Mona McSharry‘s grandfather was one of the first customers in SuperValu in Grange, Co Sligo on the morning after she won Ireland’s first medal at the 2024 Olympic Games.
“Paddy was in here first thing this morning getting his porridge,” said Gregory McCaffrey who was dealing with a line of customers basking in their neighbour’s success. “He was in top form – but playing it down.”
Given how busy Paddy was with media interview, in which he repeatedly stressed Mona’s dedication to her early morning training sessions, “even in frost and snow”, he probably needed his oats.
Everyone in the village – which has produced two two-time Olympians – was at pains to say how unassuming the 23-year-old swimmer is. And many said they had a connection with the family, albeit some more tenuous than others.
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“I swam with her once at Streedagh on Christmas Day. She had legs like a thoroughbred horse,” said Sarah Gilroy, a native of Co Sligo now based in Germany. “We are all so proud of her.”
Bill Barber, from “up the road”, said he “knows the McSharrys well” and believes Mona has the potential to go further again.
“She put a lot effort into it from day one. She may go further. We would like to see her come home with a gold,” he said.
Heather Henry, who confessed that as “a blow-in” she did not really know Mona, was nevertheless moved to tears by the local woman’s success in the pool in Paris.
“It’s absolutely brilliant. After her (RTÉ) interview I was crying,” she said. “I nearly felt like it was my own daughter that had won. Imagine all the hard work. The family had to get up at all hours. It was a great commitment from everyone involved. And it was so close, that split hair between them.”
Jason McDowell, who knows Mona’s father Aidan, was also impressed with that interview. “She comes across as such a natural person. It was so emotional. You’d think she had won the gold medal. She has put Grange on the map.”
McDowell is hopeful, and almost afraid to whisper, that a gold medal may be within his neighbour’s reach.
“Fingers crossed – but she has achieved so much already,” he added.
Zara Barrins, from nearby Cliffoney, said her three children – aged 11, seven and three – were screaming at the TV during the race. “Even the three-year-old was screaming ‘Mona McSharry’,” she said, adding that they feel a bond with the Olympic medallist.
“They go to swimming lessons in Ballyshannon so they love that side of it. This will be a great buzz for everyone for a while,” she said.
Jason Currid’s claim to fame is that he once worked alongside the Olympian on a job at Lissadell House. “It was three or four years ago. She used to plumb with her Dad.” He too is impressed with the swimmer’s modesty, saying “she is very down to earth, the same as myself or yourself. There are no airs or graces”.
Currid said the entire community will be glued to TV for her next outing in the 200 metre heats. “She will do better in that,” he predicted. “I think the longer the race is the better she gets. The back is broken on it now.”
Grange native Brian Baulk (86), who was on a ferry from Britain with his daughter Carmel and granddaughter Megan when the race was on, had to follow the excitement on the phone. “I had their heads annoyed. We had watched her in the heats. It was lovely to see. I would love to meet her and give her a big hug,” he said.
Aisling Kilfeather celebrated on Tuesday morning by walking her dog on Streedgh beach, a favourite haunt of McSharry’s.
“I know Aidan, her Dad. His mum Marie looked after the five of us when we were kids along with her own so we were always stuck with the McSharrys. I know Mona since she was a baby. I texted her aunt Orla in Paris. It is just brilliant and great to see so many of the family over there,” she said.
The mood in Grange, with its population of less than 600 people, is confident that there will be more to celebrate courtesy of McSharry and their other Olympic medal hopeful Chris O’Donnell, who will be in action on the track as part of the 4x400m mixed relay team.
It takes a village, as they say.
