Kieran Shannon: Katie Taylor's been to Ireland what Joe Louis was to black America

Ireland said goodbye to an icon on Saturday night.

THE SATURDAY GAME: Katie Taylor makes her entrance at Croke Park. Pic: INPHO/Gary Carr

Tue, 08 Sep, 2026 - 06:34

Kieran Shannon is an award-winning sportswriter renowned for big interviews, insightful columns and an unrelenting focus on high‑performance sport.

How do you explain the appeal – phenomenon – of Katie Taylor? How do you explain Saturday night? That she could not only pack the country’s undisputed national stadium – her ambition having long seen beyond the National Stadium – but bring the rest of the nation to a standstill, all its loving eyes turned to her?

It’s not like we (get to) watch her or even her sport routinely the way we habitually see and follow our favourite football team or even a Rory or Lowry in the golf. There were few cameras at all those European and world championships she won as an amateur. Since turning pro all but two of her fights have been behind a paywall, and since 2022 the most fights she had in any one year has been two.

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