Sophie O'Sullivan storms to NCAA gold as Rhasidat Adeleke fades to in Stockholm Diamond League meeting
SUNDAY was a Mixed day for Irish stars as Rhasidat Adeleke finished sixth in Stockholm while Sophie O'Sullivan won NCAA gold.
Tallaght ace Adeleke had to settle for sixth place in the women's 400m at Sunday's Diamond League meeting in Stockholm.
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Rhasidat Adeleke slumped to sixth in Stockholm on Sunday
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Sophie O'Sullivan celebrates winning the 1500 meter event at the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships
It comes just four days after her fourth place finish on her season debut.
Running from lane four, the Dubliner was in contention coming into the final straight but faded in the closing metres against a stacked field.
American Isabella Whittaker won in 49.78 seconds, ahead of Norway's Henriette Jaeger (50.07) and Great Britain's Amber Anning, who clocked a season's best 50.17 in third.
Adeleke, 22, crossed the line in 50.48.
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The Dublin sprinter is targeting the World Championships in Tokyo later this year.
Meanwhile, Sophie O'Sullivan enjoyed a landmark moment in her own career on Saturday
The daughter of Irish legend Sonia powered to gold in the 1500m at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
The 23-year-old University of Washington athlete produced a stunning final kick to leave the field behind and win in a personal best time of 4:07.94.
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It makes O'Sullivan just the fifth Irishwoman ever to win an NCAA title,
She follows in the footsteps of her legendary mother Sonia O'Sullivan (3000m, 1990 & 1991), Valerie McGovern (5000m, 1989 & 1990), Mary Cullen (5000m, 2006) and Adeleke herself (400m in 2023 and relay golds in 2022 and 2023).
Alex Scott and Dermot O'Leary forced to apologise as Tyson Fury swears live on ITV during Soccer Aid coverage
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Irish Daily Mirror
20 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'We let ourselves down a little' Cavan hero on opportunities missed with Kerry
With the week that's in it, it was apt that the RTE series, Hell For Leather - The Story of Gaelic Football, landed on the 1947 All-Ireland final last Monday night. It recalled how the novel idea of staging the GAA's showpiece event in New York, to mark the centenary of the worst year of the great famine, came from the Clare county convention. The motion was resisted by the GAA's top brass before it came to Congress but Clare delegate Canon Michael Hamilton spoke passionately. 'They'll never see their homeland again,' he said of the Irish that had been scattered to America, 'and are you going to deny them this bit of Ireland?' The motion passed. Kerry and Cavan qualified for the final at the Polo Grounds some months later, with Cavan scoring their greatest victory in the most unique All-Ireland final of all. 'Cavan glorious and happy in victory,' surmised Micheál O'Hehir on the highlights reel as the players celebrated. 'The greatest chapter in Irish sporting history came to an end.' The links to 1947 have invariably endured in Cavan teams since. Current full-back Killian Brady is the grand-nephew of Phil 'The Gunner' Brady, who played at midfield in 1947, for example. Cormac O'Reilly's grand-uncle was John Wilson, wing-back 78 years ago and a long-time Fianna Fáil TD who would serve as Tánaiste. O'Reilly's father, Damien, has no direct familial links, but was a key player for Cavan when they played Kerry in two landmark fixtures in 1997, 50 years on from their last Championship victory over them. The first was an All-Ireland semi-final, Cavan's first in 28 years having ended their famine in Ulster, and a game that still rankles all these years on. Cavan competed well for the most part and Fintan Cahill's first half goal gave them impetus. However, Maurice Fitzgerald's brilliance proved too much as Kerry finished strongly to win by seven points. But O'Reilly views it as an opportunity missed. Ulster teams had done well in Croke Park since 1991. Kerry hadn't won an All-Ireland in 11 years and had been well beaten by Mayo the year before. 'I just feel that we let ourselves down a little,' says O'Reilly. 'It was much different in Ulster because in '95 we had been in the Ulster final and in '96 we'd been in the Ulster semi-final and all the lads would say, because I retired shortly after that and Stephen King did as well, but we nearly knew we'd win Ulster in '97. 'We were that confident of winning it that we all stayed on and I don't think we just had that same belief when we got to Croke Park and as well as that, to be fair, when you're not there year in, year out it's different. It's difficult. We probably should have won the All-Ireland that year because I believed we were as good as the other teams. We were as good as Mayo as well that got to the final and I believe we were as good as Kerry.' Long before that All-Ireland semi-final, the counties had been slated to play their opening round League game against each other, in October 1997, in New York to mark the 50th anniversary of the Polo Grounds final. Martin McHugh had already stepped down as Cavan manager and selectors Michael Reilly and Donal Donoghue took charge of the side for a game attended by some 10,000 at Denning Stadium on Randall's Island. Fitzgerald had been imperious once again in Kerry's All-Ireland final win over Mayo three weeks earlier, and his levels hadn't dropped as he spearheaded another victory. O'Reilly has fond memories of 'an amazing trip', with several of the 1947 team on board, including Wilson, his wife's uncle, but he wished they could have given the sizeable Cavan diaspora in New York something more. 'Like, we got two chances at Kerry within a few months of each other and both times we weren't successful so that's what I look back on - the disappointment, and I think that's where sometimes teams let themselves down. There's that extra bit of belief because I know you hear all the quotes of 15 versus 15 and so on and so forth, but I think if you have a little bit more belief… 'I'd love if we had to win in New York just for the Cavan people out there. I wish we had but we didn't.' The links with those games 28 years ago to 1947 were obvious. And as much as we might like to romanticise, it would be stretching it to draw parallels with this afternoon's preliminary quarter-final in Killarney between two sides who come into the fixture on the back of heavy defeats, despite the lineage that is there. 'I don't think it'll come into conversation at all now, no,' says O'Reilly. He is frustrated by the current team's inconsistency throughout the League and Championship, but their performance in beating Mayo recently offers hope. 'Cavan were very, very good and then you come out again and then you put in a good 20 minutes against Donegal at Breffni Park. We were against a strong breeze and we're within two points of Donegal coming up to half-time and then we conceded a goal and then the second half was a disaster and then very poor again last week so it's very difficult to know what to expect.' And Cormac, who's having his best year yet with the county, wouldn't be giving him the inside track either. 'He tells you absolutely zero about Cavan or what's going on or who would be playing. You'd read more in the paper than he'd actually tell you about what's happening in camp but after a match I would have a chat with him. 'We're up against it obviously but I suppose there's absolutely no pressure on Cavan. There is a bit of pressure on Kerry now after being beaten by Meath. 'They're in Killarney, they should beat us - but you never know.'
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Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Jack Conan eager to witness fanfare of a full-blown Lions tour
Jack Conan has been a British & Irish Lion before but given it was the Covid-hit tour to South Africa of 2021, the Ireland No.8 is relishing the opportunity to embrace a proper Lions touring experience when the squad leaves for Australia on Saturday. Conan, 32, was in the stands at Aviva Stadium on Friday night as Andy Farrell's squad faced Argentina ahead of departure for Perth and an opening tour match against Western Force next Saturday. Like another eight of the 12 Leinster players heading Down Under as Irish Lions, the back-rower was held at bay six days after lifting the URC trophy at Croke Park but he was kept busy on matchday. He and four provincial team-mates Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan, Andrew Porter and Josh van der Flier as well English Premiership final participants, Finn Russell and Will Stuart from newly crowned champions Bath and runner-up Ollie Chessum of Leicester Tigers were on Lions duty at Dublin's UCD Bowl earlier in the day, hosting a training session for 90 school children, girls and boys ranging from 8-12 years of age, and from four primary schools nominated by the Irish provinces. Even a meet and greet with young rugby fans was out of bounds for the Lions on their last tour, with South Africa in lockdown and matches played in empty stadiums as Conan started all three Tests at No.8 against the Springboks, each game behind closed doors in Cape Town with the players bussed in and out from a secluded team hotel and training base outside of the city. The chance to experience a proper tour, backed by tens of thousands of travelling supporters forming a 'Sea of Red' in Australia, is a return to tradition, albeit one eagerly awaited by Conan. "Four years ago was still great, I loved it and had a great experience,' he said. 'In a way, you get to know the lads in such a different way because it was eight weeks of kind of solitary confinement. You have to mix. 'You still have to mix now but you're getting out and about in smaller groups whereas four years ago, everyone was just kind of sitting around.' Conan was even looking forward to watching the Lions on Friday night as they played on Irish soil for the first time in their illustrious 137-year history, just to see those red jerseys play in front of the fans, giving him a taste of what is to come over the next six weeks across 10 tour matches and three Tests against the Wallabies in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. "The only taste we got of that was four years ago against Japan in Edinburgh (pre-tour) and there was around 16,000 there with spaced seating, so definitely a bit different. 'I can't wait to get over there, everyone says it's just a different fanfare, a different level of excitement when you get properly on tour. But you can even see it walking around town at the moment, people in jerseys, there's a pop-up shop, so many kids outside the Shelbourne (Hotel). It's special and I'm looking forward to getting a proper run-out at some stage." Conan does believe the 2021 tour, which ended in a 2-1 Test defeat to Rassie Erasmus's 2019 World Champions, can stand him in good stead for this summer's tour, with certain provisos. 'You know what's expected of you when you put on the jersey and when you come into this environment, into camp. Other than that, it's more just the detail, the plays, calling structures and all that, it's different. 'You've lads from other countries coming in is a little bit differently than we would do, so it's just getting used to each other a little bit. 'Now, luckily, the way we want to play is quite similar to how Ireland would play so it's not that difficult to get up to speed, but the calls are all different. There's a bit of overlap with a few Leinster calls but they're different things. The same wording, so I was caught out a few times on Tuesday when you just go into autopilot a little bit. 'So that's the real challenge. But no-one expects it to be perfect in the first few days. Even in the first few games we're going to build throughout the tour and continue to get better. That's the challenge, more than anything else.'
