Sheehy ready for McSweeney challenge

CIARA SHEEHY is all set to take on the pretender to her crown, Ailish McSweeney, at the AAI Indoor Games in Nenagh on Sunday.

The DSD runner, national indoor record holder over 200m, is set to compete over both the 60m and 200m at the first major indoor meeting of the season.

She is just back from a training camp in Portugal where she trained under her coach, Jim Kilty, along with Cork Olympian, Derval O’Rourke, Emily Maher, Paul Hession and Martina McCarthy.

Both Emily Maher and Martina McCarthy are both relaunching their careers after frustrating times with injury and Kilkenny star Maher, who has flirted with the 400m and competed in the long jump on her last visit to the Nenagh Arena a couple of years ago, wants to reclaim her place among the top sprinters.

“She’s absolutely in flying form,” her new coach, Jim Kilty, insisted. “She wants to make the final in the 60m at the European indoor championships in March and I have every reason to believe that she will and that she will go close to a new Irish record.”

However she will not be in Nenagh this weekend. Instead she will go to Loughborough along with Derval O’Rourke (60m hurdles) and male sprinters Paul Hession and Darren Hough who will both compete over 60m.

Ciara Sheehy will be joined in Nenagh by last year’s top junior sprinter, Mandy Crowe, who won all her races last year in both Ireland and Britain and won her heat at the world junior championships.

“They are all in pretty good shape,” Jim Kilty said. “Ciara Sheehy did a session of 150m runs during the week, which would indicate that she is back to her best and Derval O’Rourke is also back to form.

“Naturally, at this point everyone is a bit anxious and looking forward to competing again. The European indoor championships will be the big target.”

The presence of Ciara Sheehy will add a new air of excitement to the women’s sprints at the AAI Indoor Games.

Last weekend Leevale sprinter, Ailish McSweeney, was in spectacular form, winning both the 60m and 200m at the Munster indoor championships.

When the pair met at the national senior championships in Santry last summer there was very little between them as Ciara Sheehy maintained her dominance of the sprints.

The return of Emily Maher is interesting. As a teenager she was head and shoulders above everyone and was a gold medallist at the European Youth Olympics. She subsequently trained with Linford Christie’s group in the UK but never made the expected breakthrough on account of injury.

The Munster cross-country championships will be staged at Sixmilebridge on Sunday while the Masters indoor championships take place in Nenagh on Saturday.