Power set for late recall for Italian shot
Power dismissed his prospects of making the team for the Europeans when he finished seventh in Dungarvan and walked away with a hamstring injury he had picked up during a training session last Thursday night.
“I am more hopeful now,” he said yesterday after he was named as first reserve on the team and the man likely to replace Mark Christie.
“I am still very disappointed the way things went on Sunday. I had finished ahead of Mark Christie in Ghent and I really felt I could do it again going into yesterday’s race.
“I felt a slight pull on my hamstring during a light session on Thursday night and it went totally a lap into the national championships. It was very disappointing because I felt I did not have an opportunity to race him.
“I honestly felt afterwards that I would not be able to run in Italy if I was selected but I was with the physio this morning and things are looking a lot brighter.”
Gareth Turnbull, who finished second on Sunday, was not available for selection. Now coached by the Irish multi-record holder, Mark Carroll, he will concentrate on the indoor season and will train in Florida in the New Year as part of his preparations.
Mark Christie has the potential to medal in the European Under-23 race. Three times national junior champion, he finished in the top six in his last two appearances at the European championships.
His Mullingar clubmate, Martin Fagan, who finished fifth in the NCAA championships in Indiana last Monday, was pre-selected for the senior team which was finalised on Sunday’s results.
Andrew Ledwith, who came off injury to finish 35th in the NCAA championships, has been named on the Under-23 team while Ciaran Ó Lionaird (Leevale), who has not raced for his college yet, will also be brought back from the US to reinforce the junior team.
As expected, Fionnuala Britton, winner of the senior women’s race on Sunday, has also opted for the Under-23 race and, like her fellow student at DCU, Mark Christie, she must stand a medal chance.
Mary Cullen, who finished 11th in Tilburg last year, was pre-selected and confirmed her form when finishing second in the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut last Thursday.
Rosemary Ryan was also in action in Tilburg and will relish the return to the Europeans now that she has made a complete recovery from the persistent hip injury that troubled her for the past couple of years. “Mark McCabe has worked wonders with it and it doesn’t trouble me any more,” she said. “I pulled a calf muscle a few weeks ago and I missed Tilberg and one other race I had planned but I expect to be in pretty good shape in two weeks’ time.”
Cathal Dennehy won his first cross-country title when he beat Brendan O’Neill in a thrilling finish to the junior men’s race on Sunday and he will lead the junior men’s team.
While he managed to win titles on the track, his underage career was fragmented by recurring injury. His coach, Bill Logan whose son Paul was a three-time winner of the national junior title before going to the US, nursed him back to full fitness and he is now reaping the rewards of his dedication.
“I owe everything to Willie,” he said. “Without him I don’t think I would be here at this level.”
Like Mark Christie and Fionnuala Britton, he is a student at DCU where he can avail of the best sports science programme in the country and that, too, has helped.
Roseanne Galligan, who damaged an ankle in the NCAA championships is named to lead the junior women’s team and will decide on her participation later in the week after consulting with her coach at the University of Tennessee.
Breffni Twohig (DSD) will also return from the US where she is on a scholarship at Providence College to strengthen the junior women’s team.
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