Top Moments of 2014: Part one
We bring you our first eight highlights from the past 12 months
Wednesday 31 December 2014 15:21, UK
The past 12 months in sport have delivered an endless stream of thrills, spills, memorable matches, historic wins, knockout blows, wheel-to-wheel racing and, of course, more golden soundbites from Chris Kamara.
Sky Sports has taken you right to the heart of all of them, and we are re-living every highlight in our two-part Top Moments of 2014.
Below is part one, and you can read part two here.
England Women set up ground-breaking year with Ashes win
For all of her many achievements over the years, even England Women's captain Charlotte Edwards could not have dreamt 2014 would bring such ground-breaking success.
The year started with victory over Australia to retain the Ashes in January and then got even better, when women's cricket celebrated a seismic and historic step forward with the introduction of full-time professional contracts, followed by the first standalone commercial deal for the England Women team.
Kammy misses a goal mid-report
Back in January, Sky Sports pundit Chris Kamara was caught short when reporting on Sunderland's home encounter with Stoke City in the Premier League. The ever-smiling Kammy, who is never known to be short of a word or two, was in the process of telling Julian Warren about the positive impact Black Cats wide man Adam Johnson was having on proceedings in the north east.
However, as he handed back to the studio with the parting words, "It's still 0-0, Julian", a huge roar from the stands at the Stadium of Light could be heard as the home team took the lead through Johnson. Kammy then picked his report back up, but all he could say was: "I can't describe it to you because I couldn't see it because I was talking to you!"
Hamilton v Rosberg: The Battle of Bahrain
The showpiece battle in the grand prix subsequently dubbed 'Race of the Century' was Mercedes' title-duelling drivers going wheel to wheel for the first time in what would develop into a season-long scrap for the world championship. Traditionally, Bahrain's Sakhir circuit had rarely been the scene of particularly entertaining racing, but that all changed this April as the desert venue went under the floodlights for the first time to mark its first decade on the calendar.
Nico Rosberg had beaten team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole for the first time in 2014 in qualifying, but it was the Briton who immediately seized the lead before the first corner of the race. However, unlike at the last round in Malaysia, when Hamilton had raced clear at the front to a comfortable win, Rosberg stuck with him this time and, over the course of the riveting 57-lap race, he mounted a series of bids for the lead. It was Hamilton, however, who prevailed, but only after the lead changed had hands several times between the duelling Mercedes pair.
Bale wins Copa de Rey for Real Madrid with wonder goal
There were more than a few raised eyebrows when Gareth Bale made the switch from Tottenham Hotspur to La Liga heavyweights Real Madrid in September 2013 for a whopping £85m. However, the Welsh winger installed himself as a hero at the Santiago Bernabeu by scoring the winning goal in the final of the Copa del Rey in April in what was his debut campaign in the Spanish capital.
And not only that, Bale's sensational solo goal came against Real's arch rivals, Barcelona, with the 25-year-old going on a mazy run that began inside his own half, before coolly slipping the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Jose Pinto to hand Los Blancos a 2-1 win.
Liverpool's title hopes literally slip away
Liverpool needed just seven points from their three remaining fixtures of the 2013/14 Premier League season to claim a first top-flight title since 1990, and the first of those clashes saw old foes Chelsea travel to Anfield for a Super Sunday encounter in April. However, an unfortunately timed slip by Reds captain Steven Gerrard on the stroke of half-time helped the west London club to a 2-0 win, and in the process handed Manchester City the crucial momentum in the title race.
Eight days later, Liverpool had a chance to make amends when they visited Crystal Palace on Monday Night Football, and they looked to have sealed the points when they surged into a 3-0 lead. However, the hosts mounted one of the most spirited comebacks in Premier League history to clinch a 3-3 draw and all but end Liverpool's title chances.
Froch delivers the perfect punch
May's rematch between Carl Froch and George Groves was one of the most hotly anticipated bouts British boxing has ever seen and did not fail to deliver. Having produced a thrilling spectacle in their first fight six months earlier, which Froch won by virtue of a controversial stoppage, the pair agreed to meet again in front of 80,000 fans at a sold-out Wembley Stadium on a night that will go down in British boxing history.
Groves, who had waged a war of words against Froch in a hot-tempered build-up, had been very much in the fight going into the end of the eighth round, but when he momentarily allowed his left hand to drop inside the final 30 seconds, Froch floored him with a right hand he would later describe as the best punch of his career, leaving the referee no choice but to call off the fight. It was as brilliant as it was brutal.
Rugby greats bow out
Rugby union waved goodbye to two of the greatest British and Irish players of all time in May: Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O'Driscoll. Wilkinson, hero of England's World Cup win in 2003 and former IRB Player of the Year, retired from the sport in almost the perfect fashion by leading Toulon to two trophies in seven days. First, the French side retained the Heineken Cup by defeating Saracens 23-6, before going on to clinch the Top 14 title the following Saturday with an 18-10 win over Castres in the final match of Wilkinson's glorious career.
O'Driscoll also bowed out of professional rugby in style by leading Leinster to a 34-12 victory over Glasgow Warriors in the Pro 12 Grand Final. He was unable to complete the match after being injured in the first half, but he was fit enough to help lift the trophy in what would be the final act of a career in which he won three Heineken Cups, two Six Nations titles and received a world-record combined total of 141 caps for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
McIlroy seals back-to-back major wins
Rory McIlroy was in a class of his own throughout July and August, vaulting back to the top of the world rankings after winning The Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, before coming through an epic battle for the final major of the season at Valhalla in August.
McIlroy led going into a last round delayed for over two hours by torrential thunderstorms, but he bogeyed two of the first six holes and found himself three adrift of close friend Rickie Fowler at the turn. But the spark of inspiration he needed came at the 10th, where he smashed a 281-yard three-wood to six feet to set up an eagle, and a birdie at 17 lifted him back to the top of the leaderboard. Late charges from Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson came up just short as McIlroy parred the last in near-darkness to win one of the best PGA Championships in recent memory.
