Ireland Gold in Euro XC

ecoli

Mens u23s
4 runners in top 20

11th Dave MacCarthy
13th Brendan O Neill
16th Micheal Mulhare
20th David Rooney
34th John Coughlan
75th Ciaran O Lionard

Well done to the lads well deserved Irelands first ever Euro XC team gold

Slogger Jogger

Fantastic running guys, well done.

BeepBeep67

Outstanding! Well done all involved.

BeepBeep67

From Ryan Montgomery's FB page.

fiddy3

Unreal run from Fionnuala Britton, I feel sick watching that. She showed great class shaking Uslu's hand after the line, I'd probably have punched her in the face. That's a gold and a bronze that filthy Turkish monstrosity has conned fionnuala out of in these championships. I would happily heckle that cheat on the podium if i was in portugal. At least the u23s make today a good news story, well done to all the athletes involved, amazing stuff, and indeed to Brother Dooley who has always been a fantastic team manager.

Caprica

Fantastic result for U-23's. It's a pity RTE couldn't have shown a bit more of the race, barely got 60 seconds. It was slightly spoiled by the fact that Peter Collins announced the result as soon as the coverage started. O'Lionard didn't go to the medal ceremony hope he is ok.

Britton was unlucky to come home fourth. Another 50mts and she would have got the bronze. Dissapointing to see the turk on the podium but she has done her time I suppose. I like Agusto, she is a committed runner and it's nice to see her win. Was expecting more from Steph Twell, especially after all her success on the track this year.

Go Lebid.

ecoli

Caprica wrote: »

Britton was unlucky to come home fourth. Another 50mts and she would have got the bronze. Dissapointing to see the turk on the podium but she has done her time I suppose. I like Agusto, she is a committed runner and it's nice to see her win. Was expecting more from Steph Twell, especially after all her success on the track this year.

Go Lebid.

To be honest i think this was the same situation as Ciara the commonwealths dragging out the track season meant that these athletes are at a distinct advantage Regarding taking their break and building back up again

rainbow kirby

Fabulous news

BeepBeep67

From the European Athletics FB page:

Sosa

Great team performance form the irish.....

also well done to Shane Quinn Ferrybank AC ( Waterford ) 12th in the junior race

http://www.sportresult.com/sports/la/ajax/eaa2.asp?event_id=10400300000001&ctype_id=553&module=competition&show=RL&lang=en

TJC

(Posted this in the other thread..)

Well done to the u23 lads....Fantastic running. Great to get the gold! You could see how much they put in when the came in over the line..
Brilliant run by Fionnuala Briitton. Deserved to get a medal. Especially with the 2nd place runner coming back after serving a ban...she must feel a little bit robbed, but great run all the same. Great to see her back in good form.
Well done to all the athletes. Hope they enjoy the celebrations!!!

RoyMcC

How do you guys rate the ROI performances overall - above or below expectations?
SM 7th
SW 6th
U23M 1st
U23W - (must have had a DNF)
JM 5th
JW 10th

With my Brit hat on I suppose Purdue's gold was the individual highlight. With Jersey being part of Hampshire for athletics purposes Charlie's been kicking our asses at cross country since she was a nipper

climbhigh

Fantastic results, is it the first ever Irish team gold at European or World championships cross-country? Great individual performances as well and to see cross-country back on the podium.

rosscollins88

Didn't the men win team gold at the world champs held in limerick in the 70s. Treacy won overall? I may be way off here.

notsofast

rosscollins88 wrote: »

Didn't the men win team gold at the world champs held in limerick in the 70s. Treacy won overall? I may be way off here.

No, they were second team, Irish team finished as follows :

1 John Treacy; 11 Danny McDaid; 43 Gerry Deegan; 46 Mick O'Shea; 47 Donie Walsh; 50 Tony Brien; 70 Eamonn Coghlan; 71 Ray Treacy; 127 Eddie Leddy.

Caprica

Great day for Irish athletics. I would have been good if RTE could have had the victory as main sports headline but it had to play a second fiddle to a Paul O'Connell red card and a Lenister defeat.

Can not believe Lebid won again. At the bell I though he was dropped but he dug team and had an easy victory in the end.

Teej

Caprica wrote: »

Great day for Irish athletics. I would have been good if RTE could have had the victory as main sports headline but it had to play a second fiddle to a Paul O'Connell red card and a Lenister defeat.

Can not believe Lebid won again. At the bell I though he was dropped but he dug team and had an easy victory in the end.

Agrred but on the plus side was ahead of English Soccer which is rare & there was 2 hours coverage earlier (or 45 mins coverage & 1 hr "analysis" if ya like) which beats the world track coverage & what was available to BBC/ITV customers). Thought Britton's race was very exciting & was impressed by Sweeney's performance (although I confess I only heard of him on Saturday:o)

Pherekydes

Teej wrote: »

...which beats [...]what was available to BBC/ITV customers).

BBC had the whole thing live on the red button service.

Regarding the Turk, Uslu, she tested positive for an elevated T:E ratio. My daughter asked me was it a mixed race. :rolleyes:

myflipflops

Just to add my congrats to the under 23 team. It's interesting to see that that race had 96 finishers and 16 full teams compared to 71 and 10 in the senior mens race and only 47 finishers and 7 full teams in the senior womens race.

Gutted for Fionnuala Britton - to miss a medal by that little in that manner is tough to take. Hopefully she gets a medal in the next year or 2.

Quick note on Joe Sweeneys run too. I was a bit disappointed for him when I heard 21st but then a couple of things were pointed out. He was only 35 seconds between Lebid who won. 35 seconds behind Lebid (only 3rd) last year would have had him 11th. In 2008, 35 seconds behind Lebid would have had him 8th. Basic facts like that don't necessarily work out in cross country but i think it's a much more encouraging performance than the finishing position indicates.

Gringo78

myflipflops wrote: »

J

Quick note on Joe Sweeneys run too. I was a bit disappointed for him when I heard 21st but then a couple of things were pointed out. He was only 35 seconds between Lebid who won. 35 seconds behind Lebid (only 3rd) last year would have had him 11th. In 2008, 35 seconds behind Lebid would have had him 8th. Basic facts like that don't necessarily work out in cross country but i think it's a much more encouraging performance than the finishing position indicates.

Athletics is a cruel sport that rewards few. Anyone who toe'd the line is a winner in my book however it's an unfortunate that in athletics we do too often dismiss a placing like 21st as poor. Approx 400 players played heineken cup rugby at the weekend and they're all considered stars.

donothoponpop

Irish Times article 13th Dec

ATHLETICS: Ireland’s under-23 team ran their hearts out in the Algarve and were rewarded with gold, writes IAN O'RIORDAN

WELCOME TO the new generation. There was gold in them boys – that was always the prospect – but to unearth it so brilliantly down in the Algarve yesterday, and win Ireland’s first gold medal at the European Cross Country since the inaugural event 16 years ago, is something the sport and perhaps the whole country needed right now.

In the end they did it with a bit of style too: the men’s under-23 team of David McCarthy, Brendan O’Neill, Michael Mulhare, David Rooney, John Coghlan and Ciarán Ó Lionáird all knew they needed to run to maximum potential to secure a medal of any colour, and most of them did exactly that. So the European title was theirs, with 18 points to spare over France, leaving Spain third, and Great Britain fourth.

All four team scorers – McCarthy, O’Neill, Mulhare and Rooney – finished in the top 20, and for a long time McCarthy was also challenging for an individual medal. He lost some ground towards the end of the 8km race, and finished up 11th, but with O’Neill in 13th, Mulhare in 16th and Rooney in 20th, their team total of 60 points ensured they were well safe for the title, even before the calculators were taken out.

“We knew coming out here that it was definitely the best under-23 team that we’d ever fielded in these championships,” said Irish team manager Ann Keenan-Buckley. “But we knew as well it would be very tough. There were 16 teams out there, up from 11 last year, so definitely the field was stacked. But to win the gold medal, Ireland’s first ever team gold medal in these championships, is fantastic. It’s a serious competition, and these young fellas all worked so hard. To hear Amhrán na bhFiann being played out here, after so long, was great.”

Indeed it has been a long time coming: Catherina McKiernan won the senior women’s race in the inaugural championships in Durham in 1994, but since then Ireland have only won two further individual medals (Fionnuala Britton’s under-23 silver in 2006, and Gareth Turnbull’s junior bronze in 1998) and four team medals (the junior men’s bronze in 1999, senior men’s bronze in 2000, senior women’s silver in 2003, and junior men’s silver in 2004).

There was very nearly another medal for Britton later on when she finished fourth in the senior women’s race – her brave and superbly determined run leaving her just a stride short of the bronze medal. In fact Britton was given the same time as third-placed Dulce Felix from Portugal, and if that wasn’t sickening enough, second place went to Binnaz Uslu of Turkey, who has just returned from a two-year drugs ban, and controversially beat Britton to that under-23 title in 2006.

Britton’s day, if there is any justice in the sport, will come, but for the men’s under-23s the future now looks even brighter. From the gun all six runners put themselves in contention, their intentions and determination absolute. McCarthy had prepared specifically for this race since returning to his US base in Providence, Rhode Island last September, and after a difficult two years, the Waterford athlete re-revealed his considerable talent. He was mixing it in the top five for a long time, and although he admitted afterwards that he was suffering from a stomach complaint since flying in from America last Sunday, that during the race it felt “like a knife cutting right across my middle” he battled on relentlessly.

“I came here with high expectation of an individual run,” said McCarthy, “hoping even for a win. But I knew the team was so strong today that no matter how hard I was suffering, these guys would bring me home. And even though I was dying at the end, I looked back and saw every one of my team-mates there, and I just put the head down.”

Mulhare, who hails from a family of distance runners in Laois, also paid tribute to the team spirit: “We were all supporting each other out there. We actually said in the middle of the race not to get carried away. So we all worked together fierce well.” And O’Neill reckoned the best of their talents is yet to come. “There were two big hills at the end of each lap, and we knew that was where we needed to hold the line. It’s great to win this medal, but we’re firmly focused on the senior ranks already. That’s where we really want to make the impact.”

Indeed it was the team effort that counted: Coghlan (son of Eamonn) finished up in 34th, with Ó Lionáird fading to 76th – and Ó Lionáird was in fact too exhausted to make it onto the medal podium afterwards. O’Neill, who has come through the underage ranks at Dundrum South Dublin, lifted the winning trophy and with that every one of the Irish contingent who had made the trip to Albufeira in Portugal made their voices heard.

With 102 runners the men’s under-23 race was arguably the most competitive of the day, with France securing a one-two in Hassan Chahdi and Florian Carvalho. So to win the team title outright goes a long way towards making up for the disappointment of coming away empty handed on home soil in Santry a year ago.

It was said the fast and furious racing surface of Albufeira mightn’t suit the Irish, but that didn’t prove true. Britton put herself in the top three of the senior women’s race early on, visibly intent on making it into the medals, and although she moved back into third as late as the last lap, had to be content with fourth – which she actually wasn’t content with at all. Portugal took first and third in Jessica Augusto and Felix, with Uslu claiming silver.

“I came out here to get a medal,” said Britton, “and I really believed I would. I’m so disappointed now, because fourth really is the worst position. I knew the Portuguese would come through, and I had to do everything I had before that. When the Turkish girl went by, well, I didn’t expect it to be her. At the end though I was more disgusted I didn’t catch the other Portuguese girl. She was dying, and I was getting her.”

downthemiddle

RoyMcC wrote: »

How do you guys rate the ROI performances overall - above or below expectations?
SM 7th
SW 6th
U23M 1st
U23W - (must have had a DNF)
JM 5th
JW 10th

With my Brit hat on I suppose Purdue's gold was the individual highlight. With Jersey being part of Hampshire for athletics purposes Charlie's been kicking our asses at cross country since she was a nipper

Gold was above most peoples expectations although most of the athletics fraternity expected a top five finish with a good chance of a medal. France were most peoples favourites but thankfully their fourth finisher failed to perform.
Fionnuala has been running well all season and it must be heart breaking to lose out to a cheat once again.
A good performance from the Junior Men and Quinn and Travers ran for medals rather than places which is to be commended.
Joe Sweeney will learn from the experience and come back stronger although our strength in depth at senior level was exposed.
With regard to U23 W the AAI in their wisdom decided to send only 3 athletes so we didn't have a team. Likewise not filling our compliment on the Junior Women's team was puzzling. Ciara ran well but never got to the pitch of the race but in the greater scheme of things I wouldn't be too concerned about that.
From a British point of view I was once again impressed by Emelia Gorecka, third in the junior race and still only 16 yrs old. She is an exceptional talent.

notsofast

Does anyone know how many of the Albufiera six will be u23 again next year ? With Travers and Quinn joining the U23's next year, we could have a very strong team again next year if some of them are still under age again.

Also, the World XC champs are in Spain on 20th March. There is no u23 race so presumably these boys will be available to run in the senior event ? Will Ireland sent a team ?

downthemiddle

notsofast wrote: »

Does anyone know how many of the Albufiera six will be u23 again next year ? With Travers and Quinn joining the U23's next year, we could have a very strong team again next year if some of them are still under age again.

Also, the World XC champs are in Spain on 20th March. There is no u23 race so presumably these boys will be available to run in the senior event ? Will Ireland sent a team ?

AFAIK Mulhare is the only one eligible again for the U23's next year. Quinn will still be junior again next year.
The AAI haven't targetted the worlds for a number of years. While we will probably send a number of individuals it is unlikely we will have teams competing.

ecoli

downthemiddle wrote: »

AFAIK Mulhare is the only one eligible again for the U23's next year. Quinn will still be junior again next year.
The AAI haven't targetted the worlds for a number of years. While we will probably send a number of individuals it is unlikely we will have teams competing.

Rooney is also 89 as far as i know

downthemiddle

ecoli wrote: »

Rooney is also 89 as far as i know

Just checked EAA website, 30/3/88

thepassanger

Pherekydes wrote: »

Regarding the Turk, Uslu, she tested positive for an elevated T:E ratio. My daughter asked me was it a mixed race. :rolleyes:

what does this mean for Fionnuala Britton if Uslu tested positive? :eek:

ecoli

thepassanger wrote: »

what does this mean for Fionnuala Britton if Uslu tested positive? :eek:

This was in 2007 she served a two year ban

Slogger Jogger

I watched it, from the edge of my seat, on the Red button on the BBC yesterday. Granted athletics is not 'big TV' in Irish terms but some more coverage particularly given the win would have been welcome. RTE could do with an equivalent of a Red button for viewers to watch something like this for those that aren't watching repeats of Fair City or the like on the main channel.

Lebid is a legend. His consistency and ability over cross country is remarkable.

downthemiddle

Apparently the initial reaction of the U23 team was one of disappointment with their individual performances. When initially told they had won the team event they didn't believe it. It took a short while for it to register with them that they had won. It reflects the narrow margins between triumph and disappointment in sport.

ecoli

Great to see the lads nominated for the RTE team of the year though i cant see them competing with the boxing im afraid or the Womens Soccer:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other/2010/1214/sportawards.html

BeepBeep67

Team on the late late now!

misty floyd

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Team on the late late now!

Brilliant stuff, the happiest men in Europe. Fair play to them.