Aug 10, 2018
Thomas Barr created history by winning a brilliant bronze medal in the 400m hurdles in 48.31 seconds at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin last night.
Barr became the first Irish male sprinter to win an outdoor European medal in the 84-year history of the event.
His performance is the latest in perhaps the most successful week of international sport that Ireland has ever enjoyed following the successes of the Women’s Hockey team, the O’Donovan Brothers in rowing, Shane Ryan in swimming and with the promise of yet more to come.
“It was really reminiscent of Rio with all the Irish flags and fans out there. It all came together and I was raring to go from the afternoon to get out there,” said Barr afterwards.
“I really wanted that hardware and to join Ciara (Mageean) and Mark (English) with medals along with the greats like Sonia (O’Sullivan) and Derval (O’Rourke). I’m just so happy it came together and I’m really thankful to all my team.”
It made Thomas Barr the tenth Irish athlete to win a medal at the European Championships.
Leon Reid (Menapians) was a little disappointed with 7th in the 200m final with 20.37 but, like the 400m hurdles final, it was arguably the highest quality in the history of the championship. It was won by Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev in a championship record of 19.76.
Today will be another busy morning of action with Phil Healy (Bandon) in the heats of the 200m at 10:25, Ciara Mageean (UCD) in the heats of the 1500m, Kerry O’Flaherty (Newcastle) and Michelle Finn (Leevale) in the heats of the 3,000m steeplechase at 11:25, along with the heats of the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays at 12:05 and 12:40. Thomas Barr has a quick turnaround competing in the 4x400m relay.
Aug 9, 2018
Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan has qualified in 1st place for the pommel horse final at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow.
His score of 15.266 is a personal best and he will now compete in the finals this Sunday 12th August at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
The final will be televised on RTÉ with details of the times and channels to be confirmed later.
Adam Steele, Ireland’s only All-Around gymnast, had a solid competition hitting 78.332 and ranking 13th in his first major championships with teammate Andrew Smith with an unlucky error in his first tumbling pass in an otherwise world-class routine scoring 13.566 on Floor.
“The guys today demonstrated real quality gymnastics,” said Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher.
“Andrew was unlucky with a bounce out of floor in an otherwise super routine. Adam in his first major championships displayed his credentials as a strong all-around gymnast with great potential for the future and history was again made by Rhys McClenaghan in securing Ireland’s first place in a Senior European Final with a huge score on Pommel ranking as top qualifier.”
“On behalf of all at Gymnastics Ireland congratulations to the guys, their coaches Luke Carson, Josh Dixon and Will Banthorpe, Judge Aidan O’Reilly and our Performance & Technical Manager Sally Johnson. Sunday’s Finals can’t come quickly enough.’
“It was a great performance by our gymnasts today,” added Sally Johnson, Gymnastics Ireland Performance and Technical Manager.
“Rhys competed a world class routine to qualify to the final in 1st place, our first senior finalist at a major championship.”
“Andrew and Adam showed real class today with solid performances and I’d like to congratulate them both.”
“We are all looking forward to cheering on Rhys in Sunday’s finals.”
Over the next few days RTÉ will have two exclusive web channels on the RTÉ player covering all 5 sports representing Ireland at the European Championships. For detailed information on streaming visit: https://www.rte.ie/player/ie/live/3/.
Gymnastics Ireland has signed two major sponsorship deals in 2018 with Nestle Cereals and Quatro kitwear.
Aug 3, 2018
What an incredible evening it was as Ireland secured a place in the Women’s Hockey World Cup after a shoot out win over India in London.
Everyone at the Federation and across the whole of Irish sport offers heartfelt congratulations to Graham Shaw’s side, to captain Katie Mullen, goal scorer Chloe Watkins and especially goalkeeper Ayeisha McFarren whose three saves when it mattered most made all the difference.
Ireland now face Spain in the semi-final, an incredible achievement for a team ranked 16th in the world going into the tournament and now carrying the hopes of a nation.
Good luck to the girls in green. The semi Final takes place on Saturday afternoon with the World Cup Final, should we dare to dream, on Sunday afternoon.
Aug 2, 2018
The World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships have been officially launched at Government Buildings with An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar playing host to Irish Para Athletes, Ailbhe Kelly and Patrick Flanagan.
Councillor Nial Ring, Lord Mayor of Dublin was also in attendance along with representatives of championship sponsors, Allianz Ireland and host partners; Sport Ireland, Swim Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and Paralympics Ireland.
“Hosting this event is a great honour for our country and we can’t wait to welcome some incredible para athletes from right across the continent to Dublin,” said An Taoiseach.
“Bringing this event to Dublin has been a major undertaking and I would like to compliment the Local Organising Committee, the Host Partners and sponsors for their efforts to bring this event together.”
“It will be a proud moment as our athletes, including Patrick Flanagan and Ailbhe Kelly, get to compete in front of our legendary Irish sporting fans. I’m really looking forward to the event and I would like to wish Team Ireland the very best of luck throughout the week.”
This will be the first ever major para sporting event to be held in Ireland.
The Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre will be the Centre of attention from Monday August 13th through to Sunday 19th.
An 8 person Irish Team of Ailbhe Kelly, Patrick Flanagan, Ellen Keane, Jonathan McGrath, Sean O’Riordan, Nicole Turner, James Scully and Barry McClements will be hoping to raise the excitement level of the crowd.
They will be among more than 400 athletes from 37 countries taking part in 476 individual races in 167 events.
There are 4 host partners to Dublin 2018 who were all represented at the official launch including Emma Jane Clarke from Sport Ireland, Sarah Keane and Maggie Purcell from Swim Ireland, Paul Kelly of Fáilte Ireland along with John Fulham and Miriam Malone from Paralympics Ireland.
“It was a great honour to be invited to Government Buildings to officially launch the Championships,” said Malone.
“Having the support of Taoiseach Varadkar and of the Department of Transport Tourism and Sport has been a major factor in bringing this event to Dublin and we now look forward to getting the action underway in the National Aquatic Centre on Monday week.”
Jul 27, 2018
Congratulations to the Irish Women’s Hockey team who have qualified with a game to spare for the Quarter Finals of the Women’s World Cup in London.
Wins over the USA and India, whose combined population is over 2 billion, have propelled the team into the last eight regardless of the result on Sunday against England.
That match has been a complete sell-out since March and will be played in front of 10,000 in the London Olympic Park.
Good luck to the team who have excelled so far and will be the focus of Irish sporting attention for the next few days and who knows for how long…
Keep up to date with the tournament at the event website here
Image credit: Inpho Photography
Jul 26, 2018
Following the publication of the new National Sports Strategy, the Federation held its Annual General Meeting at Sport HQ.
There was a strong turn out of members to review the year gone by and also to talk of the future now that the National Policy on Sport has been published.
The Activities Report that was published highlighted the many activities that took place through the year from the Breakast Briefings and submissions to Government through to social events, Workshops on GDPR, Data and Governance the Irish Sport Industry Awards in Association with JLT Ireland in March and the Annual Conference in May.
It welcomed our two new partner sin Clann Credo and Teamer and gave a review of the different services available to members from information and representation through to our recent Membership Survey, which will be published soon the Just Sport Ireland arbitration service and more.
Leo Gibson from Rowing Ireland was elected to become a member of the Federation Board.
Copies of the Report were issued to those in attendance on the day but if you would like a copy in pdf format simply email us and we will get it to you.
