What a weekend for Sport in Ireland and for our Sporting Stars representing Ireland.
In London, Ireland’s Paralympians have been racking up the medals across a number of disciplines and smashing world records whilst they are at! The medal count for Ireland is now at 4 Gold’s, 2 Silver’s and 1 Bronze and there is still plenty of more action to come and chances for medals as the games progress this week.
In swimming, Ireland won 2 gold’s, with Darragh McDonald taking gold in the Men’s 400m Freestyle – S6 and Bethany Firth taking Gold in the Women’s 100m Backstroke – S14, and over on the athletics track, Jason Smyth took Gold and set a world record in the Men’s 100m – T13 and Micheal McKillop took Gold, setting yet another world record in the Men’s 800m – T37. With more athletics action taking place today, all eyes will be on Michael again as he competes in the Mens’s 1500m – T37 final this evening.
At the velodrome, Ireland’s Women’s Cyclist, Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan took silver in the 3km pursuit and at Greenwich Park, the games Equestrian venue, Ireland’s Helen Kearney took the silver for Mixed Individual Championship Test – Grade Ia and Eilish Byrne, James Dwyer, Helen Kearney & Geraldine Savage took Bronze in the Mixed Team Championship. With more Equestrian events today, can Ireland take more medals in the discipline?
Back on home soil this weekend, it was a sporting fans delight, with thousands of Travelling American’s here for a short stay or as part of a longer Ireland Vacation to watch the Notre Dame V Navy American Football game in the Aviva Stadium this Saturday in Dublin in front of a crowd of 45,000. Prior to the match there was tailgate parties in Temple Bar and after the match Dublin resembled a party carnival atmosphere as the 86th game in this long-running American football rivalry between the 2 college sides, was celebrated. The match itself was also an entertaining affair and the Emerald Isle Classic game which was sponsored by The Gathering Ireland saw Notre Dame, whose nickname is the Fighting Irish, live up to this name, as they turned Navy over four times to win the game with a high scoring result of Notre Dame 50, Navy 10.
On Sunday, with barely chance to pause and regroup, Dublin was again the setting for the GAA All Ireland Semi Final between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park. Mayo had been referred to the team supposedly not able to score, however with a series of amazing attacks they lead the reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin by a full 10 points with just under 20 minutes to go. Those last 20 minutes or so were nail bitting for the Mayo fans as Dublin fought back, however it proved too little too late and the final score was Mayo 0-19 to Dublin 0-16. Mayo will now face Donegal in what will be the first Ulster-Connacht All-Ireland final since 1948 in Croke Park on Sunday September 23rd, 2012.