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Team Ireland Women’s Fours Bronze Medalists Come Home

The Team Ireland Women’s Fours crew returned home to the country on Monday after their bronze medal win on Wednesday morning.

The quartet – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty and Fiona Murtagh – took bronze after a slow start to the final and doubled the amount of Irish female Olympic medalists as a result, becoming the first women to win an Olympic rowing medal for Team Ireland.

The four women are proud of their achievements in Tokyo and are humbled by the statistics that have sprouted from their bronze medal finish.

“You don’t even realise [what you’ve achieved] until after and I think it’s a really proud moment for us,” Keogh said.

“When we see those things written down it’s like a shock almost and we’re really proud of it.”

The crew are far more spaced out than the gold medalist double sculls duo of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy.

Murtagh and Keogh returned to Galway as the first Olympic medalists from the county while Lambe comes from Dublin and Hegarty hails from Skibbereen, like the men’s duo.

Murtagh stated that downtime is needed after an intensive few months for the four women.

The 25-year-old said: “Oh, I definitely want to take a bit of time off! It’s been a long preparation and we’ve all worked really hard, so we definitely deserve a break to spend time with family and friends. It’s been so long since we’ve seen anyone.”

Their intensive training in the build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has seen them form a bubble with each other.

The quartet has rarely mixed outside of their own training group since their training began 13 months before their successful Olympic campaign due to Covid-19.

They are all excited to burst that bubble and see their loved ones after being focused on the Olympics for so long.

Outside Christmas, we probably haven’t seen our families except [for] the odd weekend here or there.

“There were times when we needed time away from the group, but we knew the smart thing was to keep the group as safe as possible and stay within the bubble.”

As Murtagh described it: “We have our own different journeys to go on.”

Team Ireland Olympic Champions Return Home With Gold

Team Ireland rowing gold medalists Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy returned to the country on Sunday morning after competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The pair won the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls on Thursday morning, pulling past the Germans in the second half of the race after their main opposition got off to a strong start.

The win and gold medal rounded up a dominant Olympic campaign for the duo, who came first in all three of their races in the event.

Paul’s latest medal adds to the silver he won with brother Gary at Rio in 2016 as part of Team Ireland and several world championship gold medals.

Paul has not felt that the medal is too different from the others he has picked up throughout his career.

“We are always trying to be the best we can be,” he said.

“We’d be sitting down with Dominic [Casey] and planning out training, and we are constantly adjusting stuff. Then to go out and do the test gives a nice confirmation that you’ve done a good job and are on the right track.”

Casey coached the pair at the Games and added to the Skibbereen connection the rowers have.

The coach, who also oversaw the silver medal in Rio, is a member of the club O’Donovan and McCarthy both hail from – Skibbereen Rowing Club.

The duo feels that the hard work that is put in behind-the-scenes is what has helped them succeed, adding that there is no special quality that sets them apart from the rest.

The down-to-earth confidence that the pair have is also visible in Casey’s approach to the sport, with O’Donovan noting that their coach’s main concern after the gold medal race was “getting the boat to rig.”

McCarthy was one of many who watched his clubmates win the silver medal five years ago and is starting to come to terms with his rise to prominence since then.

“It definitely helped me to get to where I am today because that I saw that it was possible,” said McCarthy.

“It gave me a lot of motivation just to keep going with it. We were doing similar enough training, we had the same coach, so it was pretty clear that it was a winning formula.

“We don’t get many opportunities to race, most of what we do is training so you really need to enjoy the training, enjoy the journey.”

However, now is a time for the journey to be paused momentarily, to relax and recover from their long period of Olympic preparation.

The duo returned home to Skibbereen as world champions and have plans that don’t include rowing on their mind for now.

O’Donovan will return to his studies at UCC where he is taking a degree in medicine.

The two-time Olympic medalist said that he believes the mic of rowing and college can help his longevity.

“I’d be looking forward to getting back to college life. A couple of months at this stage to catch up with all of the lads again.

“Too much of the rowing…I just get too consumed in it. It’s good for me to take a break.”

Team Ireland Athletes Mageean and Healy Fail To Reach 1500m Semis

Team Ireland athletes Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the Women’s 1500m event on Monday morning.

The pair experienced some tough competition and were unable to keep up with the leading packs.

Ciara Mageean finished tenth in her race and went across the finish line in the first heat with a time of 4:07.29.

Sarah Healy rounded off her Olympics with an 11th-placed finish courtesy of a time of 4:09.78 in the final heat.

Mageean started her heat strongly but faded away as the race went on and she failed to keep up with her fellow competitors on the last lap.

The 2016 European Championship bronze medalist had a problem that hindered her performance in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

The UCD athlete tore her calf eight days previous to the race and did not run for most of the last week as a result, only returning to jogging on Saturday.

The 29-year-old ran a much more impressive 4:02.48 at the Herculis in Monaco at the beginning of July and that time will stand as an example of what could have been.

Sarah Healy crossed the line two seconds slower than Mageean did in heat three of the Women’s 1500m.

Healy started well like her Team Ireland counterpart but fell away much earlier as the quickest heat proved to be too quick for the Olympian.

The 20-year-old was out of contention before the final lap and missed out on making a semi-final in her first Olympic games.

The Team Ireland athlete put her disappointing Olympic debut down to her nerves and race tactics.

The athlete, who also runs for UCD, noted that she had never felt as nervous as she did for her heat and felt that it may have played a part.

The pair will head home after failing to qualify for the semi-finals but they will have high hopes for Paris 2024 in three years.

To find out who the other Irish athletes competing on Monday, August 2nd are, click here.

Galgorm win set to put Brendan Lawlor top of WR4GD Rankings

Brendan Lawlor is poised to move to the top of the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) for the first time after the Irishman claimed a second victory in back-to-back weeks at the ISPS HANDA World Disability Invitational.

The 22-year-old was the official host for the second tournament of the 2021 EDGA European Tour season – full title ISPS HANDA World Disability Invitational presented by Brendan Lawlor – and he lived up to his headliner billing with a dominant performance from start to finish.

Having carded a three under 67 at Massereene Golf Club on the opening day, the Irish golfer delighted the fans at Galgorm with another superb three under 67.

That earned him a six under total and a six-stroke victory over Italy’s Tomasso Perrino, who also finished runner-up to Lawlor at last week’s EDGA Cazoo Open.

“An unbelievable week”

“It was an unbelievable day again,” said Lawlor, who has Ellis-Van Creveld syndrome, a disability characterised by a shorter stature and shorter limbs. “It’s been an unbelievable week, the last two weeks have been incredible. The European Tour, ISPS HANDA, Modest! Golf – I have to thank them for giving us a chance to showcase the wonderful game.

“The scoring today and the scoring the last couple of days was amazing and it shows that these guys belong here and hopefully it’s going to be a regular occurrence from now on.

“I was a bit shaky, it wasn’t easy, I didn’t look at the leaderboard all day. I was just throwing in my scores and focussing on my own game. It was a bit of a nervous start and I made a few birdies in a row then. It was a blur of a round, I was so focused I don’t even remember which holes I birdied.

“It was a dream of mine from day one to go to World Number One, since this journey started three years ago. I climbed the rankings pretty quickly and we’ve changed a lot of lives in that time and I’ve changed my own life too. It’s a full time job now.

“The pinnacle would be to reach World Number One and hopefully now I can stay there as long as Tiger Woods did! This week is bringing so many people into the game and that’s what we’re trying to do. These guys will hopefully making a living soon and we’ll keep striving.

“It’s been a tough year and a half, the family have been amazing and I had my dad on the bag and the rest of my family out there – they have been amazing. I’m getting emotional, I don’t know what to say but it’s unreal.”

Dubai awaits

Lawlor had already qualified for the season-ending EDGA Dubai Finale courtesy of his EDG Cazoo Open win last week. There was consolation for runner-up Tomasso Perrino, as well as Felix Norrman and Mike Browne, as they will all join their Irish counterpart in Dubai in November.

The EDGA Dubai Finale will mark the fifth and final EDGA European Tour event of 2021, held alongside the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai – the final Rolex Series event of the year – at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Friday and Saturday (November 19-20).

Brilliant clear from Austin O’Connor & Colorado Blue sees Ireland move up to 8th place

The Irish Eventing team have risen five places to eighth overall following the Cross Country phase of the Olympic Eventing competition at Sea Forest Island in Tokyo.

Sam Watson and Tullabeg Flamenco

Carlow’s Sam Watson and Tullabeg Flamenco (ISH) were pathfinders for the Irish in the Cross Country. A fast round saw them pick up just two time penalties. Unfortunately, they also picked up 11 penalties when a slight rub broke a frangible pin at fence 14C. That put Watson on a total score 47.3 after Dressage and Cross Country and they now lie in 31st place individually.

Austin O’Connor & Colorado Blue go clear

Cork native Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue were second to go for the Sally Corscadden managed Irish team. They produced a stunning round to jump clear inside the time to stay on their Dressage score of 38.0.

O’Connor and Colorado Blue’s  brilliant round, one of just six clears inside the time, saw him shoot up the leaderboard and having been in 49th place after Dressage, they are now in 20th position.

“I am delighted with my horse’s performance, the horse was great,” admitted a delighted Austin O’Connor.

“He seems to have recovered really well. He is a class horse. We will all enjoy the next phase now. We will get the horse recovered and myself recovered and hopefully come out and finish on a good note.”

Sarah Ennis & Horseware Woodcourt Garrison

The last member of the Irish trio to take on the Cross Country course was Meath’s Sarah Ennis with Horseware Woodcourt Garrison (ISH). They picked up 20 penalties for a refusal at fence 16C and 17.6 time penalties for a total score after Dressage and Cross Country of 75.70 in 39th position.

That leaves Ireland on a team total of 161.0 heading into the final Show Jumping phase.

Britain remain in the gold medal position in the team competition after they added no penalties to their Dressage score of 78.30.  Australia are in silver with France currently in bronze.

Irish Sport Horse Ballaghmore Class leads

Britain’s Oliver Townend and The Irish Sport Horse Ballaghmor Class (ISH) are in the gold medal position on the individual standings with a score of 23.6.

The Olympic Eventing team and individual medals will be decided following the final Show Jumping phase which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday.

Golf and gymnastics news from Team Ireland

Rory McIlroy missed out on an Olympic medal in Tokyo today.

It was a tense and thrilling final day in the Men’s Individual Stroke Play at Kasumigaseki Country Club today, the County Down golfer finished in a tie for 4th after a thrilling seven-way playoff for the bronze medal.

Having carded a final round 67, 4-under par, McIlroy joined the 7-way playoff for bronze. Open champion Collin Morikawa (USA), CT Pan (Chinese Taipei), Mito Pereira (Chile), Sebastián Munoz (Columbia), Paul Casey (GB) and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) all finished on 15-under par with McIlroy.

McIlroy made a 10-foot putt on the first play-off hole to progress while Matsuyama and Casey bowed out. On the next, all 5 remaining players made par. Morikawa and CT Pan birdied the third play-off hole to knock McIlroy, Pereira and Munoz out.

McIlroy determined to make Paris Olympics

Despite his disappointment at not winning a medal, McIlroy said of his first Olympic experience:

“It makes me even more determined going to Paris and trying to pick one up. It’s disappointing going away without any hardware. I’ve been saying all day I’ve never tried so hard in my life to finish third!

“It’s been a great experience. Today was a great day to be up there in contention for a medal. Certainly it had a different feeling to it than I expected but as I said, I’m already looking forward to 3 years’ time and hopefully go at least one better, if not three better.”

Offaly’s Shane Lowry had to settle for a tie for 22nd as his final day saw him stall, shooting a level par 71. A bogey on the par 3 4th hole, followed by a double-bogey on the 8th put an end to his medal chances. Lowry birdied 3 of his final 4 holes to secure the top 25 spot.

Xander Schauffele held his overnight lead to secure the Gold Medal for USA, while Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) fired a superb final round 61 to take Silver.

Gymnastics history maker Rhys McClenaghan

Rhys McClenaghan became the first Irish gymnast to reach an Olympic final. McClenaghan finished in 7th place in the Men’s Pommel Horse final with a score of 13.100.

McClenaghan was second last to take to the pommel following a host of other impressive performances across the board. An unfortunate error early on though, saw him catch his finger under the handle of the pommel which resulted in a fall from the horse.

He regained his composure quickly though and completed his routine in magnificent style, with a clean dismount, but knew that it was not enough for a podium finish. His final score of 13.100 was a combination of a 6.400 difficulty score and an execution score of 6.700.

“I was disappointed with my performance today,” he commented. “It could have gone a lot better of course, just that one finger got caught under the handle. That one finger got caught, and that’s the finest of margins in gymnastics, where that one finger placement wrong can throw you off course. It’s the beauty of the sport as well the fact that it makes it so exciting. I’m excited to get back out there and just be better than ever.”

Irish team boxing and athletics news from Tokyo

It was another action-packed morning for Team Ireland in a sweltering Tokyo today.

There was disappointment for boxer, Kurt Walker, who lost out in his quarter-final bout with USA’s Duke Ragan by the finest of margins, a 3-2 split decision after a pulsating contest.

Regan took the better of the opening round, dictating the pace throughout, but Walker regrouped well in the break and came back strong in the second to level proceedings going into the final round. An extremely closely-contested final round saw the two boxers evenly matched throughout, but Regan just pipped it in the end on a 3-2 split decision.

Bronze medal for Walsh

Walker’s boxing team mate Aidan Walsh withdrew from his semi-final of the Men’s Welterweight competition due to ankle injury sustained during his quarter-final bout.

He will still take home his bronze medal which he won in the quarter-final bout, becoming the sixteenth boxer to bring home a medal from the Olympic Games. The tally of Olympic boxing medals now stands at 17, more than 50% of the overall medals won by Team Ireland at Olympic Games.

Athletics

In athletics, there were fantastic performances from Eilish Flanagan and Michelle Finn in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase heats, with Flanagan producing the run of a lifetime to shave an incredible six seconds off her Personal Best time, while Finn produced her fastest time at a major championships.

Flanagan produced the performance of a lifetime to run 9.34.86 to finish 12th in her heat.

Speaking after her new lifetime best, Flanagan said:

“It really excites me for that to be my first performance on the world stage. It makes me believe a bit more that I belong there, so I’m looking forward to the next opportunity on a stage like that.”

Finn, going in the fastest of the heats, had to deal with a strung-out field, but put in an impressive last 800m to record her fastest time at a major championships – 9:36.

Thomas Barr ran the second fastest time of his career in the Semi-Finals of the Men’s 400m Hurdle, but failed to qualify for the final.

Paul Broadhurst wins Staysure PGA Seniors Championship

Paul Broadhurst added his name to a long list of winners by securing victory in the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at Formby Golf Club in Liverpool today.

The Englishman posted a closing three under par round of 69 to reach seven under par. He finished one stroke clear of Frenchman Thomas Levet and England’s John Bickerton, who shared second place on six under par.

First win in nearly 3 years

Sunday’s win ends a spell of almost three years without a victory for the double Senior Major Champion.

“It feels pretty special to win a tournament of this stature on a links course,” he said. “I enjoyed playing the golf course. I remember some of the holes from ’85 in the British Amateur when I played here last, my son played here a few years ago in the English Amateur and he said ‘it’s a tough track, Dad, you’ve got hit it straight’ but I drove it well all week really. I didn’t hit many poor drives and I got it done in the end.

Australian David McKenzie shared fourth place with 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie on five under par,. Overnight co-leaders Markus Brier and Peter Wilson shared sixth on three under.

Scotland’s Andrew Oldcorn finishing eighth on two under par. Argentina’s Mauricio Molina and Irishman Brendan McGovern completed the top ten, sharing ninth on one under.

The next stop on the Legends Tour International Schedule is the Irish Legends presented by The McGinley Foundation, which takes place at Rosapenna Hotel and Golf Resort from August 20-22

Thomas Barr runs second fastest time of his career in Tokyo

Thomas Barr ran the second fastest time of his career when finishing 4th in his semi-final of the Men’s 400m Hurdles in Tokyo on Sunday.  

His time of 48.26 seconds placed the Waterford athlete in 9th place overall. Unfortunately, he failed to qualify for the final at this his second Olympic Games.

Despite a strong run from Barr, it was always set to be a huge challenge in a high calibre semi-final. The race included the world record holder (Karsten Warholm), the third-fastest man in history (Rai Benjamin), and the man who beat him to bronze in Rio (Yasmani Copello).

With just two automatic places available, Warholm and Benjamin were always favoured, being the only sub-47 second men in the field, proving their class from gun to tape.

Barr started much more aggressively than in his heat, aware of the challengers in the lanes either side of him and tried hard to hang on to those fast starters. He was very well positioned at the halfway mark, which was encouraging for the notoriously fast finisher, but hitting hurdle seven stripped the Irish hurdler of his momentum.

A courageous fight back over the final 120m saw him post a time only bettered by his fourth-place performance in Rio, and he finished 9th overall in these Games –  just one spot away from a second consecutive final.

Barr disappointed despite fast time

A disappointed Barr spoke of the effect that the clipped hurdle had on his race, stating:

“I was coming over the hurdle smooth, much faster than I usually do over hurdle seven, but I didn’t bring my trail leg through as quickly as I’m used to, and I just clipped it. It was an inch, and yeah, it completely knocked my momentum. I didn’t feel lactic in my legs, so I was able to recover, but it probably did cost me a place in the final.

“I went into that in PB [Personal Best] shape,” he added. “It’s such a shame, because that’s the second fastest time I’ve ever run, and it’d probably have been a 47-something.”

Gold Medal for Eve McMahon at Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Italy

Howth’s Eve McMahon won Gold at the ILCA 6 (formerly Laser Radial) Youth World Championships in Arco on Lake Garda on Saturday.

Seventeen-year-old McMahon was consistent from the early stages of the week’s racing in Italy and won three out of the five qualifying races.

A disqualification in the first race of the final series moved her back a few points, but her lead was too great and she beat Anja Von Allmen of Switzerland and Sara Savelli of Italy to take Gold.

The ILCA 6 Youth World Championships are open to sailors who were 18 or younger on the registration day, July 23, but at least 15. The Girl’s Fleet saw 109 athletes compete.

A former Irish Sailing Youth Sailor of the Year in both 2020 and 2019, today’s medal marks a three-in-a-row run for McMahon.

This summer she has taken silver in the U19 category of the EURILCA (European region of International Laser Class Association) U21 European Championships in Montenegro, and silver in the EURILCA Laser Radial Youth Championships in Croatia.

Irish Sailing coach Vasilij Zbogar said:

“It was a tough day with tough conditions. The wind went from 10 knots to 0 at some points, so it was really hard to manage. Eve did an amazing job because it was really unpredictable. She kept herself calm and didn’t panic even in a stressful situation”.

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