Irish Long Course Nationals

sock puppet

Guys just to let you all know the Irish nationals are on this weekend and there'll be coverage of the finals on ob sport. No doubt we'll see some records fall. Ireland already has a lot of swimmers going to the world championships and hopefully there'll be more in few days.

swim

The Irish Long Course National Swimming Championships got off to a flying start today at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin with many new Irish Records set and more qualifiers for the World Championships in Rome this July.

Grainne Murphy, who is based at the High Performance Centre at Limerick, broke the Irish Junior Record twice today in the 200m Butterfly. In the heats she posted a time of 2:17.49 and later in the finals she took an amazing 3 seconds of this with a time of 2:14.95.

City of Belfast swimmer Conor Leaney became the 10th qualifier for the World Championships in some style posting a time of 1:51.05 in the final of the Men's 200m Freestyle, breaking his own Irish Junior Record in the process.

Michael Dawson from Ards Swimming Club broke the Irish Junior Record in the 50m Breaststroke final with a time of 29.14.

The Men's 400m Freestyle Relay went to NUI, Maynooth in a fantastic new Irish Senior Record time of 3:29.24

Tara Dunne who is based at the High Performance Centre at Limerick achieved the qualification time for the European Junior Championships in Prague this summer in the 200m Freestyle in a time of 2:06.83.

RTE OB Sport was in attendance at the meet today, filming Ireland's top Irish swimmers in action for a programme to be broadcast this Saturday on RTE Two. This will include an interview with Peter Banks, Swim Ireland's new High Performance Director, who takes up his post in May. Peter will be at the competition all weekend, meeting Irish coaches and swimmers and observing Ireland top level swimmers in action.

swim

The men's and women's 100m freestyle events on day three of the Long Course Swimming Championships at the National Aquatic Centre today were a showcase of what Irish Swimming has to offer. Irish records fell, gold medals were won and personal best times achieved.
The men's and women's 100m freestyle events were possibly the highlights of the evening, as respective winners Conor Leaney and Fiona Doyle both put in impressive performances.
Leaney, who is in top form this weekend stormed his way down the 50m pool to record an impressive new Irish Junior Record and winning time of 51.22, lowering his own previous record time of 51.39 that he set last year. Second place went to Seamus Stacey, representing the team from NUI Maynooth Devils and third place went to Iain Chisolm of the City of Belfast club.
The women's 100m freestyle final did not disappoint either. Fiona Doyle (Limerick Swimming Club) and Clare Dawson (Bangor Swimming Club) battled it out for the National title in an exciting and gutsy race; Dawson had her Irish Senior Record to defend; Doyle was chasing a World Championships qualifying time. In the end, it was Doyle who took the gold in a time of 56.62 crowning her the new Irish Long Course Champion and Senior Record holder. Dawson was second (56.91) and Clare Byrne of Trojan Swimming Club was third (58.43).
Michael Dawson of Ards Swimming Club also made history in the final of the men's 100m breaststroke by establishing a new Irish Junior Record of 1.04.08, lowering the mark of 1.04.58 set by two-time Irish Olympian Andrew Bree in 1999.
The final of the men's 4x100m medley team relay was also an outstanding display of talent with the team from Trojan Swimming Club taking the gold and also establishing a new Irish Senior Record. The winning team of Donal O'Neill, Stephen O'Nolan, Eoin Gray and Dermot Clerkin recorded a time of 3.52.58. NUI Maynooth Devils won silver and the team from Waterford Crystal won bronze. All top three finishing teams were inside the old Senior Record mark.
In the final of the men's 400m freestyle Andrew Meegan clocked a time of 4.00.22, taking gold. In his prelim swim from the morning, his time of 3.57.62 was a new Irish Junior Record, which he had previously held himself. His prelim swim also qualifies him for the upcoming World Student Games in Belgrade this summer, as well as for Swim Ireland's Team 2012. The silver medal went to Leander's Conor Donnelly (4.06.03) and the bronze to Kevin Stacey (4.07.61).
The Women's 400m freestyle came down to a battle between Leander's Sycerika McMahon and Lisburn's Bethany Carson. A close finish resulted in McMahon getting the touch to finish in 4.22.39, with Carson clocking 4.23.51. Third place went to Tara Dunne, Ballina Dolphins in 4.27.99.
Aisling Cooney, ESB Swimming Club took gold in the 50m backstroke (29.71), Glenalbyn's Rosanna Cooney took silver (30.70) and Chelsey Wilson of Enniskillen Swimming Club took bronze (31.69).

swim

The final session of the Irish Long Course National Swimming Championships got of to a fantastic start today at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin with the Women's 800m Freestyle final. Limerick's Grainne Murphy and Trojan's Nuala Murphy battled it out all the way in a gripping race, both finishing well ahead of the field and inside the old Irish Senior Record held by Niamh O'Sullivan. Grainne Murphy finally just edged it in a time of 8:41.87 with Nuala finishing in 8:42.20. Third place went to Tara Dunne of Ballina Dolphins. All three swimmers are based at the High Performance Centre at the University of Limerick.

Steven McQuillan of Ards later also posted a new Irish Senior Record of his own in the final of the Men's 100m Butterfly. Steven, who has already qualified for the World Student Games in Belgrade this summer, posted a time of 54.96 to take the gold medal, beating his own previous record time of 55.16 set at the Dave McCullagh Memorial Gala last month. Second went to Jack Nunn of NUIM Devils in 56.83 and third to Patrick Kennedy of Limerick SC in 57.28.

The Women's 100m Butterfly final went to Lorna Cummins of Sunday's Well in a time of 1:02.03 ahead of sisters Laura and Niamh McDonnell of Cormorant SC. An exciting final of the Women's 50m Freestyle was won by Clare Dawson of Bangor (26.46) in a field including some or Ireland's best young female swimmers. Second went to World Championship qualifier Fiona Doyle (26.60) with third to Martha Davis of Coolmine (26.90).

Following the conclusion of these National Championships, eleven athletes have qualified for the Irish team travelling to the World Championships in Rome this July. With the likes of Andrew Bree and Barry Murphy still to swim their qualification meets this promises to be the largest and strongest team yet to travel to a major International swimming event. In addition, Irish swimming will be well represented at the other summer competitions including the World Student Games, European Juniors and European Youth Olympic Festival

sock puppet

Yeah some good results there. Wish I had swam:(. Stupid Leaving Cert. 11 qualifiers is great. A lot of them are fairly young too. Hope Barry Murphy goes. He could be up against Bernard, who's just broken the 100m free record....... again. What a guy.