U23s: The Golden Boys

By Alana Fearon

It 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

U23s: The G

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.

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 just how big of an achievement it was.

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

olden Boys

or two things differently but sometimes you’re just beaten by a better man.

It was very apparent as well that there is a genuine friendship among you six. Is there healthy competition?

In many ways we're not really competitors. Like we are a couple of times a year for national championships or whatever, but the competitions that really matter, like the Cross Country or European Championships, for all those we’re teammates. So it's a lot more important to actually want the best for the other people on the team as opposed to just wanting to be fitter than them so you can beat them on the day at nationals. That’s great but nationals come and go in the space of a couple of days whereas with something like a year in Cross, the memories and the sense of achievement last a lot longer so I think the fact that we're a tight-knit group of lads, that played into our hands because you're probably more willing to go the extra yard for each other which I think was apparent on the day.

Thomas, what type of sacrifices have you made personally to get to where you are today?

It's big but I wouldn't really see it as a sacrifice. We feel so lucky that we have this outlet that we can work on and yeah, when you're in season you can't go out as much with your friends but days like (the Cross Country) make up for it. Yes there are negatives to it but the positives outweigh those 100%.

What are your plans for this year then Thomas?

Making this team wasn't really a plan for me. I didn't really think I was quite there yet. So I’ll just keep pushing on and try to get to the same level. These lads are some of the best in Europe and I might be one of the top guys in the country now making the team but the standard is so high that you just have to keep working hard if you want to compete on the Irish team now.

Jamie, is that something that drives you on every day? Being the best?

I wouldn't say being the best but you've got a group of lads who are always pushing each other on. Each of us is always looking at each other and we're training around each other the whole time so we kind of just push each other on to be better.

difficult being away from home and being away from the lads a lot of the year?

I came out here in August. So basically, I did my four year undergrad in UCC in Cork, and when I was in Cork it was good. Me and Darragh would have trained together a lot and trained together up in Dublin for a few months as well. But for the last few months I was training by myself a little bit so coming over here has kind of given me a new lease of life in ways. And there’s other Irish lads here so I'm not really missing home too much because of that. It's great over here because I have the facilities and that’s helped me push to a new level, just because the competition here is so mad, so you're working for it every day. Then to come home at Christmas and for it all to have worked out like it did was unbelievable. We knew we had a really strong team but we didn't know how good we were. I’ve been at Euro Cross before and finished 60th so this time we didn't know how strong we could be.

Donal, why cross country?

Cross country was always my favourite event in athletics and one of the reasons is the team aspect. I’ve been lucky in one way. I’ve always been blessed with being part of good cross country teams, having grown up running for Ennis track and St Flannans, both of which would always have had good teams, picking up National medals regularly with both. Of course it’s great to do well individually but when you do it with a team it can sometimes be better as you can celebrate with your friends afterwards, often the people you train with day in day out, which brings a special feeling. On a personal level, of course everyone wants to do well individually. But having that extra team element makes the race more exciting and gives you something else to fight for.