Debates over Ireland's GOAT pass time but we realise it's an impossible choice

It's an impossible job. There's no right answer. There's no algorithm that can give us a perfect solution. Try and pick Ireland's greatest sportsperson of all time and you're asking for a migraine.

You'll be shouted down before the name has even left your lips. But it's one of those things sure to spark debate as we digest the turkey sandwiches over a few sociable beakers.

The whataboutery will be deafening. Often it comes down to this: how can you pick a person from a sport I don't watch and know nothing about instead of a person from a sport I watch and know something about?

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It doesn't even come down to success. Show me your medals? That doesn't carry much weight.

Just look at Denis Irwin. He has won all the major trophies going in the biggest and most competitive sport in the world - including seven Premier Leagues and a Champions League.

Eight years ago, he was inducted into the English Hall of Fame. Alex Ferguson, the greatest manager in English football, said that Irwin was one of his best signings for Manchester United.

Do you ever hear anyone claiming that Irwin is up there as Ireland's GOAT? So it can't be about medals.

After all, Michelle de Bruin still has four Olympic medals, including three golds, but don't go there. Please don't go there...

Recency bias comes into play too. You won't get many talking up Dr Pat O'Callaghan's credentials these days, but they are very strong.

Kellie Harrington and the rowing pair of Paul O'Donovan/Fintan McCarthy retained their Olympic titles in Paris last summer.

Before that, only O'Callaghan had done so in Irish Olympic history. The Corkman was one of the most colourful characters Irish sport has produced.

He won gold in the hammer throwing event at both the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, and even took up wrestling for a spell.

Once, getting annoyed with his opponent, he seized him by the ankles, spun him around his head and flung him into the crowd.

Hollywood also beckoned. Sam Goldwyn offered him the part of Tarzan, he played handball with Bing Crosby and was a house guest of the Kellys of Philadelphia, whose daughter Grace was to become Princess of Monaco.

Bob Tisdall was Ireland's second Olympic champion, securing gold in the 400m hurdles in Los Angeles just an hour after O'Callaghan. And the context of his achievement means he should be in the conversation around Ireland's greatest too.

An exotic character who was born in Sri Lanka, he wrote to the Olympic Council of Ireland in January, 1932, asking to be considered for the event.

Remarkably, it was one he had never raced in before - incredibly, they gave him the nod. Tisdall had his last race at 80 years of age...

Ronnie Delany, Barry McGuigan, Sonia O'Sullivan, Liam Brady, Paul McGrath, Roy Keane, Ruby Walsh, Brian O'Driscoll, Vincent O'Brien, Willie Mullins, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Paul O'Donovan...we could list so many with strong claims.

McIlroy was born and raised in Down and regards himself as Northern Irish, but he's included in the conversation because he has competed for Ireland. That criteria excludes the likes of George Best and Alex Higgins.

Taylor's global stature is something we sometimes struggle to grasp. A couple of years ago, a list of the top 50 most marketable sports stars in the world was released by SportsPro. Taylor was the only boxer to make the cut. That's how big of a deal she is - and she is the only Irish person to change to truly change a global sport.

On November 3, 2007 in Chicago, Taylor and Canada's Katie Dunn touched gloves in the centre of a ring in an arena at the University of Illinois and then got it on.

The stakes couldn't have been higher. This was an exhibition bout to gauge whether women's boxing was worthy of a slot at the Olympics.

Taylor fought out of her skin, winning comfortably. She won over the doubters. Women's boxing was given a ticket to the five-ringed circus. Five years later, Taylor would be the lightweight Olympic champion.

Everything snowballed from there. It's not just in Ireland that Taylor encouraged young girls and women to lace on a pair of gloves for the first time.

There are many fighters - from the UK, from all over Europe, from the USA - who have gone public on how she was their inspiration.

We said earlier that medals aren't the be-all and end-all when it comes to gauging success but, if you don't believe that, then Taylor has the medals. She has the belts. She has the purses never before seen in women's boxing.

She has the covers of The Ring and Sporting Illustrated and L'Equipe with her face on them. She has the poster from when she headlined Madison Square Garden.

Taylor became the first woman to box at four massive venues in the UK - Wembley Stadium, Manchester Arena, O2 Arena and the Principality Stadium.

Taylor was and is the ultimate gamechanger in the history of Irish sport.

Does that mean she's the greatest Irish sportsperson of all? Of course not, as there's no right answer to that question.

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