Ryan and Sheehy keep flag flying in Munich

ON a day when controversy threatened to take over, there was double joy for Irish sprinters at the European championships in Munich last night.

Gary Ryan bounced back from adversity to claim his place in the semi-final of the men’s 200m and Ciara Sheehy, bronze medallist at under-23 level last year, took her career to a new level by advancing to the semi-finals of the women’s 200m.

It took a courageous performance from the Nenagh Olympic man, after three frustrating years fraught with injury, to get through on a tough day at the office. In the morning he had to dig deep to get into the second round as the second fastest of the fastest losers.