Ireland's men's rugby team were crowned Six Nations champions as were Ireland women’s team.
Ireland's men's hockey team beat England to win bronze at the European Championships, became the first Irish team to qualify for an Olympic team event since 1948.
Ireland's boxing team picked up a phenomenal 10 medals in 2015 at the European Games, the European Championships and the world championships.
Northern Ireland's soccer team qualified for their first-ever European Championship finals, while the Republic of Ireland reached their third Euros after a play-off win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Team Ireland's 88 athletes brought home 82 medals at Special Olympics 2015. Ireland women's cricket team won the Women's World T20 Qualifier beating Bangladesh in the final in Bangkok.
In recognition of the huge effort behind the scenes and on the sidelines, the Sport Manager of the Year award features Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody, Ireland’s men’ hockey coach Craig Fulton, Dublin football manager Jim Gavin, Dundalk boss Stephen Kenny, champion trainer Willie Mullins, Cork camogie manager Paudie Murray, Republic of Ireland soccer manager Martin O'Neill, Northern Ireland counterpart Michael O'Neill, Cork ladies manager Eamonn Ryan, Ireland rugby coach Joe Schmidt, Ireland’s women’s rugby team supremo Tom Tierney and former Ireland boxing coach Billy Walsh.
