ATHLETICS/EUROPEAN CUP:HAMMER THROWER Eileen O'Keeffe and sprinter Paul Hession were the class acts for the Irish at the European Athletics Cups on opposite ends of the continent at the weekend.
Hession produced the best performance among the competitors from eight nations contesting Group A of the Second League in the Estonian capital, Tallinn.
O'Keeffe was vastly superior to her opponents when winning in the First League in the Portuguese city of Leiria.
O'Keeffe's throw of 69.59 metres was particularly welcome since she proved the lone individual winner on the Irish team.
Having finished sixth in the World Championships last year, the Kilkenny woman is a genuine medal challenger in Beijing and yesterday's victory will have greatly boosted her confidence; she won by three metres from the Spaniard Berta Castells.
Derval O'Rourke was up against it in the 100-metre hurdles, Spain's Josephine Onyia winning in 12.73 seconds and the Corkwoman posting her slowest time of the season when third in 13.12.
Hession had his moment of glory on Saturday, winning the 100 metres with consummate ease in a time of 10.30 seconds.
"He looked extremely strong and I think he is ready to run a massive time for 200 metres," said team manager Patsy McGonagle.
Paul McKee stepped into David Gillick's shoes and duly ran his opponents ragged to win the 400 metres in 46.68. And yesterday Gillick came out to hone his speed when running a personal best 21.19 for fifth over 200 metres.
McKee and Gillick then linked up with Brian Doyle and Gordon Kennedy to win the 1,600-metre relay in 3:04.43, more than four seconds clear of Denmark.
There were other excellent performances in Estonia, not least that from Ian McDonald of Crusaders in the 110-metre hurdles. The Dubliner went into the race with a best of 14.28 and finished second in 14.01.
Mark Christie was another to take seven points when finishing second over 3,000 metres in 8:01.39. That race was won in 7:57.39 by Estonia's Tiidrek Nurme, who had also won the 5,000m on Saturday, when Cork's Ciarán Ó Lionárd was second.
Ó Lionárd, David McCarthy (third over 1,500m), Joe Warne (third over 800m) and Rory Chesser (fifth in the steeplechase) are all young athletes in their first senior international.
Ireland ended up third team, with 100 points, Estonia claiming the spoils on 126 from Latvia (122).
In Portugal the women struggled early on to score points, though Michelle Carey gave them a fine start by finishing second in the 400-metre hurdles in 56.95.
Marian Andrews from Togher stood in for Joanne Cuddihy in the 400 metres and ran a personal best of 54.19 for third. Fionnuala Britton was fifth over 3,000m, again in a personal best, 9:23.34.
Deirdre Byrne was third over 1,500m and Maria McCambridge third over 5,000m.
The team finished strongly, Karen Shinkins, Fiona Furlong, Michelle Carey and Cuddihy combining to win the 1,600-metre relay, which moved Ireland right up the table to a highly creditable fourth behind Spain, the Czech Republic and Belgium.
The schools champion Brian Gregan of Tallaght equalled the Irish junior 400-metre record of 46.70 seconds when finishing third at the Mannheim Junior Gala over the weekend.
