World medallists Scully, Keane and McGivern on Irish swim team

The Irish team for next month’s European paralympic swimming championships features three swimmers who medalled on the world stage last year.

Ellen Keane, James Scully and Laurence McGivern all secured bronze medals at the 2013 World championships in Montreal and will lead the Irish team of five for next month’s event in Eindhoven (August 4-10). The trio will be joined by London Paralympian Jonathan McGrath and 15-year old newcomer Ailbhe Kelly.

Paralympic gold medallist from the 2012 London Games Darragh McDonald will not be competing as he recovers from a recent surgery.

The five swimmers will compete across 13 events, fine-tuning their preparations with an 11-day training camp in the Canary Islands from next week.

Said three-time Paralympic gold medallist Dave Malone, championships performance manager at Paralympics Ireland: “The team we have going to Eindhoven is a really strong one with the swimmers looking forward to benchmarking themselves against all the best swimmers in Europe.

“All five are targeting lifetime best swims at the event, and should they swim to their potential we are hopeful of podium finishes.”