Irish athletics doing the country proud

Ireland, as a country, likes the notion of being a plucky underdog.

In a sporting context, this can actually be beneficial.

Entering into European and World competition against nations with far greater resources means that little is ever expected of Ireland beyond these shores.

The one way Ireland can compete is by being smart. In a team sport, that involves cutting your cloth to suit what is available to you, a la Jack Charlton, Italia 90 and all the rest of it.

In any discipline, however, world class preparation, adequate facilities and sufficient investment combined with that unique Irish spirit can go a long way.

We saw evidence of that over the last week.

After such a productive seven days, Ireland and those involved in swimming and athletics in our country should bask in the glow of the successes on the European stage.

On the track, Team Ireland, as a whole, performed as well as Ireland ever has at a European Championships, with golden stars in the shape of Mark English and Kate O’Connor.

In the pool in Paris, there were shining lights too: Sligo’s Mona McSharry with a hat-trick of medals across three different lengths in the breaststroke and Ellen Walshe with her double gold too.

As a country, Ireland has a proud and rich tradition when it comes to athletics, first and foremost.

The names roll off the tongue from down through the years. Take Ronnie Delany as one example. He was Ireland’s last gold medallist on the track at an Olympic Games, having won the 1500-metres at the 1956 event in Melbourne. The outpouring of emotion on his sad passing earlier this year, and the esteem in which he is held, is a reflection of how highly regarded Olympic success is in the Irish, and world, sporting psyche.

Other names also roll off the tongue from the following generations: Coughlan, Treacy, O’Sullivan.

It’s hard to imagine a time, though, over the course of Ireland’s history as an independent country, that we’ve had as many track athletes as we have right now operating at the very top of their game at the same time.

Just think about this past week in Birmingham. Kate O’Connor won gold in the Heptathlon; Mark English did likewise in the men’s 800-metres.

Rhasidat Adeleke stormed to silver in the women’s 200-metres and Andrew Coscoran came from the middle of the pack to pinch a bronze in the men’s 1500-metres.

Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy both made it to the women’s 1500 final and secured top eight finishes.

The men’s and women’s four by one hundred relay teams made their respective finals; Nicola Tuthill finished fifth overall in the hammer throw.

That’s just a flavour of what Ireland managed to achieve over the course of the week in Birmingham.

Over in Paris at the swimming, the medals continued to flow.

Walshe’s golden double was the highlight, but in this part of the world we must take great pride in the exploits of Mona McSharry in winning three medals - one silver and two bronze - in the most incredible show of resilience and determination yet from the woman from north Sligo.

She was the first to admit that, having achieved her goal of winning an Olympic medal in the pool two years ago, it was unclear and uncertain as to whether there was a future beyond that for her in the sport.

A prodigious underage talent who shot to world prominence at a young age, McSharry has had to deal with the pressure of that throughout the course of her own career and has spoken candidly, too, about her loss of form at various stages.

Lest anyone doubt her talent, McSharry now seems to be in the form of her life, both mentally and physically, which was reflected in how she brought a brilliant, care-free attitude into Sunday’s 50-metre breaststroke final, an event she said she was doing to have fun more than anything else.

Her third placed finish was a tremendous result - and her smile afterwards was as wide as Sligo Bay itself. Now, she can look forward to another Olympic tilt in LA with great optimism in two years time.

It wasn't a week in which Daniel Wiffen managed to reach the podium but, as has been well documented, he has had challenges both personally and in the pool over the last number of months. With Olympic success already under his belt, and still at only 25, he will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with again once LA rolls around.

Aside from their obvious talent as athletes, Ireland has rarely, if ever, been as well represented by athletes in how they conduct themselves under the brightest of lights.

The post-race or swim interviews always catch the eye. They are rarely, if ever, reverting to basic cliches; they are authentic and real, moments where raw emotion comes through and we get a brief glimpse into the mindset of these top-level athletes, whether their main emotion is joy or disappointment.

Indeed, it's hard not to reflect on the European Championships and not think of Ciara Mageean, who continues to deal with her own illness. Mageean is a European champion and a most beloved figure in Irish athletics. Her story is very much part of the rise of athletics in this part of the world in recent years.

Swim Ireland and Athletics Ireland deserve enormous credit for how they have helped stimulate what feels like a golden era in terms of the breadth and depth of the Irish talent in both swimming and athletics.

Similarly, we can be justifiably proud of all these athletes, bar none, for how they represent our country.

It's been said before and it will be said again, but they deserve all the support and investment they can get.

Let the good times keep on rolling.