My Top 10 favourite sporting moments of 2014, in no particular order of chronology, excitement or gender, are as follows…

1 St Johnstone winning the Scottish Cup

Scottish football has taken a battering in recent years but one thing which has emerged more clearly has been the self-respecting, authentic existence of the so-called smaller clubs. St Johnstone in 2014 were a classic case.

Playing to small crowds at McDiarmid Park, St Johnstone players repeatedly state what a pleasure it is playing for the club, and how well looked after they are. And those citizens of Perth who do follow their team have had a fine time of it recently.

Celtic Park on May 17 was the perfect example. Under Tommy Wright, a perfect-fitting and understated St Johnstone manager, the 'Saintees' lifted the Scottish Cup after beating Dundee United. It was a magnificent moment.

2 Lynsey Sharp claiming Commonwealth Games silver.

The moving spectacle of a recently injured and sick Lynsey Sharp rousing herself before a sell-out Hampden Park crowd to lift Commonwealth silver in the 800m will live long in the memory.

From her opening strides that night the Scottish runner was raised high by the crowd and by her own driving emotion to stick with the pack and lunge for the line behind Kenya's Eunice Jepkoech Sum. It was a special sight, heightened as ever by the fate of Cameron Sharp, Lynsey's father, whose life had been unalterably blighted.

3 Scotland in Germany on a September evening…

We've come to be inured to Scotland's failings in international football, have we not? We're done-in, emotionally spent hoping for things to change. But now Gordon Strachan has come along, and maybe, just maybe, we're on the up.

That night in Dortmund in September, for a Euro 2016 qualifier in which no-one held out much Scottish hope, was a revelation. In losing 2-1 Strachan's team nonetheless had a go at the World champions and revealed a pleasing sense of conviction. You had to rub your eyes to actually believe it was Scotland.

4 Europe claiming the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles

What a week this was. The weather held, the crowds bulged, and Europe rose to the task under Paul McGinley, while the USA and Tom Watson faltered. My abiding memory of it will not just be the golf, but this classic Scottish setting: nestling in the glens, a vast crowd marvelling at the gowf and cheering wildly.

Watson also intrigued. He is a great man, who is also vulnerable, with his minor demons.

5 Sir Chris Hoy claims SPOTY Lifetime Achievement Award

Chris Hoy is a six-time Olympic gold medallist and an 11-time world champion…you have to say it a few times for it to sink in. The BBC's Sports Personality Of The Year show is a time-honoured classic for all sports fans, and this year when it was staged in Glasgow was no exception. Hoy the Magnificent came forth to collect his award, and Scottish chests swelled with pride.

6 The spectacle of the Commonwealth Games

These 12 days of late July/early August proved very life-enhancing for Scots and for Glaswegians. As a city, Glasgow basked in its self-made glories, and crowds flocked to watch swimming, badminton, netball, boxing, rugby and the rest. I covered the whole shebang on my bike, darting away from Glasgow policemen up one-way streets, and it was all a tremendous experience. I never knew the Games would be so good.

7 Hamilton Accies bouncing Hibs out of the Premiership

'Hibbies' won't thank me for it, but Hamilton Academical in their own small way are another terrific success story, never more so than when they put Terry Butcher's Hibs to the sword in that two-legged play-off in May. Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, the Accies went to Easter Road, grabbed an early goal, and made Hibs a jangling wreck. A fine moment for a small, admirable club.

8 Meeting Gary Player (again)

In July I had the eccentric privilege again of interviewing Gary Player, one of the greats of golf, who duly took me down every conceivable subject-avenue over our 45-minute chat. On the looming question of Scottish independence Player told me: "Graham, I pray every night - yes, I pray to God - that Scotland will say 'no' in this vote in September.' When I told Player that we couldn't possibly drag God into the referendum debate, he said rubbish, it was essential, it must all be stopped.

9 Meeting Nick Faldo in the dunes of Balmedie

At 10pm on the evening of Friday July 11, with the sun going down in Scotland's north-east, I was traipsing through dunes and long grass at Trump's great golf course at Balmedie, when who should come the other way - and a solitary figure himself - but Nick Faldo. The moment reminded me that, if you love golf, and even if you have achieved greatness, your appetite is never quenched. Faldo just had to see this place.

10 The appreciation of Arthur Montford

I'm hardly saying that the death of Arthur Montford in November was a highlight - but the waxing eulogies and appreciations of him in the days that followed were. Montford was the avuncular TV figure who, when he fronted Scotsport in our childhoods, made everything in the world seem fine. The age of innocence is now long gone.