European Cross Country Championships: Darragh McElhinney drawing on demons for extra gear

If it wasn’t for bad luck this year, Darragh McElhinney would have had no luck at all.

Team Ireland athlete Darragh McElhinney at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin ahead of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships which take place at the venue on Sunday, December 12th. For more information on the Championship please visit www.fingal-dublin2021.ie. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Nothing's ever promised at this level, and Darragh McElhinney knows better than anyone how a championship can go up in smoke long before you toe the line. Tomorrow’s European Cross Country Championships in Abbotstown will be the third international he’s made this year, and if it wasn’t for bad luck at the first two he’d have had no luck at all.

First there was the European Indoors in March, and the test for Covid-19 that came back positive the night before he was due to travel, which forced him to watch from home despite the negative tests that followed. Then there was the European U23 Championships in July, where the Cork star saw his medal chance disappear in circumstances that seemed awfully unjust. But ahead of tomorrow’s big test in Abbotstown, the 21-year-old is harnessing the pain of the past to maximum effect.