Consistency key for injury-free McDonagh

FRESH from another national record at Virginia Tech, where he jumped eight metres for the first time indoors to equal his outdoor mark, Ciaran McDonagh will be a top attraction at the national indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast over the weekend.

The 29 year-old Meathman is enjoying his first decent injury-free stretch in years. Last year at the world championships in Helsinki the Olympic and world long jump champion, Dwight Phillips, predicted his training partner was gearing up to do some really big jumps.

McDonagh has been training with Phillips since last year under Paul Doyle at his Atlanta base. At the BUPA Cork City Sports in early July he produced a massive jump that was well beyond the national record he set at the world championships in Seville back in 1999 when he became the first Irishman to clear eight metres. Unfortunately he fouled.