(FEB 1) The IABA Annual Awards ceremony duly took place Friday night at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Dublin and we can now reveal who received the awards which covered, the entire Irish boxing scene male and female, Elite, Intermediate, Youth and Junior level as well as coaches, referees, judges, clubs and volunteers.

The main ‘boxer’ awards, not unexpectedly went to Michael Conlan, Katie Taylor, Joe Ward and Michael O’Reilly.

Among the women, Katie Taylor took the 2015 International achievement award for her Gold in the inaugural EOC European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan her 18th Gold medal in an illustrious career in the ring.

There was also well deserved trophies for Michaela Walsh among the Senior Elites and for Shauna O’Keeffe of Clonmel, Dealgan’s Amy Broadhurst, Niamh Earley of Ryston and Sarah Edge of St. Brigid’s club in Edenderry.

Some special awards too including Lifetime Achievement honours for Sean Canavan and Tommy Murphy and for Kilkenny’s coach Jimmy Walsh,among whose club boxers is Clare Grace the 2016 IABA Elite champion at 69kg.

All the night’s winners are here:

World Achievement Award - Michael Conlan (Clonard BC)

International Achievement Award 2015 – Katie Taylor (Bray BC)

International Achievement Award 2015 – Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise BC)

International Achievement Award 2015 – Joe Ward (APB)

Best Elite Award (Female) 2015 – Michaela Walsh (Holy Family)

Best Elite Award (Male) 2015 – Dean Walsh (St Josephs/St Ibars)

Best Intermediate Award (Female) 2015 – Shauna O’Keeffe (Clonmel)

Best Intermediate Award (Male) 2015 – Martin Stokes (Holy Family, Drogheda)

Best Youth Award (Female) – Amy Broadhurst (Dealgan)

Best Youth Award (Male) – Michael Nevin (Portlaoise)

Best Junior Award (Female) 2015 – Niamh Earley (Ryston)

Best Junior Award (Male) 2015 – Jason Harty (Rathkeale)

Best Schoolgirl 2015 – Sarah Edge (St. Brigid’s Edenderry)

Best Schoolboy 2015 – Brandon McCarthy (St Michael’s Athy)

Best Club Award 2015 (Crumlin BC)

Best Coaching Award 2015 (Crumlin BC)

Lifetime Achievement Award - Tommy Murphy

Lifetime Achievement Award - Sean Canavan

Best High Performance Club (Portlaoise BC)

Services to Boxing Award 2015 – Gerry O’Mahony (Dungarvan BC)

Services to Boxing Award 2015 – Gay Farrell (Galway)

Services to Boxing Award 2015 – Simon Walsh (Tullamore)

Services to Boxing Award 2015 – Dan Cowman (Waterford)

Services to Boxing Award 2015 – Harry Robinson (Albert Foundry)

Services to Coaching Award 2015 – Christy McKenna Holy Family, Drogheda)

Commitment to Boxing Award – Fergal Redmond (Arklow)

Hall of Fame (Boxer) - Peter Mullen (St Anne’s)

Hall of Fame (Administrator) Art O’Brien (Dublin County Board)

Hall of Fame (Coaching) Jimmy Walsh (Callan)

Best Referee 2015 – John Mongan (Olympic)

Best Judge 2015 – Billy O’Connor (St Michael’s New Ross)

So that’s it for 2015 awards - now we can look forward with hope and confidence to 2016.

UPDATE : A shock announcement to most at the awards ceremony was that in future the organisation would be known as the ‘Irish Athletic Boxing Association’ since the AIBA in its wisdom has decreed that ALL national boxing federations worldwide MUST remove the word ‘Amateur’ from its title. For those of us in the media happily we can still use the IABA tag.