Jason Smyth is among Ireland's best despite his disability

The 18-year-old Eglinton athlete is awarded a grant of 40,000 Euro after winning two European titles last year.

Celebral Palsy athlete Michael McKillop gets 20,000 Euro while rowing star Richard Archibald picks up 30,000.

NI sailors Debbie Hanna, Russell McGovern and Matthew McGovern get 12,000 as does swimmer Claire Conway.

Belfast cyclist David McCann gets a grant of 12,000 Euro while another Commonwealth Games-bound competitors swimmer Julie Douglas has been awarded 4,000 Euro.

Other grant recipients include rower Sinead Jennings who gets 20,000 Euro and her fellow-Letterkenny native cyclist Philip Deignan who is awarded 12,000.

Smyth and McKillop are the only Northern Ireland track and field athletes to get grants this year with Paul McKee no longer supported by the Irish Sports Council.

Alistair Cragg and Gillian O'Sullivan are the top athletics earners with 20,000 Euro but those to miss out again include James Nolan and Karen Shinkins while Sonia O'Sullivan did not apply this year.

Joint-highest recipient with Jason Smyth is another disabled athlete Derek Malone.

Smyth visual-impairment didn't prevented him from ranking as the sixth fastest Irishman over 100m in 2005 with a legal time of 10.85.

He was third in the Irish National Championships behind Olympian Gary Ryan and Jer O'Donoghue in July.

Smyth also claimed the Irish Schools sprint senior sprint double.