Olympics, Day 3 as it happened: Mona McSharry wins bronze medal in 100m breaststroke final

Dubliner Ellen Walshe finishes eighth the 400IM final while Kellie Harrington wins her first fight

Bronze medalist Mona McSharry of Team Ireland reacts on the podium. Photograph: Sarah Stier/Getty

68 days ago

Here is Mona McSharry’s victory in pictures:

In Pictures: Mona McSharry secures famous bronze medal for Ireland in the poolOpens in new window ]

John O’Sullivan is back tomorrow morning to report the Olympics action. That’s all from me, good night!


68 days ago

Try for Ireland in the Sevens by Stacey Flood, but too little too late at 33-7 down.

FT: Australia 40 Ireland 7

No medal chance then for the Irish women’s rugby sevens.


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An interview from RTÉ with Mona McSharry:


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First half hat-trick for Levi, absolutely destroying Ireland. Australia 19 Ireland 0

This is a thrashing unfortunately as Faith Nathan gets a try. Australia 26 Ireland 0


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Nice play by Ireland as they progress up the pitch. Flood with some nice passing, but Parsons is penalised and then Australia burn Ireland through a tap penalty and Levi is flying and unstoppable again. Australia 10 Ireland 0


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RUGBY SEVENS:

Maddison Levi, Australia’s star, gives them an early lead 5-0 against Ireland in the quarter-final.


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Quotes from McSharry after bronze:

“I’m very excited! I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet that I’ve actually won a medal! I think once I get up on the podium it’ll all become really real but I think it’s just amazing because it’s years of hard work that have paid off and it just feels amazing!

Asked what she thought when she saw the result she said: “A little bit of relief, a little bit of wow – okay this is actually happening! Then just really excited to be in that position.”

Reflecting on the story of the race itself: “I could see the Chinese girl beside me so I knew that she was ahead of me so I was like I need to try and catch her because if she’s ahead then I don’t know what’s going on, on the other side – I can’t see that.

“I had a bad first 50 – my goggles filled up with water a little bit so not a perfect race but it just shows you’re in it until the end and you just have to keep going – I was like ‘I’m not giving up, I’m going, I’m going’ and I think it was 0.01 between me and the next swimmers so that’s kind of crazy, but that’s what racing is about – close finishes!”

Ireland’s Mona McSharry celebrates winning a bronze medal with gold medal Tatjana Smith of South Africa. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

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Mona is on the podium now! Big cheer as she puts her hands in the hair and crowd chants “Mona! Mona!”

In badminton, Nhat Nguyen has won his group match easily against Prince Dahal - 21-7 21-5.


68 days ago

Here is Ian O’Riordan’s report of McSharry’s brilliant swim:

Mona McSharry wins brilliant Olympics bronze in 100m breaststrokeOpens in new window ]

In the 200m freestyle, Siobhan Bernadette Haughey, the grandniece of former taoiseach Charlie, won bronze medal in a thrilling race in the 200m freestyle, just beaten by Mollie O’Callaghan, who beat favourite Ariarne Titmus.


68 days ago

Ian O’Riordan files live from Paris:

“In the unforgivingly decisive moment Mona McSharry reached out and won a magnificent Olympic bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, and in the company of four of the finest event specialists of the time.

Because most Olympic swimming medals are decided on a fingertip, narrowly won by those reaching out fastest and wanting it more, and narrowly lost by those trying to do exactly the same.

Even among those, no one could have wanted it more than the 23-year-old McSharry, from the small seaside hamlet of Grange in Co Sligo.

Her teary-eyed reaction to seeing her name popping up in third clear evidence of what the moment of full realisation of what it meant to her.”

Full report to come on the website!


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FINAL RESULTS:

1. Tatjana Smith 1:05:28

2. QT Tang 1:05:54

3. Mona McSharry 1:05:59


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McSharry is ready to go...

A slow start for McSharry and Tang has the early lead but coming into a medal position. Second behind Tang, 50 to go!

Can she go, oh it’s tight, South African easing ahead. She has third!

BRONZE FOR MCSHARRY!

South Africa’s Tatjana Smith wins it, Tang in second and McSharry in tears as she wins bronze! An unforgettable race for her.

Ireland’s first medal of the Games! Brilliant stuff.


68 days ago

Mona McSharry coming up soon, but in the badminton Nhat Nguyen is 11-5 up in the first set against Prince Dahal of Nepal. McSharry coming up after the 100m backstroke men’s final.

Thomas Ceccon from Italy beats the Chinese Xu and American Murphy.


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Danielle Hill: “It’s my first semi-final, I cannot be disappointed, but it’s something out of my control. I’m an Olympic semi-finalist, so. My legs felt a bit heavy on the way back, a little bit frustrating, I’ll be proud of what I’ve done.”


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Smith, Masse and Wang lead at the turn Hill starts to drop away on the second 50. She finishes in eighth place in the semi-final, nowhere near her personal best unfortunately. She was 0.4 worse than her heat. Regan Smith won in 57.97. Hill swam 1.00.80. Disappointing.


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Danielle Hill up next, in the 100m backstroke semi-final. Good cheer on from her dad. Outside lane for her.


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Thrilling finish to the 200m freestyle final! David Popovici from Romania wins the gold by two 100ths of a second. Matt Richards finishes an impressive second, ahead of America’s Luke Hobson.

Ellen Walshe: “I’m delighted to make the final. Not many get to do that. It’s not exactly the performance I would have dreamed of, but delighted. I would have expected myself to have a slightly stronger swim tonight, but I don’t think my legs were up for it. Tonight I probably didn’t race my own race, but eighth place in the Olympic Games is great. We’ll look at the overall in a few weeks time.”

Ireland’s Ellen Walshe on her way to qualifying for the final. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

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McIntosh kicks on again in the freestyle and will win by a long distance. Gold for McIntosh. Grimes second and Weyant third.

Ellen Walshe finishes in eighth place. Time of 4:40.


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McIntosh and Grimes are way ahead of the field, it’s a battle for the gold but she is more than three metres ahead, with the freestyle ahead. Walsh up to 7th.


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Summer McIntosh takes a big lead through the butterfly and backstroke, ahead of Grimes. Walshe in eighth place.


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Ellen Walshe coming up first in the pool, in the 400 metre Individual Medley.

The Templeogue swimmer is very much an outsider for a medal, but great achievement to make the final. Competing in lane 1.


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Johnny Watterson reports from Paris:

Reigning lightweight champion Kellie Harrington began her Olympic Games in the way she left off in Tokyo three years ago, full of polish and control.

Self contained and ignoring the din that greeted the boxers as they entered the North Paris Arena, there was little sign of nervous energy as she stepped into the ring for her first bout before winning all three rounds against Italy’s Alessia Mesiano.

It was Ireland’s first unanimous decision win of the week after split decisions and curious refereeing decisions had coloured the landscape.

Read more here:

Kellie Harrington begins Olympics campaign with victory full of polish and controlOpens in new window ]


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Eventing: From Horse Sport Ireland’s High Performance Eventing Director, “Dag Albert has declared himself proud of the quartet of riders that contributed to the Agria Irish Eventing Team’s ninth place at the Olympics in Paris, while also expressing disappointment they were unable to record a better overall finish.

There were many positive performances from the team, led by four-time Olympian Austin O’Connor, who was the highest-ranked Irish athlete in the individual rankings in 17th.”


68 days ago

Watch Liam Jegou’s race again.


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Hey there, David Gorman here with updates coming for the evening. The main show tonight is to see if Mona McSharry can win a medal in the 100m breaststroke final. That is at 8.25pm.

So close for Liam Jegou who had a genuine chance of a silver medal if it wasn’t for the final gate. He spoke to RTÉ.


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Jegou out of the medals with three canoeists to come.

David Gorman will take over in time to take you through the swim finals tonight and also the Irish women’s Sevens rugby quarter-final. Check back here for Johnny Watterson’s article on Kellie Harrington.


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CANOE SLALOM: Liam Jegou has a two-second penalty for hitting the very last gate. He’s currently third but there are five canoeists to go.


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RUGBY: The Ireland women’s Sevens team will face Australia for the second time today, this time in the quarter-final (8.30pm, Irish time) having lost narrowly in the pool this morning, 19-14.


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CANOE SLALOM: The final is underway. Ireland’s Liam Jegou goes seventh of 12, which translates to about 10 minutes time.


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SAILING: In Marseille Ireland’s Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove moved into first place overall after two or today’s three races in the men’s Skiff class. They finished fourth in race four and second in race five, while an eighth place in the final race of the day saw them drop one place to second overall after six races.


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TENNIS: Novak Djokovic eased past Rafa Nadal 6-1, 6-4 at the Paris Olympics in a second round match, the 60th and likely last, between the two tennis icons.

Djokovic claimed 10 of the first 11 games, with Nadal nowhere near the skilled and ever-hustling version of himself that won a record 14 French Open trophies on the same red clay at Roland Garros that is hosting Summer Games matches.

Instead, Nadal looked careworn and every bit of his 38 years, looking like someone who might be ready to head into retirement after playing only sparingly the past two seasons because of a series of injuries, including one that required hip surgery.

The Spaniard showed his fighting qualities by coming back to 4-4 in the second set before losing a couple of games and the match.


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EVENTING: Ireland’s Austin O’Connor finishes 17th in the individual show jumping discipline.


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What links Versailles and Grafton Street? Well the latter is the name of an Irish bred horse that Japan’s Oiwa Yoshiaki is currently riding in the individual show jumping discipline in the Eventing.


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CANOEING

Ireland’s Liam Jegou is through to this evening’s canoe slalom final. The top 12 from the C1 semi-final went through. That final starts in about an hour and a half. Jegou finished sixth despite having a two second penalty.


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Kellie Harrington: “This what I love. It was a fantastic fight. She is a smooth operator. It was great to get in there and take a win. The key was to get my jab working.”


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SAILING: Meanwhile in Marseille Ireland’s Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove have moved into first place overall after two or today’s three races in the men’s Skiff class. They finished fourth in race four and second in race five, with one more to come today.


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BOXING

Olympic champion Kellie Harrington wins her opening bout against Mesiano and advances to the quarter-finals.


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Boxing

Round 3: Mesiano is compelled to come forward but Harrington is just picking her off at will, stepping back and measuring her opponent, before landing with both hands. The Italian is brave but there is a gulf in class.


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Boxing

Round 2: Mesiano busier from the start of the round. Probably got a bit of a rollicking. Harrington dropping her hands and taunting her opponent a little, inviting the Italian forward. Harrington is picking off her opponent superbly, a masterclass, switching between orthodox and southpaw. Harrington 5-0, 20-18 ahead on all five judges’ cards.


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BOXING

Round 1: Harrington tried to establish her jab early on but didn’t quite find her range, until a perfect right hand, rocked her opponent. Harrington’s right hand was finding its mark, an uppercut too piercing the Italian’s guard. Nice and crisp from the Olympic champion. 5-0 Harrington.


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BOXING: Harrington will take on Italy’s Alessia Mesiano, two years younger at 32 than the Irish woman.


68 days ago

BOXING: Kellie Harrington alert. The Olympic champion is in the ring in about eight minutes.


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EVENTING: Austin O’Connor, in his fourth Olympic Games, had a clear round on Colorado Blue in the individual Show Jumping phase of the competition.


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Rowing

The Lightweight Women’s Double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey recorded a convincing win in their repechage this morning. Getting cleanly off the start, Ireland held a good position moving to the front ahead of the Canadian double. The Chinese crew caught some water in the opening strokes which led to a boat stopping crab, ruling them out of the top runners.

Through the second quarter of the race, Ireland settled into their rhythm, moving efficiently in the water, increasing their lead as they went. Afterwards Cremen has this reaction: “It was a really solid race so it was great, and felt good. It was our goal today to just feel in control and execute our plan. I think we did that, and I think we just wanted to be with the pack as long as we could and then have confidence in ourselves so that we can push through then with the fitness we have.”

Crossing the line three lengths ahead of the Canadian double, who finished fourth at last year’s World Championships, Cremen and Casey head into the semi-finals tomorrow with the fastest time of the two Repechages.


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Swimming

It was a magic Monday morning at Paris La Defense for Irish swimmers as Daniel Wiffen, Ellen Walshe and Danielle Hill all advanced from their heats. Walshe and Wiffen are now only the third and fourth Olympic Swimming finalists for Ireland in the history of the Games, the latter the first male. Team Ireland will have three swimmers in action tonight with Mona McSharry also set to swim in the 100m Breaststroke Final after her Irish Record swim of 1:05.51 to qualify as second seed on Sunday.

Daniel Wiffen will be the top seed in tomorrow’s Final after an outstanding swim in the 800m Freestyle Heats. The reigning World Champion in the event swam his third fastest time ever clocking 7:41.53 to win his heat. Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi was the closest to Wiffen in second place touching in 7:42.08.

A confident Wiffen spoke after the race: “I mean it’s never comfortable, I just wasn’t at 100% that’s all I’ll say. I mean you didn’t see my legs coming in at the end so that’s where it is really, but was on good pace, happy with the morning swim, and you know a fast time as well, nearly as fast as my World Champs winning time so pretty happy.”

First out this morning, Ellen Walshe had an excellent swim in the 400m Individual Medley. Eighth after the Butterfly and Backstroke legs, the Templeogue swimmer stormed through the Breaststroke and Freestyle to secure her place in the Final in 4:39.97; fourth in her heat and seventh overall.

Walshe said: “It’s a bit of a shock. I saw fourth on the board and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know, it’s just a waiting game’. I hadn’t seen the results from the heats before me and once I saw it, it was such a relief. I don’t think it was quite there this morning. The backstroke is probably my weakest stroke, I knew I had 200 to go, I could see the middle of the field and thought, ‘Okay, I just need to turn on the gears and fight.’ I had a strong finish, and I am delighted to go into the final tonight.”

Danielle Hill, competing at her second Olympic Games, is semi-final bound after a fourth-place finish in her heat of the 100m Backstroke in 1:00.40. The Larne swimmer had a nervy wait to confirm her place, eventually securing sixteenth place overall.

Afterwards Hill said: “I’m happy with how I put it together, the stuff that we’ve been working on is there and now tonight I’ve got to utilise what I’ve always had. I hope there’s another gear. We’ve done job one, now I’ve got to reset and see what I can do tonight.”


68 days ago

In Equestrian the Eventing team of Susie Berry and Austin O’Connor with Aoife Clark, who replaced Sarah Ennis contested the final leg with the show jumping at the Palace of Versailles. Aoife Clark was up first and had just the one pole down. Susie Berry soon followed and also incurred just four faults for a finish of 31st overall individually. Austin O’Connor on Colorado Blue had two fences down in his round to see the team finish ninth overall in the team event having earlier today incurred a 20-point penalty when Clarke replaced Sarah Ennis whose horse suffered bruised feet when losing a couple of shoes yesterday. O’Connor did enough to make it to the Individual Show jumping final for the top 25 finishers. He goes fifth.


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RUGBY: Such a gutsy performance from Ireland. They’ll have one or two regrets about defensive lapses but the positives outweigh those blemishes. Eve Higgins scored 14 points, two tries and two conversions, Erin King had a brilliant game while Béibhinn Parsons and Murphy Crowe excelled at times. Ireland should qualify as one of the best third place teams for the quarter-finals later tonight.


68 days ago

Full-time: Australia 19 Ireland 14


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RUGBY, 13 mins: TRY Ireland, Higgins with a superb second and she again converts her try. That’s a brace.

Australia 19 Ireland 14


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RUGBY: Ireland come so close to scoring again, denied by millimetres but the Aussies infringe and have a player sent to the sin. Ireland elect for the scrum five metres out.


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RUGBY, 11 mins: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe knocks on in the act of scoring after a brilliant piece of individual play. So unfortunate.


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RUGBY: That’s painful for Ireland, a superb break from King takes play to within six metres of the Aussie line but a harsh penalty infringement, the Australian never released in the tackle, saw the favourites take a quick tap and Maddie Levi, ran over half the length of the pitch to dot down under the posts. The try was converted.

Australia 19 Ireland 7


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RUGBY: A positive half from Ireland in the main. Two moments of weak defence cost them a try after 20 seconds and another in first half injury time. Eve Higgins try and conversion came at the end of some brilliant Irish play.


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RUGBY, 7 mins: Tegan Levi scores a try for Australia in first half injury time. Too many missed first up tackles from Ireland.

Half-time: Australia 12 Ireland 7


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RUGBY, 6 mins: Superb passage of play from Ireland, retaining possession and eventually following a break from Eve Higgins force a penalty near the Australian line. And after electing to take a scrum, Higgins crashes over from Erin King’s inside pass. Higgins converts.

Australia 7 Ireland 7


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RUGBY, 20 seconds: Ireland concede a try to Australia’s Faith Nathan. Converted.

Australia 7 Ireland 0


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BOXING: Ireland Olympic champion Kellie Harrington’s bout has been brought forward to 2.30pm, Irish time.


68 days ago

RUGBY: I’m back, not that I was ever away really. Next up it’s the Ireland women’s Sevens team. They play gold medal favourites, Australia. Ireland lost to GB in the opening game and the British team, having lost to Australia in the second game have just beaten South Africa, whom Ireland also beat. If Ireland don’t win they will have to hope they make it as one of the two best third placed teams. That would mean a quarter-final title against potentially the Aussies again or New Zealand.


68 days ago

SWIMMING: Another small piece of Irish swimming history for Daniel Wiffen, as he becomes the first Irish man to reach an Olympic swimming final. The Armagh swimmer came through as the fastest qualifier and will have a central lane for Tuesday evening’s final back inside the Paris La Défense Arena (8.02 Irish time).

Read Ian O’Riordan’s report from the venue here.

Daniel Wiffen storms into 800m final with fastest qualifying timeOpens in new window ]


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SWIMMING: It’s going to be some night for Irish swimming. Ellen Walshe 400IM final (7.30pm, Irish time). Danielle Hill 100Back semi-final (7.57pm). Mona McSharry 100 Breaststroke final (8.25pm)


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68 days ago

Johnny Watterson was at Stade Yves du Manoir to watch Ireland lose 2-1 to Australia. Here is his report.

Johnny Watterson watched Ireland lose to AustraliaOpens in new window ]


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Ellen Walshe: “It’s a bit surreal. I just fought for the last 200. My legs were heavy after 75 and I thought, ‘oh no.’ It’s been a long process. I am delighted to be in that Olympic final tonight.”


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SWIMMING: Wiffen wins his heat of the 800m freestyle and is the fastest qualifier for tomorrow’s final. The double world champion will have a centre lane in the final. Wins in 7.41.53 and the only man in the final to break the 7.42.00 mark.


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SWIMMING: Wiffen leads after 550m, after 600m, after 650m


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SWIMMING: Wiffen leads after 500 metres.


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SWIMMING: Wiffen is third after 250 metres, second after 300 metres, second after 350 metres, second after 400m.


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SWIMMING: Wiffen is third after 50 metres, third after 100 metres, third after 150 metres, third after 200 metres.


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SWIMMING: Wiffen is racing.


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SWIMMING: Daniel Wiffen in the pool next in the 800m freestyle. Top eight from the four heats qualify from the final. He goes in heat four alongside two highly rated Aussies.


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SWIMMING: Ireland’s Danielle Hill takes 16th spot in the 100 metres backstroke and is through to the semi-finals.


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HOCKEY: Ireland’s gutsy performance ends in defeat. They were outstanding in the second quarter against the number three side in the world despite conceding a sucker punch of a penalty stroke with 20 seconds left before the interval. Lee Cole got Ireland’s goal. A much better display than the 2-0 defeat to Belgium in their first game.

Fulltime: Ireland 1 Australia 2


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SWIMMING: Ireland’s Ellen Walshe has qualified for the 400m individual medley final in seventh place overall after a superb swim. She finished fourth in her heat in a time of 4:39.97 seconds. The Dubliner was eighth after the backstroke leg but powered through in the freestyle. She will be in Lane 1 for the final this evening (7.30pm).


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NO GOAL: Australia look to have scored from their ninth penalty corner but after a referral it is disallowed for stick on stick action.

50 mins: Ireland 1 Australia 2


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Rowing: Women’s lightweight double Mags Cremen and Aoife Casey have won their Repechage race by 20-metres and now advance to the semi-finals. The Canadian and Argentinian boats also went through.


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End of third quarter: Australia 2 Ireland 1.


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37 mins: Ireland under serious pressure now, Australia have forced a series of penalty corners, based on being more aggressive in their pressing of Ireland and being swift and accurate in their attacking. Ireland are a player down, didn’t see who got the yellow card. Australia 2 Ireland 1


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GOAL: Australia re-take the lead from a penalty stroke 20 seconds before the interval. Tough blow for Ireland but they had become a little introverted after their goal, retreating and putting every player into their half. It gave Australia easy possession and the number three ranked side in the world made the pressure tell. Such a pity after Ireland had shown good aggression in that second quarter.

Halftime: Australia 2 Ireland 1


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Ireland’s goalscorer Lee Cole, is the nephew of former Ireland captain and Avoca player Johnny Cole, who in turn is a former teammate club and international buddy or our own Johnny Watterson, who is at the match, covering it for the Irish Times.


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GOAL, 26 mins: : Lee Cole grabs it, his 33rd goal for Ireland. A slick penalty corner move dispatched with precision. Ireland have grown into the game and have been full value for that goal. Ireland 1 Australia 1


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Hockey 17 mins: Australia 1 Ireland 0


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GOAL, 11 mins: Ireland have gone a goal behind in their hockey pool game against Australia, Corey Weyer the scorer. Ireland 0 Australia 1


69 days ago

Here’s how to plan your day around the Irish athletes competing in the Olympics

9am Men’s Hockey, Pool B, Ireland v Australia

9.30am start Equestrian – Eventing Show-jumping – team and individual, Aoife Clarke, Susie Berry, Austin O’Connor

10am Rowing, Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls (LW2x), Margaret Cremen & Aoife Casey, repechage 1/2 – first three in rep will qualify for semi-finals

10.06am Swimming, Women’s 400m IM, Ellen Walshe (heat 2/2)

10.19am Swimming, Women’s 100m Backstroke, Danielle Hill (heat3/5)

10.58am Swimming, Men’s 800m Freestyle, Daniel Wiffen, (heat 4/4)

11.05pm Sailing, Men’s Skiff, race 4, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove

11.57pm Sailing, Men’s Skiff, race 5, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove

12.49pm Sailing, Men’s Skiff, race 5, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove

2.30pm Women’s Rugby Sevens, Pool B, Ireland V Australia

2.30pm Canoe Slalom, Men’s C1 semi-final, Liam Jegou

2.46pm Boxing, Women’s 60kg, Round of 16, Kellie Harrington V Allesia Mesiano (ITA)

7pm start Women’s Rugby Sevens, Placing & knockout matches

7.30pm Swimming, Women’s 400m IM final, Ellen Walshe, *dependent on progression

7.57pm Swimming, Women’s 100m Backstroke semi-final, Danielle Hill, *dependent on progression

8.10pm or later Badminton, Men’s Singles, Group P, Nhat Nguyen V Prince Dehal (NEP)

8.25pm Swimming, Women’s 100m Breaststroke final, Mona McSharry


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Next into the boxing ring this afternoon is defending lightweight champion Kellie Harrington who faces Italy’s Alessia Mesiano in the last 16. Mesiano was a lightweight world bronze medallist in 2022 and comes into the fight with one victory already under her belt in Paris; a 4-1 victory over a Turk in the preliminary round. The duo have met once before, in an Ireland v Italy international in Belfast in 2021 which Harrington won 5-0.

Following his brilliant win in his opening game on Saturday Badminton double Olympian Nhat Nguyen will face Prince Dehal of Nepal in his second group game tomorrow night.


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The Ireland women’s Sevens rugby team face gold medal favourites Australia at the Stade de France this afternoon (1.30, Irish time) in their final Pool game. The Irish team lost to GB but beat South Africa and even if they lose will hope to qualify for the quarter-finals at one of the two best third placed teams in the pools.

In Canoe Slalom double Olympian Liam Jegou returns to action when he goes in the semi-final of the men’s C1 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. 16 paddlers will each get just one run down the 250m course with the top 12 gaining a spot in the Olympic final. Clare man Jegou, who qualified in 16th place will be the first to take on the course and try and post a strong time when the event starts at 2.30pm.


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In the morning swimming session at the La Defense three Irish swimmers will feature. Dubliner Ellen Walshe will contest the heats of her favoured event, the women’s 400m Individual Medley, in which she swam a new Irish record of 4:37.18 last month. Danielle Hill will race in the heats of the women’s 100m backstroke, an event in which she became the first Irishwoman to break the minute mark in last May.

Reigning world champion Daniel Wiffen will make his first appearance at these Games when he lines up in the heats of the men’s 800m freestyle; he is the third fastest entrant on a time of 7:39.19.

In Sailing, after their impressive win in race three on Sunday Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove return to the water in Marseilles for races four, five and six of the men’s Skiff.


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Irish schedule (check the full day-by-day guide):

  • Badminton Nhat Nguyen (Men’s singles) v Prince Nahal, from 8.10pm
  • Rowing: Margaret Cremen, Aoife Casey (Women’s lightweight double sculls repechage - top 3 to semi-finals), 10am
  • Hockey: Ireland v Australia, 9am
  • Boxing: Kellie Harrington (60kg Round of 16), v Alessia Mesiano (Ita), 2.46pm
  • Equestrian: Austin O’Connor, Aoife Clark, Susie Berry (Three Day Eventing, Jumping Individual), from 10am
  • Sailing: Robert Dickson/Seán Waddilove (Men’s skiff) Races 4-6 from 1.05pm
  • Swimming: Daniel Wiffen (Men’s 800m Freestyle heats), from 10am, Danielle Hill (Women’s 100m Backstroke), from 10am, Mona McSharry (Women’s 100m Breaststroke final), 7.30pm
  • Women’s Rugby Sevens: Ireland v Australia, 1.30pm
  • Canoe Slalom: Liam Jegou (Mens C1, semi-final, finals), from 2.30pm

69 days ago

Morning and welcome to our live coverage of day three of the Olympic Games. Team Ireland will be in action across nine sports in Paris today. John O’Sullivan here, again, this time to blog the Olympics. I know it’s shameless!

Double world champion Daniel Wiffen starts his Games in the 800m heats at 10am while Mona McSharry goes in the 100m Breaststroke final this evening after a superb performance in last night’s semi-final.

The men’s hockey team get day three underway when they play Australia in their second pool game, having lost the opener 2-0 to Belgium. We will be keeping an eye on that game which starts at 9.0am, Irish time.

In Equestrian pursuits the Eventing team of Susie Berry and Austin O’Connor with Aoife Clarke now replacing Sarah Ennis, will contest the third and final element of their competition when they go in the show jumping at the Palace of Versailles. They lie eighth overall in the team event.

O’Connor is 14th individually after his impressive cross country test. The final day will feature the team show jumping phase in the morning, followed by a second round of jumping for the top 25 combinations, after which the individual medals will be decided. The Corkman is within striking distance of a top 10 finish.

One Irish rowing crew will be back on the water; women’s lightweight double Mags Cremen and Aoife Casey race in the repechages of their event, and must finish in the top three to advance to the semi-finals.