Rio Recap: Team Ireland’s 9/16

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Sunday August 14th, 2016

Men’s Golf
Seamus Power – Final Round 67, Finishes tournament on -5 (T15)
Padraig Harrington – Final Round 73, Finishes tournament on -3 (T21)

The final round of the Men’s Golf competition provided a thrilling day for Team Ireland fans as both Seamus Power and Padraig Harrington flirted with the medal positions before finishing in a tie for 15th and 21st respectively.

Power set a blistering pace up the front nine with five birdies to reach the turn in just 30.

A birdie at the first set the tone as he reached the outskirts of the green in two shots on the long par five and went close with the eagle attempt.

Another birdie at the 10th hole saw him move to within one shot of the bronze medal position and it wasn’t until a double bogey at 15 that his challenge really started to fade.

Padraig Harrington came into the final round just four shots outside the medals but needed a strong start to generate momentum.

It wasn’t to be as a wayward tee shot found a bunker at the first.

The Dubliner saved par but couldn’t repeat the previous day’s 67 and finished in a tie for 21st.

Women’s Marathon
Fionnuala McCormack – 20th in 2:31:22 (PB)
Lizzie Lee – 57th in 2:39:57
Breege Connolly – 76th in 2:44:41

Team Ireland’s trio in the Women’s Marathon all secured top half finishes despite 26 degree heat at the Sambadrome in Rio.

23 runners in a field of 156 failed to finish the race, but Fionnuala McCormack came home in a personal best time of 2:31:22, +7:18 behind gold medalist Jemima Jelagat Sumgong of Kenya.

McCormack made her big push as the race entered its second half, gaining 20 places in 32 minutes from halfway to the 30km mark and rising as high as 18th. She was able to consolidate her position and finish strong in a personal best time.

Both Lizzie Lee and Breege Connolly picked up places consistently along the course and were elated to cross the line in 57th and 76th respectively.

Connolly’s 5km splits dropped off by just 1:35 from the start to the finish and picked up two more places in the last 2km as the field thinned out.

Lizzie Lee achieved her target of a sub 02:40:00 marathan and moved up 11 spots in the race’s mid-section, before holding off Turkish runner Esma Aydemir at the finish line.

More: http://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/mccormack-excellent-20th-in-olympic-marathon

Women’s 1500m Semi-Final:

Ciara Mageean – 11th in 4:08.07

Ciara Mageean’s second 1500m outing at the Olympic games ended in disappointment with an 11th place finish in the semi-final.

She showed both ambition and tactical awareness in the early laps and was in contention for one of the five automatic qualification spots at the bell.

But Mageean was visibly tiring with 200m to go and couldn’t accelerate as the leaders broke for home.

Showjumping 1st Round Qualifier:
Greg Broderick – 8.0 pens (q)

Going Global is going to next round of the Olympics as Greg Broderick guided the pair to 8 penalties and first round qualification in the individual showjumping competition.

A clear round beckoned until a couple of minor errors brought down two fences in the very last line. 8 penalties was still enough to advance with 59 other riders to the next round.

More: http://www.horsesportireland.ie/greg-broderick-and-mhs-going-global-through-to-second-round-of-olympic-show-jumping-competition/

Men’s Bantam (56kg) Preliminary Round:
Michael Conlon beats A Avagyan (ARM) by unanimous decision.

Michael Conlon put in an assured performance to advance to the quarter-finals of the Men’s 56kg Division and see off Aram Avagyan with a judges’ score of 30-27, 29-28, 30-27.

If the bantam weight was feeling under pressure as Ireland’s only male boxer left standing, he didn’t show it and he never looked in doubt of completing step one on his mission to medal.

More: http://iaba.ie/conlan-books-quarter-final-ticket-rio-2016/

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