Irish Olympians - Faster, Higher, Stronger

The Late Bertie Messitt

2012-02-18T20:58:00.003Z

The death has taken place of Irish Olympian Bertie Messitt after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease.
Born in 1930 in Bray, Co Wicklow, Messitt ran for Ireland in the marathon at the Rome Olympic Games of 1960.
He also competed in the European Championships of 1958 and 1962 and held 16 national athletics records, in distances ranging from 3,000 metres to the marathon, in a long and distinguished career.
Messitt contributed hugely to the sport he loved. He was one of the founding members of the Donnybrook Athletic Club based in Donnybrook bus depot, where he worked, and of the Business Houses Athletics Association. From that came the Dublin Marathon.

The life of Messitt, a true gentleman of sport, is chronicled in a biography called 'From Boghall to Bethlehem and Beyond'.

Paralympics: Table Tennis, Equestrian, Cycling

2012-02-10T10:15:00.000Z

Table tennis players Eimear Breathnach, Rena McCarron Rooney and Philip Quinlan have booked their London 2012 Paralympic places after a tough 2011 picking up rnaking points at tournaments over Europe.
This will be Breathnach’s second Paralympic Games; McCarron Rooney and Quinlan will make their Games debuts.
For the very first time, an Irish equestrian team of four riders has qualified for London 2012. The team’s score of 419 pts from the Hartpury International event last summer put Ireland 8th on the world rankings, with 12 places available.
Ireland has been represented by individual riders at every Paralympic Games since equestrian was introduced to the Paralympic Games at Atlanta 1996. Currently eight riders are eligible to fill the four spots. They are: Helen Kearney (Mister Cool), James Dwyer (Orlando), Eilish Byrne (Youri), Breda Bernie (Ukina Van Beekdal), Geraldine Savage (Blues Tip Top Too), Angela Lyons (Fahrenheit), Rosemary Gaffney (Aldham Mill Dubloon) and Kate Kerr Horan (Terence Hill)
To date, 22 Irish athletes have qualified for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, starting on August 29.

* Catherine Walsh and Francine Meehan, who had won the 3km tandem pursuit earlier in the week, finished third in the women's match sprint at the Paracycling Track World Championships Los Angeles, USA.

Colin Lynch won the C2 3km pursuit, while James Brown and Damien Shaw were second in the 4km tandem pursuit. That means the Irish came home with four medals - two golds, a silver and a bronze and a best ever world ranking of 7th from 31 countries.
Ireland's ranking points total for the London 2012 Paralympic Games will be known in two weeks time. This will decide the number of paracyclists that can be selected for the team.

Boxing: Ward for qualifier

2012-02-06T10:59:00.002Z

Joe Ward

Boxing: All depends on final Olympic qualifier in Trabzon, Turkey, starting on April 13.

Likely qualifiers: Joe Ward who beat Beijing medal winner Kenneth Egan 29-10 for the light heavyweight title at the National Championships. Ward, aged 19, is the European champion and already world class.

Light-flyweight Paddy Barnes and light-welterweight Ross Hickey look a good bets for qualification.

Featherweight Michael McDonagh from Tallaght, who beat David Oliver Joyce for the national title and welterweight Adam Nolan beat Olympian John Joe Joyce in his final but may lack experience.

Outside bets: super-heavyweight Con Sheehan, heavyweight Tommy McCarthy.
Darren O'Neill, John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlon qualified for the London Olympics at the Baku World Championships last year. Ireland is targeting seven Olympic berths in Trabson. Katie Taylor and the women's squad will aim for three more Olympic places at the AIBA Women's World Championships in Chinra in May.

The draw in Trabzon and in China will be critical.
* Paddy Barnes, Michael McDonagh, Ross Hickey, Adam Nolan, Joe Ward, Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan will travel to the tournament in Trabzon, Turkey from 13-22 April.

See www.iaba.ie

London 2012 Marathon - who will go?

2012-01-19T13:20:00.001Z

Marathon runners Ava Hutchinson and Linda Byrne may have run the A standard for the London Olympics but, as yet, neither is sure of an Olympic place.

In the past, with three places on offer, the National Championships acted as an Olympic trial, with the winner guaranteed a place, providing they made the qualifying time. If several athletes came home under the qualifying mark, then the fastest two got picked.

Under those guidelines, Linda Byrne, winner of the national title last October in Dublin, would have been sure of her place.

Ava Hutchinson

Byrne's time of 2 hours 36 minutes 20 seconds in her first ever marathon was achieved through hard work and impressive discipline on the day. With 190 days to go until London 2012, Byrne will not run another marathon; she feels her time in Dublin should be enough.

One woman learning a hard lesson in Dublin was Ava Hutchinson, who made the classic mistake of starting too fast; she finished in a disappointing 2:42.50. All was forgotten last Saturday when Hutchinson emulated Byrne's Dublin tactics in Houston. She started slow, and then stuck to an even pace she could manage until she reached the finish. Her time of 2:35.33 put her comfortably inside the Olympics A standard of 2:37.

While Hutchinson and Byrne are likely to make the London 2012 team, all could change radically over the next few weeks. Maria McCambridge ran 2:35.29 in Paris two years ago, but could manage only 2:40.26 in Dublin last October - only months after the birth of son Dylan.

At the age of 36, McCambridge knows time is running out. She will run a marathon in the next few weeks - Seville on February 19 or Barcelona a month later on March 17 are two options - and if she gets her pacing right, could nail down the third place.

There are others who fancy their chances. The 2010 national marathon champion Barbara Sanchez ran her first race after a long break last week, and could join Caitriona Jennings, Lorraine Manning, Annette Kealy, Lizzie Lee, Breege Connolly, and Rosemary Ryan at the Rotterdam Marathon on April 15. Then there's Gladys Ganiel, who may line out in London after clocking 2:40.56 in Houston.

Gymnast Behan for London 2012

2012-01-12T12:31:00.002Z

Kieran Behan - flying high

Gymnast Kieran Behan is the latest addition to the Irish team for London 2012 after finishing 34th position at the London Prepares gymnastics test event.
Behan, born in London of Irish parents, placed sixth in his specialist floor discipline at the North Greenwich arena on Tuesday night, but had to wait until yesterday to find out whether that it was good enough for an Olympic place.
He is only the second gymnast to qualify for an Olympics; Barry McDonald made the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Behan, now 22, has had a tough struggle to the top of his sport. After the removal of non-cancerous tumour on his leg when he was 10, he was initially confined to a wheelchair but made a good recovery and, after 15 months, was back in the gym.
Then aged 12, he slipped and banged his head while working on the high bar damaging his inner ear and causing black outs if he moved suddenly.
After much rehabilitation, Behan returned to the gym after three years before rupturing the anterior cruciate ligaments in both of his knees in separate incidents in 2010.
That proved a minor set-back and World Cup series success last year and a solid performance at the World Championships in Tokyo earned him a place at the Olympics test event.

Consistency Key for Irish Sailors

2011-12-23T10:20:00.002Z

After two medal-race performances and one near miss at the ISAF Championships in Perth, five sailors from clubs in Belfast, Cork and Dublin booked their places at London 2012.
Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern made it in the 49er skiff class, Peter O’Leary and David Burrows in the Star keelboat, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial.
Ireland’s only sailing medal came at the 1980 Moscow Olympics when 62 countries decided to boycott the Games. Since then, Ireland hasn't had a top-eight finish.
David O'Brien, in an excellent Irish Times article, points out that consistency must be the key if the Irish crews are to make the podium in Weymouth.

Two bad races apiece for the Star crew and Annalise Murphy cost them medals in Perth. "...it’s not only about having brilliant races, it’s also about avoiding bad ones, and in terms of difficulty, it’s the hardest nut to crack," writes O'Brien.
In her last two World Cup regattas, Murphy has finished 15 times in the top 10 and has won 10 races. Her win rate at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta on the Olympic course in Weymouth was matched only by Britain’s Ben Ainslie. Inconsistency prevented her from taking first place in both events.
In Perth, Murphy won four races, more than any other sailor in her fleet; her average position, excluding discard, was seventh. If she had scored seventh in her two worst races, she would have won the regatta by five points. Instead a couple of bad results kept her sixth overall in a 102-boat fleet - still a personal best.
For the relatively new Star crew, there has been bronze at the European Championships, fourth at the Olympic test event and silver at the Bacardi Cup. On the downside, a 33rd and a 24th in Perth kept them out of the medal race. In the 41-boat Perth fleet, consistency paid off - only one of the top three overall won an individual race but the top three rarely dropped out of the top 10.
With only six regattas left until the Olympics, the Irish crews resume their campaigns in January, with the Star and the Laser Radial based in Miami and the 49er in Europe.
The big challenge for them all is making the transition from Olympic qualifiers to medal prospects.

Dervock's Kennedy McArthur Remembered

2011-11-13T12:56:00.001Z

From the BBC

Kennedy Kane McArthur was greeted him with a torchlight procession when he returned to his home town of Dervock, Co Antrim, after winning the marathon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.

So it is only fitting that Dervock is included on the London 2012 Olympic torch relay route through Northern Ireland on the centenary year of that victory.
McArthur's life story reads like that of a comic book hero such as Alf Tupper.
He enjoyed chips for breakfast and smoking a pipe after his triumphs.
The former postman caught the running bug while delivering letters as a young man in Co Antrim.

But it was only when he emigrated to South Africa, the country he represented in the games, that he started taking athletics seriousl. Ballymoney museum manager Keith Beattie explains:
"Kennedy Kane McArthur went over to South Africa as a young man, but there are plenty of accounts of him running during his post round and delivering the letters as fast as he could.
He would race the narrow gauge railway engine as it went by."
McArthur was unconventional compared to modern athletes - a bulky individual who still had the ability to run long distances.
"He ran six marathons in his career from 1908 to 1912 and he won them all which is a phenomenal record. There is talk that at the Durban Marathon in 1910 where he finished 15 to 20 minutes ahead of his nearest rival, he was seen leaving the stadium smoking a big pipe of South African tobacco."
At the Olympic marathon in Sweden, one athlete died in the sweltering temperatures and McArthur is believed to have been spurred on by a cry from home in the closing stages.

In those days there would have been refreshment stops, with a cup of tea or a glass of champagne rather than the energy drinks of today.
As McArthur ran towards the finishing line someone threw a garland around his neck, nearly knocking him to the ground.
"He was so tired and was struggling to reach the line, but the legend has it that someone shouted from the crowd 'Come on Antrim come on ye boy ye' and he found the last bit of strength to finish. The crowd carried him in their arms afterwards."
McArthur's athletics career ended a year after his Olympic victory when he injured himself in a freak accident while on patrol as a police officer.
In 2012, Ballymoney Museum will brings his medal and trophies back to Northern Ireland from South Africa for a special exhibition.
McArthur stadium in Potchefstroom where he settled is named after him."When he died in 1960, his widow presented his medals and trophies to the museum in Potchefstroom and they have agreed to let us borrow them next year.
"The Olympic gold medal is missing, no-one is quite sure where it is, but we will be displaying his Olympic blazer and the running number from his shirt.
"We have been talking to his relatives and they have a book that was presented to him in 1912 when he returned to Ballymoney and they want to come here next year to bring that across."

Dervock is planning to hold a centenary marathon in McArthur's memory next year with Stockholm following suit.

Mr Beattie said the flames and trains which helped spark this marathon messenger's passion for running would also be recalled in his home village.
"The exhibition we are planning will run from April to September and we have been generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund," he added.
"They are also helping us with another project which will be a play about McArthur's life which will coincide with the centenary.
"When he arrived back here by train after winning the Olympic gold there was a large crowd waiting for him at Ballymoney station and our plan is to reenact that at the station.
"He was put into a carriage and the people of the town unharnessed the horses and pulled him themselves to the town hall for a reception.
"When he arrived at Dervock there was a crowd of people waiting and a torchlight procession and we hope to reenact that as well."

Three Cyclists Qualify for London 2012

2011-11-02T16:14:00.001Z

Ireland has qualified three riders for the London Olympics road race next year.

Thanks to the achievements of Daniel Martin, Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan, Ireland ends the season with a world ranking of 13 - enough to book a place at London 2012.

Three Boxers Qualify for London

2011-10-07T20:18:00.002+01:00

John Joe Nevin from Cavan who reached the bantamweight semi-finals at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, has qualified for London 2012. Also booking their places were middleweight Darren O'Neill from Kilkenny and 19-year-old flyweight Michael Conlon from Belfast, who both went out in the last eight.

Deirdre Ryan doubled over.

NINE ATHLETES HAVE A STANDARD
Others with London 2012 qualifying marks include: high jumper Deirdre Ryan, who finished 6th at the World Championships in Daegu, Korea, with a new Irish record of 1.95.
Race walkers Robert Heffernan, 2nd in the 50km at Naumberg Germany last month in 3 hours 49 minutes 30 seconds and Brendan Boyce in 3:57.58 are also inside the A standard marks.
So too are both Fionnuala Britton 9:37.60 and Stephanie O’Reilly 9:42.91 in the women's 3000m steeplechase, Ciaran O Lionard in the 1500m with 3:34.46, Alistair Cragg 5000m with 13:03.53, Olive Loughnane with a time of 1 hr 31 mins 55 secs for the 20km walk and Paul Hession with 20.51 for 200m. That makes nine athletes in total.
Inside the B standard are marathon runners Mark Keneally 2 hrs 17 mins 22 secs and Sean Connolly 2 hrs 17 mins 23 secs; sprinter Jason Smyth 10.22 for 100m, 400m runner Joanne Cuddihy 51.82, 1500m runner Ciara Mageean 4:07.47 and pole vaulter Tori Pena 4.40. That's a further six.
There's also a strong possibility that at least one relay team will qualify - the top 16 in the rankings for both men and women's 4x100m and 4x400m will make it.

Olympic football notes

2011-08-04T17:47:00.001+01:00

Two Northern Irish footballers who played for GB teams at the Olympics.

Robert Patrick “Bertie” Fulton (6 November 1906 – 5 May 1979) was an amateur footballer from Larne, Co Antrim, who played as a left back.


Bertie Fulton

Fulton played club football in both Ireland and England for Larne, Belfast Celtic, London Caledonians and Dundalk.

Fulton earned 21 caps for Ireland between 1928 and 1938; he also earned 21 caps for the Ireland Amateur team between 1925 and 1938. Fulton, then aged 29, also represented Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

He played in both games, a 2-0 victory over China, and a 5-4 defeat by Poland (some sources crediting him with one of the goals). He could surely have won more representative honours had he not been restricted from featuring in more mid-week matches due to his teaching duties.

Info http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2006/11/bertie-fulton.html

Hugh Forde (born 31 January 1936) is a Northern Irish former amateur footballer who played as a left half, representing Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He played club football for Distillery, Ards and Glenavon, and is the younger brother of Tommy Forde. From Belfast.

The King of the Marathoners

2011-08-04T16:08:00.003+01:00

From an article by David Goulden, Leitrim Observer 22 July 2011, with thanks to George Hook.

Jimmy McNiff/Duffy (born May 1, 1890, Sligo to James and Mary Duffy from Innishmagrath, Drumkeerin Co Leitrim; died April 23, 1915, outside Ypres, Belgium) eventually ran for Canada, his adopted country, and was the winner of the 1914 Boston Marathon.

Although born in Ireland, Duffy had grown up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he ran with Edinburgh Harriers and trained as a tinsmith and stonecutter. While in Scotland, he won the 1909 Scottish junior cross-country title and set a Scottish 5-mile record of 25 mins 52 secs. He also represented Scotland three times at the international cross-country championships.

In 1911 he emigrated to Canada, lured by the active professional running scene in that country. He settled in Toronto, working as a porter at a large department store and joining the Central Young Men's Christian Association.

In 1911, he came second in the Ward Marathon, a 20-mile race out and back along the Lake Shore Road in Toronto, which earned him a place on the Canadian team at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm

Duffy placed fifth in the marathon behind Kennedy McCarthy from Dervock Co Antrim in a time of 2 hrs 42 mins 18 secs. In October 1912 he won both the Ward Marathon and the Hamilton Herald Marathon in Ontario, setting a course record of 1 hr 46 mins 15 secs that stood for 46 years.

With Tommy Thomson as trainer, Duffy stayed in Hamilton and went on to win seven consecutive marathons, including the 1913 Yonkers Marathon and the Ward Marathon for a second year. On April 20, 1914, Duffy won the Boston Marathon in 2:25:1, beating fellew Canadian Edouard Fabre by 15 seconds. His first request after his victory was for a cigarette and after his post-race medical examination, he asked for a bottle of beer.

After Boston, Duffy turned professional, but ran only one professional race, which he lost to Fabre before enlisting in the Canadian Army at the outbreak of World War I. He joined the 91st Argyle Regiment and was subsequently transferred to the 16th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, arriving in Belgium late in 1914.

He was killed, aged 25, on April 23, 1915 when hit by a piece of German shrapnel near Ypres, Belgium. He is buried in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Plot 1, Row F. His name is inscribed on the Menin Gates in Ypres, along with that of 54.896 other fallen soldiers.

Olympic Fencer Dies

2011-04-30T15:28:00.000+01:00

From the Irish Times
Harry Thuillier, who has died aged 88, was a former broadcaster and fencing star and represented Ireland in the individual foil events at the Olympic Games in 1952 and 1960.
He was the originator and presenter of the first dedicated sports programme on Raidió Éireann. A children’s programme, Junior Sports Magazine , first went on air in 1955 and mainly covered rugby, hockey and athletics. Up to then sports coverage was confined to match commentaries and separate GAA and soccer results programmes.
Junior Sports Magazine , which was broadcast on Saturday afternoons, paved the way for the “adult” Sports Stadium on Friday evenings, which covered all codes. Sports Stadium in turn laid the foundation for today’s extensive RTÉ sports coverage.
Jimmy Magee began his career as a broadcaster on Junior Sports Magazine; other contributors included Jim Tunney (later a Fianna Fáil TD) and Irish Times journalist Peter Byrne.
Magee this week described his colleague as innovative and full of life. He was “a lovely broadcaster with a friendly voice, a people’s man”.
Recalling his experience as an Olympian, Thuillier said: “To compete in the Games is really an education, one which I wish a few more Irish athletes could enjoy. I do believe we need to learn the lesson of the will to win: that’s a lesson which is the outstanding part of the education one gets at the Games.”
Born in Dublin in 1922, he was one of six children of Joseph Thuillier and his wife Mary (née Daly). He was educated at St Patrick’s national school, Drumcondra, and St Vincent’s secondary school, Glasnevin.
He and his siblings were members of the Achilles fencing club and his competitive record was impressive – 14 national foil titles, the sabre title twice and two epee championships.
He also was Irish table tennis champion from 1944 to 1950.
One of his outstanding fencing bouts was in 1954 when he crossed swords with the Swede Baron Rehbinder, Helsinki Olympics finalist, at the Irish open championship in Cork.
“It was touch and go the whole time,” he recalled. “One moment I found myself full of hope and level at 2-2, the next down 4-2. I made it 4-3. Then it was a question of whether I could beat the Baron – and the clock – to level the score . . . Finally, I tried a lunge and penetrated his guard – with only 10 seconds to spare.
“After that, it was cat and mouse, as we fought for the hit that would decide the championship. Suddenly, he lunged at me and, I think, was surprised when instead of retiring, I held my ground. Countering, I just caught him on the elbow – and the crowd shattered a really tense silence.”
In his 20s he spent three years in England learning the basics of the leather tanning business. But having returned to Ireland in 1950, by the mid-1950s he was the advertising salesman for the Irish Catholic.
Eventually he went into business for himself, producing and presenting sponsored programmes on RTÉ radio.
Programmes with which he was associated include Come Fly With Me , in which he interviewed passengers on Aer Lingus flights, Tayto Quiz and Murrays’ Musical Memories . He also presented Ireland’s Top Ten .
In 1959 Junior Sports Magazine was replaced with the Dubtex Sports Special, sponsored by the clothing company, which he also presented.
On July 6th, 1962, he was a guest on the first ever Late, Late Show, along with Ken Gray and George D Hodnett, both of this newspaper, and the resident panel of Danny Cummins, Verona Mullen and Prof Liam Ó Briain.
In 1979 he helped found the first Lions club with an exclusive sporting membership, serving the Sandymount-Irishtown-Ringsend area of Dublin. He was a former chairman of the Fencing Federation of Ireland.
Predeceased by his son Harry jnr in 1997, he is survived by his wife Frankie (Frances McDermott), and sons Nikki and Ian.

Harry Thuillier: born September 13th, 1922; died April 26th, 2011

Veteran Olympic Swimmers

2011-04-22T16:53:00.000+01:00

Special guests at Swim Ireland's inaugural awards were Paddy Kavanagh and Ernest ‘Square’ McCartney Ireland’s oldest living Olympians for swimming. The two men, now in their late eighties have remained friends to this day - well after their swimming careers ended in the 1950s.

Winter Olympics: McGarry 50th in GS

2010-02-26T09:28:00.007Z

Ireland's Kirsten McGarry finished 50th of 60 competitors in the women’s giant slalom at a foggy Whistler Creekside track. She improved her overnight position by five places with a much improved run of 1:20.92 (9.55 secs slower than the winner. In her firsts run McGarry was placed 55th with a time of 1:24.28 (9.16 secs behind the winner). Her combined time of 2:45.20 put her 18 seconds behind the surprise winner Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany. Eight skiers crashed out of the competition.
* A day later, McGarry's Winter Olympics ended on a sour note when she was disqualified from the slalom after one of her skis was judged to be one millimetre too thick.

Despite the foggy conditions, she had completed her first run in a time of 59.28 seconds, but the judges' ruling means no participation in the second run.

Winter Olympics: Irish Bobsled 17th

2010-02-25T10:39:00.005Z

The Ireland women's bobsleigh team have finished a creditable 17th of the 21 teams who took part at the Winter Olympic games in Vancouver.
Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin moved upthe rankings on their thrid and fourth runs at the lightning fast Whistler track. They completed thier series with a time of 54.58 for their final run, picking up time on the final few bends. Their run times were 55.4, 54.49, 54.73 and 54.58 (total time 3:38.85 - 6.56 secs down on the winners) and they attained speeds of up to 142.4kph. They also managed conistent good start times of 5.44.
Behind them came Russia and Australia - the team that had tried to have the Irish bob knocked out of the competition. Crashing out were GB 1 and Ger2. Canada won the gold with a total time of 3:32.28.
The pair had survived two legal bids to have them removed from the competition in favour of teams from Australia and Brazil in a geographical dispute.

“We’re thrilled to finish 17th and will hold our heads up high in the knowledge we did our best for our country on what was the fastest and toughest track we have ever encountered,” said Hoey.

“The atmosphere at the track was awesome. We decided to go for broke on each run but being careful not to crash. After all the legal fuss before the competition, we feel vindicated with the results achieved here,” she added.

The Australians were eliminated after the third heat. “I’m so happy we got to do the fourth run. The support we had here is fantastic, " said Bergin.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride, I guess. Nothing can replace being at the Olympic Games.”

Winter Olympics: Bobsledders Lie 20th

2010-02-25T09:03:00.002Z

Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin lay 20th of the 21 teams after the first two heats of the women’s bobsleigh last night. The Irish pair are over three seconds down on leaders Canada at the midway stage.
A sluggish first heat found Hoey and Bergin last in the standings although they improved marginally on their second run.
Australia, whose appeal had threatened Ireland’s involvement before the Games, is 0.02 seconds ahead of the Irish bob in 19th place.
Canada's Kaillie Humphries set a new track record of 53.19 on her first slide and followed that with an even faster time of 53.01. She leads the field by 0.13 seconds going into tonight’s final two runs.
Germany's reigning Olympic champion and gold medal favourite Sandra Kiriasis could only manage fifth place on the lightning fast track.
After two heats:
1 Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse (Can) 1 min 46.20 secs (53.19 secs & 53.01 secs), 2 Erin Pac, Elana Meyers (USA) 1:46.33 (53.28 & 53.05), 3 Romy Logsch, Cathleen Martini (Ger) 1:46.60 (53.28 & 53.32), 4 Shelly-Ann Brown, Helen Upperton (Can) 1:46.62 (53.50 & 53.12), 5 Christin Senkel, Sandra Kiriasis (Ger) 1:46.64 (53.41 & 53.23), 6 Michelle Rzepka, Shauna Rohbock (USA) 1:47.09 (53.73 & 53.36), 6 Emily Azevedo, Bree Schaaf (USA) 1:47.09 (53.76 & 53.33), 8 Janine Tischer, Claudia Schramm (Ger) 1:47.22 (53.65 & 53.57), 9 Esme Kamphuis, Tine Veenstra (Ned) 1:47.40 (53.81 & 53.59), 10 Nicola Minichiello, Gillian Cooke (Gbr) 1:47.58 (53.85 & 53.73), 11 Paula Walker, Kelly Thomas (Gbr) 1:47.77 (54.19 & 53.58), 12 Anastasia Skulkina, Yulia Timofeeva (Rus) 1:48.02 (54.38 & 53.64), 13 Fabienne Meyer, Hanne Schenk (Swi) 1:48.31 (54.04 & 54.27), 14 Laura Curione, Jessica Gillarduzzi (Ita) 1:48.52 (54.15 & 54.37), 15 Elfje Willemsen, Eva Willemarck (Bel) 1:48.67 (54.27 & 54.40), 16 Alina Vera Savin, Carmen Radenovic (Rou) 1:48.87 (54.41 & 54.46), 17 Caroline Spahni, Sabina Hafner (Swi) 1:48.88 (54.18 & 54.70), 18 Manami Hino, Konomi Asazu (Jpn) 1:49.42 (54.64 & 54.78), 19 Astrid Loch-Wilkinson, Cecilia McIntosh (Aus) 1:49.51 (54.85 & 54.66), 20 Aoife Hoey, Claire Bergin (Irl) 1:49.53 (55.04 & 54.49), 21 Elena Doronina, Olga Fedorova (Rus) 1:49.61 (54.40 & 55.21)

Winter Olympics: Shannon 25th

2010-02-22T10:42:00.001Z

Ireland's Pat Shannon finished 25th in the men's skeleton.

Final standings: 1 J Montgomery (Can) 3 mins 29.73 secs (52.60, 52.57, 52.20 & 52.36 secs), 2 M Dukurs (Lat) 3:29.80 (52.32, 52.59, 52.28 & 52.61), 3 A Tretiakov (Rus) 3:30.75 (52.70, 53.05, 52.30 & 52.70), 4 T Dukurs (Lat) 3:31.13 (52.94, 52.88, 52.62 & 52.69), 5 Z Lund (USA) 3:31.27 (53.04, 52.85, 52.57 & 52.81).
25 P Shannon (Irl) 2:44.98 (55.18, 55.20 & 54.60).

IRISH TEAM FOR WINTER OLYMPICS

2010-02-11T09:35:00.002Z

Vancouver, February 12 - 28

Bobsled:
Aoife Hoey (pilot) - Aged 26; from Portarlington. National triple jump champion in 2005. Works in the Athletics Ireland office.

Claire Bergin (brakeman) - Aged 25; from Dublin. Former champion junior sprinter; competed for Ireland on the 4x400 relay team at the European Indoors last year. Studied accountancy at DCU; on a training contract with Deloitte.

Leona Byrne (alternate brakeman) - Aged 22; from Carlow. Former multi-eventer. DCU sports science graduate.

Skeleton:
Patrick Shannon - Aged 32; from Campile, New Ross, Co Wexford. Won several Irish triple jump titles.

Alpine skiing:
Kirsty McGarry - Aged 24; from Dublin. Finished 32nd in the Super G at Turin 2006. Physiotherapy student at the Royal College of Surgeons.

Shane O'Connor - Aged 36; from Malahide, Co Dublin. Has represented Ireland at five World Skiing Championships. Head coach at the Ski Club of Ireland in Kilternan.

Cross-country skiing:
PJ Barron - Aged 2O; from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. With a Dublin mother, he
declared for Ireland in 2008. University student.

Officials: Siobhán Hoey, chef de mission; Niall O'Connor, Alpine team manager; Ken Ellis and Colin Gaffney, Alpine skiing coaches; Rolf Haggstrom, cross-country skiing coach; Horst Hörnlein, bobsled ice coach; Barry Delany, bobsled technician;Marie Elaine Grant, physio.

Irish Times Award for Bobsledders

2010-02-11T09:30:00.001Z

SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR MONTHLY AWARD – JANUARY, 2010: AFTER THE agony they endured this week waiting for the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin might have regarded the prospect of taking on one of the fastest bobsleigh tracks in history as an entirely stress-free exercise.
For Hoey, the threat posed to her place in the Winter Olympics by the Australian challenge was especially upsetting having narrowly missed out on qualifying for the past two Games with her sister Siobhán, now the Irish chef de mission in Vancouver. After last night’s decision, that is now, thankfully, behind them.
With Bergin, though, Hoey made it third time lucky when the pair’s top-20 finish in San Moritz last month sealed their qualification for the Games, the first time Ireland had earned a place in the women’s Olympic bobsleigh event.
While Bergin (25), an accountancy student from Dublin who is on a training contract with Deloitte, only took up the sport in 2008, Hoey, a 26-year-old from Portarlington, followed her sister in to bobsleighing a decade ago.
Both are steeped in athletics: Hoey is a former national triple jump champion and Bergin a former champion junior sprinter who competed in the European Indoor Championships last year.
After Siobhán Hoey retired from the sport, Aoife persuaded Bergin and another athlete, Leona Byrne, to give it a try, and once they conquered their initial (and reasonable) fear they became an integral part of Hoey’s push for a place in the 2010 Games. Byrne is now the alternate to Bergin, the crew’s brakeman, with Hoey the pilot.
It was a difficult road, but the progress has been hugely impressive. Hoey and Bergin finished in the top-10 at the World Junior Championships last season, before Byrne teamed up with Hoey to just miss out on medals at European Cup races in Switzerland and Italy.
On the road to Vancouver, Hoey and Bergin, up against 16 crews from more traditional winter sport-powers, came seventh in the first round of the European Cup, securing another top-10 finish in the second round.
Since November, the pair, sensing they could be Canada- bound if they maintained that progress, devoted all their time to their sport, Hoey taking a break from her job as a development officer with Athletics Ireland.
Intensive work in the gym was combined with training on the running track in Santry with a “dry sled”, “the original bobsleigh the men’s team used for the Nagano Olympics (1998),” said Hoey. “It doesn’t look pretty, but it does the job.”
Inch by inch they moved towards clinching qualification; their results in a World Cup event in Germany in early January were followed by that 20th place in St Moritz which sealed it.
“It’s fantastic that we made it this time – just reward for all Siobhán’s hard work and dedication,” said Hoey in tribute to her sister, the pioneer of Irish women’s bobsleighing. “We are elated,” said Siobhán, who devised the training programme for the crew. “It’s a dream come true for everyone and the achievement is a testament to all the women down through the years who were instrumental in starting the programme.”
With the right support – and equipment – Aoife Hoey believes 2010 can be the kickstart for greater things, both for her and her team-mates and others coming in to the sport in Ireland.
“We could be looking at a top-10 place at the next Olympics. My driving is as good as anyone’s and the British have done it, so why not?”
Hoey and Bergin, then, might have made history, but they are fully focused on the future.

Women Sledders Look Safe

2010-02-11T09:16:00.002Z

From the Irish Times

THE OLYMPIC Council of Ireland (OCI) is confident the latest challenge to the Irish women’s bobsleigh team’s participation in the Winter Olympics, starting in Vancouver tomorrow night, has come too late.
In a complicated legal challenge, the Brazilian team yesterday appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to give them a place in the event, citing conflicts in the way the Irish team had qualified.

This followed an Australian challenge, finally resolved on Tuesday night, when Cas ruled that both Ireland and Australia could compete – the only compromise acceptable to both national Olympic Committees. The Australians became the 21st team to qualify. On hearing this, Brazil submited their appeal, even though they had failed when they made the same case to the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT).

Cas will hear this case today, with the Brazilians arguing that they adhered to the qualifying criteria, while Irish team only completed part of their qualification late on in World Cup events.However, following the Cas ruling on Tuesday, it would be highly unlikely the Irish team will be ejected.

If Cas gives the Brazilians a place ahead of the Irish, they’ll be overriding their own ruling. Clearly the issue throughout has been the wording of the qualification rules.

Aoife Hoey, the bobsleigh pilot, will carry the Irish flag in tomorrow night’s opening ceremony.

Winter Olympics: Kirsty McGarry

2010-01-14T11:01:00.003Z

From the Irish Times, Monday 11 January

Seán Kenny talks to Dubliner Kirsty McGarry who will shortly represent Ireland in Vancouver at her second winter Olympics (edited).

When Jane McGarry was pregnant with Kirsty, she and her husband Ian made Chatel in France their home for the winter, migrating there seasonally, drawn from Dublin by their shared passion for skiing.
Until the age of 10, each winter Kirsty swapped home for the glacial white of the French Alps. The children of Chatel had a vast mountainside for a school gymnasium. Skiing was on the school curriculum; literally.

“I remember chasing the instructor there as a kid. You’d go off-hill and ski as fast as you could. Now I think of it, that’s such a good base; you’re not thinking about it, you’re just going. You get the speed, you’re fighting to get ahead of the kid beside you.”

When she was nine and her sister Tamsen was 12, they started racing. In 2000, Kirsty won the prestigious Ski D’Or slalom in France. Previously, Tamsen had won the same race. She had been booed. It was against the natural order of things that an Irish girl should beat natives of the French Alps in a ski race.

From the age of 10, Kirsty boarded in Rathdown School in south Dublin. She often played truant to go skiing in France, with the blessing of a generous principal. The competing demands of sport and academia were somehow balanced. She left with a good Leaving Cert, but the course she had set through her formative years led inexorably to one destination: life as a full-time skier.

“I went full-time at 17. I always considered it my job and I just wanted to finish school. But it did make it more difficult, because if skiing wasn’t going well, you always had school as something else to be good at. When it’s just skiing, and that’s all you’re working towards, if you have a bad day it’s a lot tougher.”

It was a peripatetic existence – suitcase, slope, suitcase. Racing here, training there. Apart from the family home in Dalkey, she had no base, travelling all over – North America, Europe, New Zealand. It was a life of rigorous routine.

“You’d either be training or racing during the day, doing your skis in the afternoon, doing video analysis, doing fitness training. Then you eat and go to bed.”

It can be an uphill struggle. If she were Swiss or Austrian or French, it would be different. She has not made money from the sport and is reliant on sponsors for equipment. She receives a share of the Irish Sports Council’s fund for elite athletes. There is a large shortfall, though: coaches and physios to be paid, travel and accommodation expenses. Her family have footed much of the bill for years.

In 2008, she came back to Ireland to study physiotherapy in the Royal College of Surgeons. She trains and competes depending on the academic calendar. It’s become fun again.

“I’m definitely more relaxed. I’m putting less pressure on myself, which probably actually helps my skiing a bit. I don’t take it as hard if I make a mistake in a run. I used to be very tough on myself. I decided I had to step back a bit and look more at the big picture, that every race isn’t the end of the world. It’s helped me get more of a perspective. I’m enjoying it more. When you do something every single day it’s a lot harder.”

Her otherness as an Irish skier is cast into stark relief by the support received by her competitors from Alpine nations.

“It’s tough sometimes because you’re watching and they have a ski technician, coaches, physios. And, if you’re having a bad day, you’re thinking: ‘How am I ever going to beat that?’ You look at the money that’s put into them, the support they have. But you try not to think about it.”

She grits her teeth and ploughs on against the circumstances.

“I know another girl from Belgium, where they have little support as well. She came up to me one day and said: ‘You know, we can never make it, because we’re from small countries. It’s not possible.’ I said to her: ‘Well, if you think like that, you’ll never do well.’ She has actually stopped skiing now. And you could see that coming, because if she thinks like that, it’s not going to happen.

“I tend to think of it as a case of looking at how far I’ve got with what I have had. Imagine how far I would have gotten . . .”

She pauses, letting the words trail off into the icy remembered air of a hundred ski hills.

“But with the lack of training and the lack of support, if I’ve gotten this far, it’s possible.”

This far is further than most get. As far as the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, where she finished 32nd of 65 competitors in the Giant Slalom and 42nd of 64 in the Slalom. She has won several medals, golds among them, in FIS (International Ski Federation) alpine races. And now a place on the Ireland team competing in the Vancouver Olympics.

At home, she trains in the Ski Centre in Sandyford (run by the McGarry family). When she gets back on a mountain now, there are still moments of sheer adrenalin. “It’s a rush in Super G , when you’ve to turn your skis and go straight down the hill, just force yourself to do it. Your body is thinking: ‘Why are you doing this? This is dangerous!’ I sometimes just have to force myself to do it, so that’s even more of a rush.”

She is working with an experienced and supportive Canadian coach in the run-up to Vancouver. Too often in the past negative coaching trampled on her confidence. Her winter ’09-’10 schedule: Christmas and New Year in the French Alps. Return to Dublin for exams. Then back to France for more racing and training, prior to Vancouver in mid-February.

“The fact I’m not putting as much pressure on myself now helps. If you’re focused more on the run than on the outcome that’s definitely going to help. That’s really the aim, to just focus on the technicality of the run and not think, ‘Oh, what happens if . . .’

“In the last Olympics I came 32nd in the Giant Slalom, which is my favourite discipline, and which I was ecstatic with. Especially with not being full-time at the moment, to do the same, or hopefully better, I’d be happy with.”

KIRSTY McGARRY

KIRSTY McGARRY (24) is set to become the first Irishwoman to compete in successive Winter Olympics. Raised in Dublin, she spent childhood winters in the French Alps, where her parents ran a ski school.

Her elder sister Tamsen became the first Irishwoman to compete in the winter Games, when she skied in Salt Lake City in 2002. Kirsty carried the Irish flag at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Turin Games, where she finished 32nd of 65 competitors in the Giant Slalom and 42nd of 64 in the Slalom.

Having been a full-time ski racer competing internationally for five years, she returned to Ireland in 2008 to study physiotherapy at the Royal College of Surgeons.

Winter Olympics: Women's Bobsledders Almost There

2010-01-14T10:41:00.003Z

From Irish Independent Monday 11 January by Ruaidhri O'Connor

The Irish two-woman bobsleigh team of Aoife Hoey, Claire Bergin and Leona Byrne are two races away from qualifying for February's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

For Hoey, the prospect of qualification is the culmination of a voyage that started 10 years ago. Her past two attempts at qualifying ended in heartbreak, with Ireland finishing 16th ( 15 teams qualifying) both times in a sport where the major nations are allowed to send two teams.

Currently, Team Ireland sits 20th, and since the International Olympic Committee have extended the competition to include 20 teams, Hoey and team-mates are on the brink of making it. "We're in the last qualifying spot and, at the moment, our place is secure. We have two races left to count and the margin is a tiny bit too large for the trailing teams to catch up," says Hoey.

"We'll have to finish fairly well to make sure of it, but I'm fairly confident on the next two tracks -- Germany and Switzerland. I don't want to count my chickens before they've hatched, but I think we'll sneak in. I think we've done phenomenally well based on the amount of effort and time, considering we are a very small team."

That small team comprises driver Hoey, who is 26 and from Portarlington, and her break-women: 24-year-old Dubliner Bergin and Byrne, who is 22 and from Carlow.

Hoey's sister Siobhain, a former competitor, manages the team and will be Irish chef de mission in Vancouver. Aoife followed her sister into a sport that didn't come naturally to the then Irish teenager.

"Siobhain was one of the first women to compete in bobsled for Ireland," she explains. "She knew the men's team at the time eight years ago when there were national trials held at Morton Stadium in Santry. She had excelled in the trials, as from a triple-jump background, she was fast, explosive and powerful.

"She came home after being on the circuit for year and told me about how great it was, how tough it was; and from listening to the stories, I wanted to take part myself and I did the trials the following year. I was only 16.

"I had to wait until I was 18 for insurance reasons before I was allowed to slide, but I became a break-woman for two, three years behind another pilot. When she retired, I decided I'd have to learn to drive and Siobhain became my break-woman."

Training at Santry gave her a slight taste of what she was getting into, but she only realised the true enormity of the sport when she was at the top of the run for the first time. "I'd heard stories about what bobsledding was like, but until you're actually up there you don't realise how fast it actually is."

"There's a huge fear element. When I was standing at the top of the run, everything seemed doom and gloom. The weather was very cold - it could be minus-30 degrees, windy and icy - and I had no idea what to expect. I had been told about G-force: some tracks experience four or five Gs. Astronauts might get that sort of force, and the pressure in bends and the speed are unprecedented.

"Adrenalin is hugely important, but you have to have an element of fear because you're responsible for your break-athlete in the back. You welcome that little bit of fear, so that I do the sensible thing when I'm on the way down."

The team, all still comepting as athletes in the summer, are known for their fast starts on the bobsledding circuit. The IOC have helped by purchasing a state-of-the-art sled, but given the minority status of the sport in Ireland, they've been leaning on friends, family and employers for help. Hoey works for the Athletics Association of Ireland.

"It's such a hard sport and we rely on friends and family to support us. My own family has travelled to events - my brother has even helped with pushing the sled. It weighs 300kg and you're talking about three girls heading out in a van maybe nine or 10 hours from one track to another, lifting, moving, dragging a sled and all for a run that takes maybe 30 seconds.

"It might take four or five hours of training in one day with 50 or 60 sleds going down in a session; it means it's very intense with a huge amount of work to be done.

"The sled has to be prepared every evening after sliding. Polishing them with sandpaper can take four or five hours every evening. The better your materials, the faster you'll be coming down the ice."

Stronger bobsledding countries offer plenty of assistance to their Irish rivals. "The other nations have been really helpful to us. Everyone is in complete awe of us because we compete with the best in the world: we're very, very good on the starts. My driving has improved immensely and I think even in four or five years' time, you could be looking at a top-10 finish, rather than a top-20."

Winter Olympics: Paul Griffin XC skier

2010-01-14T10:33:00.002Z

From Irish Independent Thursday January 14 2010

IT may have brought the country slipping and sliding to a virtual standstill but Ireland's Big Chill of 2010 has, paradoxically, been absolutely no help to Paul Griffin.

That's ironic considering the world-class Irish rower has been in a Killarney gym for the past week, sweating his guts out for one final race that will help decide whether or not he qualifies, as a cross-country skier, for next month's Winter Olympics in Vancouver (February 12-28).

The big chill is actually more of a hindrance than a help to him.It is immaculately-groomed tracks the Fossa man needs for training, not random snow drifts up in the McGillacuddys.

The bizarre weather worldwide -- too hot before Christmas, too snowy now, both contributing to regular race cancellations -- has compounded the logistical problems he has encountered trying to get around the world to pick up Olympic qualifying points.

Griffin accepts that he's a bit of a novelty on the international (FIS) skiing circuit, that people see him as some sort of 'Paddy The Eagle' and he can't blame them.Rory Morrish, Ireland's only previous Winter Olympian at cross-country skiing (Turin 2006) once compared himself "to a Norwegian wanting to play hurling" for his native Cork.

Given Griffin's even shorter transition, he is more like a Scandinavian wanting to play in the All-Ireland hurling final after just 18 months practice!

What most of his competitors probably don't appreciate is that the 30-year-old is a two-time world championship medallist and double Olympian at rowing and one of the finest endurance athletes Ireland has ever produced.

His team-mates at the Athens and Beijing Olympics (where they were sixth and 10th respectively) regularly referred to Griffin as "the hardest man" in the lightweight four boat, with an insatiable appetite for training. It was through rowing that he first experienced skiing when then Irish coach Harald Jahrling brought his charges to St Moritz for a winter-training camp in 2005.

Aerobic, endurance fitness is the corner-stone of both sports, and cross-country skiers, particularly biathlon skiers who also shoot at targets, are some of the fittest athletes in world sport with resting heart rates of 30-40 beats per minute compared to the average Joe Soap's 70 bpm.

After the disappointment of failing to make the rowing finals in Beijing, Griffin decided to see just how far he could go in this alpine sport and some of his adventures already read like a Disney script. It took him two days to get home from his last event in Anchorage, Alaska on January 4, which was the US National Championships.

Just 1km into the 15km race he took a tumble and broke one of his skis.He only has two pairs, compared to the top pros who get hundreds to trial each season.For Olympic 'B' standard qualification you need to achieve an average of below 300 points in five official (FIS) races. This was Griffin's fifth so not finishing wasn't an option.

Hence he raced back up the hill that he'd just tumbled off at 40 mph, spotted a spectator with the same bindings (the locks that connect your boots to your skis) and borrowed one of his. Even with a pair of mis-matched skis -- he had to produce the broken one for the officials afterwards as equipment is very tightly regulated -- he crossed the line in the time he needed.

Yes he was last, in 143rd place, 16 minutes behind the winner. But if he'd been six seconds slower it wouldn't have been enough and 11 competitors didn't finish at all.Afterwards Griffin didn't even have time to check out the stranger whose kindness may yet get him to Vancouver.

"I actually came around past him twice more on the circuit!" Griffin explains, laughing at the latest of his many surreal experience that have included racing in Lapland and getting used to landscapes where moose replace sheep.

Similar random acts of kindness from complete strangers have been vital to Griffin pursuing his dream of joining the exclusive club who have competed for Ireland at both Summer and Winter Olympics. Only javelin thrower Terry McHugh and rower Pat McDonagh, in bobsleigh, have previously done it.

Morrish has been a great help, not least by hooking him up with Rolf Hagstrom, a former waxer for the Swedish national team who has become a huge ally and advisor.

Griffin's own international rowing connections have also proved invaluable.While competing at one race he met a former rower who owns a chain of hotels in Sweden who now gives him free board when he's over there training. And yet, though his result in Anchorage was enough to secure the 'B standard', there is a hitch in this snowy fairytale that could yet undo him.

The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) can only send one athlete on the B standard and another skier currently has a better scoring average (270 points) than Griffin's 299.

That's PJ Barron, a Scot who declared for Ireland (through parentage) a year ago. Barron still trains and travels with the British Nordic Development Squad so compared to him Griffin is a lone wolf, with far less experience and support. The OCI have indicated that not just qualifying standard will influence their decision. Next weekend is the qualification deadline and the OCI will make their decision next Monday.

After the broken ski in Anchorage the Kerryman has decided to do one more race, in Bozeman, Montana, this weekend in a desperate last attempt to improve his 'best of five' average. Even if he doesn't get to Canada, Griffin's Olympic odysseys will not end here. He is still a world-class rower and hopes to be part of an Irish boat in London 2012 and then there's the next Winter Olympics in Russia in 2014.

Harry Cahill: 1930-2009

2009-09-27T20:26:00.002+01:00

(From Stephen Findlater's "The Hook" hockey blog)

Irish hockey Hall of Fame player Harry Cahill died on September 19 at the age of 79. Widely regarded as the best goalkeeper to ever don the pads for Ireland, he earned 72 Irish caps during a 20-year period stretching from 1953 to 1973.
During that period, he was selected for three Olympic Games for Great Britain – finishing in fourth in Rome in 1960, ninth Tokyo in 1964 and 12th in Mexico in 1968 where he was Britain’s oldest Olympian at those Games.
He also played with the Irish side for the first European Nations Cup in 1970, aged 40.
In a time of minimal protective gear, Cahill was revered for his fearless approach to the game allied with razor-sharp reflexes and athleticism.
He played his club hockey initially with Pembroke Wanderers before moving across channel to play with the Coventry and North Warwickshire club.
He was inducted into the IHA Hall of Fame in 2006.

From the Irish Times:

HARRY CAHILL, who has died aged 79, was one of the finest international hockey goalkeepers of his generation.

He made 72 appearances for Ireland from 1953-1973, played for Britain in three Olympic Games (Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964 and Mexico 1968) and toured India and Pakistan with Britain.

He represented Ireland in the first European Nations Cup in Brussels in 1970, was a member of the Irish team that won the Santander Trophy in 1972, and toured South Africa in 1973.

His initial hockey was with Pembroke Wanderers in Dublin. Following a business move, he joined Belfast YMCA in the late 1950s (winning an Irish senior cup medal), before moving to Coventry and North Warwickshire. He finished his hockey career with Worthing, helping them to win the Sussex Cup in 1981 when aged over 50.

He was a natural sportsman, converting initially from soccer to hockey and taking up goalkeeping only because he found himself playing in a team without one.

He was Irish triple jump champion in 1951/52 and was chosen to represent Ireland in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. However, as with three other selected athletes, he did not go because the Irish athletic authorities were short of funding.

When playing for Coventry hockey club, he used to train with Coventry City soccer club, whose manager at the time, Jimmy Hill, was so impressed with his skills that he offered him a contract.

When he retired from hockey, he had time to play golf, squash, run three marathons – London, Dublin and Worthing – when well into his 50s, and help with umpiring at Worthing, where he was club captain from 1986 to 1990.

Cahill was born in Dublin, one of three children who excelled at sport: his sister Irene was captain of the Irish women’s hockey team and his brother Cecil played for the Irish amateur soccer team.

In 2006, Cahill was inducted into the Irish Hockey Association Hall of Fame. He is regarded by many as the greatest Irish hockey goalkeeper to date.

A modest man, he was noted for his kindness and warmth. He is survived by his wife, Ina, and their two daughters.

Harry Cahill: born June 9th, 1930; died September 18th, 2009.

SHOCK AS SUTHERLAND FOUND DEAD

2009-09-15T09:18:00.002+01:00

IRISH boxing was last night mourning the loss of a potential world champion after Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland was found dead at his English home yesterday by his manager, reports the Irish Independent.
The 27-year-old super middleweight, who won bronze for Ireland in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, was discovered in his flat in Bromley, south London, by Frank Maloney.
The boxing promoter, who signed Sutherland as a professional in October last year after his Olympic triumph, said: "It is a tragedy for Ireland and the world of boxing."
He described the death as very sad and unexpected. "At this sad time, my thoughts are with Darren's family and I hope their privacy at this very difficult time will be respected by the media."
A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that the young boxer was pronounced dead just after 3pm. His death is not being treated as suspicious.
The death of 'The Dazzler' drew an immediate reaction from across the country.
Sports Minister Martin Cullen said: "Ireland has lost a sportsman of wonderful ability, a clever and popular man with a future of real potential."
Mr Cullen said his death was "a great personal loss" to his family and many friends. "The tremendous effort and determination of this young man brought immense pride to Ireland in Beijing in 2008 when he joined a very select group of men who have won an Olympic medal for Ireland. It takes work, effort, desire and dedication to be a champion -- qualities Darren had in abundance."
Olympic Council of Ireland president Pat Hickey described the news of the young boxer's death as "unbelievable".
Mr Hickey recalled that he had presented Darren with his Olympic bronze medal in Beijing. "He was the greatest fellow in the Irish camp. He was the life and soul of the party, a fellow who got on well with everybody. This is such an awful shock," he said, adding that the OCI extended its sympathy to Darren's family.
"I remember him talking to me about turning professional and he was so positive and so sure he was going to do well."
Dominic O'Rourke, the honorary president of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA), last night described the death of Darren Sutherland as "shocking" and "unbelievable".
"I'm trying to get my head around it. I'm totally shocked, it is a total tragedy and I feel for his family. It is a tremendous loss. Words cannot describe it, it is hard to believe it," he said.
Describing the young man as "a phenomenal talent", former world champion Barry McGuigan said he had expected his compatriot to become a world champion one day.
"I am deeply shocked and deeply saddened by this news and my heart goes out to Darren's family. It is an absolute tragedy."
Boxing pundit and former champion Mick Dowling spoke of his shock on hearing of Darren's death and said he would be a massive loss to world boxing.
"He was the kind of fighter that every coach in the world wanted to see walking into their gym. He was an absolute natural and had the world at his feet," Mr Dowling added.
"Darren would definitely have been a world champion. He had power, dedication and he was so, so committed from a fitness point of view."
Darren claimed three Irish senior titles, two European Union gold medals and an Olympic bronze medal while boxing for Ireland out of the St Saviours OBA club in Dublin.
The young boxer, whose parents live in Navan, Co Meath, was due to fight Tony Jeffries in the Seabum Centre in Sunderland next month.
According to his Facebook site, Darren's ambition was to become "a future world champion".
"I was drawn by the drama, glamour, showmanship and excitement of the professional game," he said.
He started boxing full-time when he was 15 and quickly found he had a natural talent for it. "I love the thrill of the fight and performing in front of big crowds," he said.