COVER STORY
U23s: The G
By Alana Fearon
I
t was the national pickme-up we perhaps didn’t even realise we needed. The sight of the battleready athletes assembled for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships reignited a collective countrywide pride that has been suffocating under the weight of the pandemic. The scene was set for a great day; a home crowd on home soil, our Irish stars chomping at the bit to get racing, and Europe’s cream of the crop bringing the pizzazz to Abbotstown. And it was under the Dublin spotlight that our Under-23 men’s team defied the odds to steal gold from the clutches of the British team and make it a day to remember. They weren’t the only team taking home the bling as the Under-20 team nabbed silver in their event, and Darragh McElhinney took home individual silver. But more memorable than the medals perhaps were the jubilant celebrations of our Under-23 team, the palpable team spirit among the group of Darragh McElhinney of UCD AC, Keelan Kilrehill of Moy Valley AC, Micheal Power of West Waterford AC, Jamie Battle of Mullingar Harriers, Donal Devane of Ennis Track Club and Thomas Devaney of Castlebar AC – and McElhinney’s heartwarming finish line embrace with his granny. Much has been written about the performances in the weeks since the December 12 event. But we caught up with the U-23 team last week to find out more about the men behind the medals. So Keelan, how have the gold medals boosted you for the year ahead? It was definitely a boost I suppose. You kind of expected more from yourself nearly, but I’ve a good few races lined up so it's time to plan from
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Irish Runner #1 - 2022
Team Ireland, from left, Jamie Battle, Darragh McElhinney, Michael Power, Keelan Kilrehill, Donal Devane and Thomas Devaney celebrate with their gold medals. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
now on but at the same time I’m not looking too far ahead either. Keelan, obviously you had that bad accident a few years ago. (He broke three vertebrae in his back and a vertebra in his neck in 2015 and could have been left paralysed had the neck fracture been a break). Did you think at the time that maybe you wouldn't compete again? I didn't really think of it like that. I never told myself I wouldn't (compete again) because I was only 14 at the time so probably didn't take into account the seriousness; you don't think about how bad it could have been. But it didn't take me too long to even get back into running. I think I was four months out of running but I just couldn't go back playing contact sports. And I couldn’t enter races in case I got hit
or something. But I raced like nine months after.
just how big of an achievement it was.
Darragh, the picture we keep thinking of is the one where you were celebrating with your Granny at the side of the track. How important are family and friends to you in being able to compete at this level? It made a big difference to me (at the Cross Country) because I think my Granny has seen me race probably five or six times but this race was at home and then the achievement of it in itself in front of an Irish public. So I think it’s probably all of our best achievements to date. Having family and friends there definitely added to the magic of the day. And then of course all the runners you've been training with and competing against for years and they're all there to watch too, so it definitely amplified
You were just very tightly pipped to the post individually, but you got the gold as a collective. Does that overshadow a bit of disappointment you might have felt on an individual level? Oh, yeah, for sure. It was one of those things that when I came over the line, I didn't really have time to think about my own performance. As soon as I turned around, I saw Keelan coming over the line, closely followed by Micheal, and then closely followed by the lads as well, so you don't really have a whole lot of time to think about what you should have done. When it came to the time to kind of reflect on the race, I wasn't going to get myself down about it. I think possibly I could have done one
