Power pulls out of Irish team

SEAMUS POWER has conceded defeat in his battle to be fit for Sunday’s European cross-country championships near Milan and will be replaced by national inter-clubs champion Vinnie Mulvey on the Irish senior squad.

The Clare man failed in his challenge for a sensational 10th national inter-clubs title at Dungarvan recently when a hamstring problem flared up and he finished seventh. However, that was good enough to earn him a place on the senior team for the Europeans when Mark Christie opted for the U23 race and runner-up Gareth Turnbull was not available for selection.

“After the race I knew I would hardly make it but up to Wednesday I was living in hope,” he said. “I was having treatment on the hamstring but if I jumped into the team at this point I know I would not do myself justice.

“The injury is not serious; I will be back racing at the weekend but it would not be good enough for the Europeans. I will have three more sessions on it this week and that should improve matters considerably.

“Missing the Europeans does not bother me too much. The race in Dungarvan is the one I wanted to win. I will knuckle down now for the race in Stormont in January. I will be back in plenty of time for the inter-clubs in March. I did not do myself justice in Dungarvan.”

He rang Vinnie Mulvey last Wednesday and the Dubliner, who had his preparations for the inter-counties disrupted with an injury, was ready to answer the call when contacted by the team manager Anne Keenan-Buckley.

“I was not going to go even if they asked me after the Dungarvan race,” said Mulvey. “I felt I was not ready for it but I had two good sessions since and the race brought me on a bit. Maybe I just had a bad race and did not do myself justice on the day. I think I can help the team score. I would not go otherwise.

“This will finish off what has been my best year to date. I won the senior cross-country title, the Raheny 5, the Ballycotton 10, the AAA title and the national 10,000m title.”

Apart from Mulvey on the senior team and Michael Clohissey, last year’s junior inter-counties champion, and Kirwan on the U23 team, Raheny Shamrocks, coached by legendary marathon man, Dick Hooper, will have Orla O’Mahony on the senior women’s team.