HUGH O'CONNOR, a muscular 18-year-old who would not look out of place at Lansdowne Road, proved to be another potential gold medal nugget in the coffers of Irish swimming at the Speedo British Grand Prix in Swansea last night.

The 6ft 1in, 12st teenager from New Ross, Co Wexford, whose brother, Adrian, has represented Ireland at the Olympics, completed a hat-trick of gold medals at the Grand Prix meeting when he won the 100 metres backstroke in a surprisingly fast 56.61 seconds to out-class Welsh record holder, Chris Jones, before his home crowd. The Swansea man finished second in 57.65 seconds, with Salford's Tim Reilly taking bronze in 57.79 seconds.

Hugh and his international team-mate, Nick O'Hare, of Coolmine, Dublin, ended three days of highly satisfactory out-of-season swimming by taking silver and bronze, respectively, in the 100 metres freestyle. Previous to last night's successes, O'Connor had already taken gold in the 50 metres and 200 metres back-stroke.

Atlanta Olympic finalist, Sean Bryn, of Jamaica, took the gold in 50.84 seconds. The Irish pair posting times of 51.97 and 52.40 seconds.

Lee Kelleher mirrored the Irishmen's claims to international fame and proved she has the mettle to emulate the great Michelle Smith when she touched third in the senior 100 metres freestyle in 59.94 seconds. The silver medal disappeared when Lindsay Cooper of Wigan and Swansea's Victoria Hale tied for first place in 59.01 seconds.

However, the 15-year-old from Cork, now training with Olympic medallist, Paul Howe, at the exclusive Millfield school in Somerset, secured the silver medal in the 100 metres butterfly. She stretched British champion, Suzanne Flook, of Reading, who won in 64.35 seconds. Kelleher, who came to fame at the European Youth Olympics when she won a silver medal in Bath at the age of 12, launched a challenge the English girl was glad to foil in 64.82 seconds.