European performances were ‘the stuff of dreams’

IRISH manager Patsy McGonagle yesterday described Irish performances at the European Championships in Gothenburg in glowing terms.

Derval O’Rourke’s silver medal in the 100m hurdles was the obvious high point of the week but McGonagle also highlighted the efforts of Joanne Cuddihy, Martin Fagan, Liam Reale and Mary Cullen.

“It’s the stuff dreams are made of,” McGonagle admitted.

“Derval’s performance highlighted a great week for what was a very young team here in Gothenburg.

“We had nine people in finals so in the broad sense this has to be the best European championships we have ever had.

“This is a very young squad and we have to underline that fact.

“I think the medal won by Derval O’Rourke focused the team with the general public back in Ireland.

“It was a window of opportunity for us and I think we grabbed it. Statistics indicate two national records, a number of personal bests and in general all performed up to certain level.”

He said David Gillick and Roisin McGettigan were probably two who felt they had not performed to their ability but Gillick had bounced back with two superb relay legs.

“They were superb and he can gain a lot of consolation from them. He ran low 45s and high 44s in those splits. Unfortunately he was chasing the race but he ran extremely well, but he could have let it go further down but responded positively and took the opportunity.

“Martin Fagan and Liam Reale were also very positive and we can take great heart out of a big PB for Mary Cullen in the 5,000m, while this was the first time Thomas Chamney and Dave Campbell had experienced this level of competition. They will all have learned here.”

He said many lessons can be learned by Athletics chiefs also.

“Many things need to be done at this end of the sport,” he said. “We need to look at the fallout from the championships and see if there are certain elements of the Performance Plan that need to be looked at.

“I wonder should we be supporting athletes at two different levels — if we should pick 10 athletes and make sure they are being supported and I mean with proper coaching and conditioning advice. There is no point throwing money at them if this support is not there.

“Then we could look at another group of international-type athletes who need funding. Maybe this is not going to be easy but we could call them the London 2012 squad.”

He added that the eight regional centres where athletes can come together at weekends in places like Cork, Dublin, the Midlands and the North have been finalised.

Meanwhile Alistair Cragg, who pulled out of the 5,000 final on Sunday with an Achilles tendon problem, was told yesterday that he can have it treated in either Ireland or in London.

“We have everything in place for MRI scanning and treatment, if needed,” McGonagle said. “He can have everything done in 24 hours.”