Ireland’s World Championship stars on track for Croker

SUPPORTERS at the GAA Football All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday will see Ireland’s elite athletes battle it out alongside GAA stars in an inter-provincial Super Sprint Relay as part of the GAA’s 125th Anniversary celebrations.

Irish athletes including Derval O’Rourke, Paul Hession and David Gillick will compete alongside Gaelic stars including Alan Kerins of Galway, Dublin’s Colman Goggins and James Loughrey of Antrim.

The sporting stars will represent their provinces in a 6 x 100 yards shuttle-style relay at half-time in the senior game.

The race, jointly organised by the GAA and Athletics Ireland, will highlight the GAA’s traditional links with athletics as well as the athletics background of some of the founding fathers of the GAA including Michael Cusack and Maurice Davin.

The team will be captained by Ireland’s elite athletes who are flying back from the World Championships in Berlin to be part of the festivities, including Olive Loughnane, silver medallist at the championships in the 20km walk last Sunday.

Further excitement has been added to this event following Derval O’Rourke’s performance at the World Championships on Wednesday night. The Cork woman had the race of her life to finish fourth in the 100m hurdles, setting a new Irish record of 12.67 seconds. David Gillick also had a tremendous run to make Friday’s men’s 400m final.

Each provincial team will be made up of top two male and female athletes and they will be joined in the spectacle by two GAA stars.