Bray also celebrating bronze

A small area of Bray was celebrating the town’s second Olympic medal in three days on Saturday as Fergus Kavanagh helped Australia to men’s hockey bronze with a 3-1 win over Great Britain.

Kavanagh said afterwards up to 15 family members had made the trip over the Irish Sea from the Wicklow town where Kavanagh was born — also home to gold medallist Katie Taylor — to watch the third place play-off.

It proved a “bittersweet” moment for the Perth-based defender, however, as his side finished third for the second successive Games despite being the world’s top-ranked team. They fell at the semi-final stage to eventual champions Germany 4-2.

“The semi-final was obviously gutting” he said. “But we’re very proud we got ourselves up for this bronze medal game. To get a medal at an Olympics is a great achievement. I was coming back to hopefully go better.

“First time, it was just great to be there at my first Olympics. It’s bittersweet.”

Kavanagh and his family moved to Western Australia in the late 1980s having spent the first four years of his life in Bray, where a number of family members also played hockey in the Loreto School.

Indeed, his brother Tom, now playing with Hampstead and Westminster in England, tried out for the Irish men’s hockey team prior to the Olympic qualifier in Dublin.

For former Annadale man Iain Lewers, who previously played for Ireland over 80 times, Australia’s victory inflicted a tough loss on his Great Britain side, who were condemned to fourth place.

“It’s been a bloody roller coaster. It started off well and we’ve had a lot of dips in the roller coaster and some highs as well,” he said.

“It’s not just losing a hockey match; it’s more than that. It’s the culmination of three or four years’ work, more for some others.

“To be level going into the closing quarter and it creeping away from you, it’s not easy to take.”