The Allianz Flagbearers for Team Ireland at the Closing Ceremony of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) have been named as Peadar Sheridan (Table Tennis) and Faye McDonnell (Basketball). The multi-sport Games featuring athletes aged between 14-17 is a key learning point on the pathway of young athletes, and takes place every second year.
This year the Games ran from the 20-26 July and took place in Skopje, North Macedonia, with the gymnastics events taking place in Osijik in Croatia. Team Ireland enjoyed significant success at the EYOF winning six medals, three fourth places, and a wide spread of national records and personal bests from athletes.
The Allianz Flagbearers for Team Ireland, Sheridan and McDonnell, represent two new sports for Ireland at these Games.
From Belfast, Sheridan competed this week in the Boys’ Singles in table tennis, where he advanced from his rounds. The fourteen-year-old is one of the most talented players in Ireland even at this young age.
Kilkenny’s Faye McDonnell is a member of the 3×3 basketball team who performed outstandingly all week, narrowly losing out to the eventual bronze medallists.
The Closing Ceremony for this year’s events takes place in the Jane Sandanski Sports Centre in Skopje at 19:30 Irish time, and can be viewed on https://eoctv.org/.
Summing up the performances of the team, Chef de Mission for Team Ireland at the EYOF, Gavin Noble, highlighted the support and professionalism within the team,
“It’s been a wonderful week in terms of athletes and their performances, which is important. They’ve been working really hard to get here. I heard a great quote during the week from John Kelly, Taekwondo coach, who said ‘you might be disappointed with the result, but you can’t be disappointed in yourself,’ and I think that this is a nice way to sum it up.”
With temperatures hitting highs of 40 – 44 degrees during the week, Noble highlighted the cooling strategies that were in place,
“We had a big thing about how the heat cannot be our achilles heel. We were always going to challenge that, being Irish. So they’ve done really well.
“The athletes that we’re going to see again in the future at senior level will be the ones that are reflective and they look back, not look back in disappointment, but looking back and say, where can I improve?
And that’s the most important thing. We’re not looking. medals are a bonus here. We’re not focussed on where everyone came with the end of the day, but the biggest goal for us is who do we see again?”
SCHEDULE DAY 6 – SATURDAY 25 JULY (All times are Irish times – North Macedonia is one hour ahead)
19:30 Closing Ceremony