The national swimming coach, Ger Doyle, does not necessarily concur with the view that without competition between now and the European sprint championships in Sheffield in December, Team 2000 members would be ill-prepared for competition at the highest level.
The Olympic Council of Ireland stepped into the breach by coming up with the necessary funding for last weekend's Tournament of Nations in Vienna. The OCI, who had an observer in vice-president Shay McDonald in Vienna, will also fund the Ireland team for the high-profile tests in Sheffield.
In between, though, members of the Irish squad are faced with a barren spell. Full-time swimmer Nick O'Hare, based with the Hamburg club, will be the exception, for he plans to compete in Italy at the required level.
Doyle was impressed, as was McDonald, with the six-medal haul by the Irish squad in the Austrian capital and contends: "Of course they would all benefit by another competition during the next seven weeks. The problem is if they try to prepare properly for another such competition it would be unwise because really they need the next six to seven weeks to knuckle down to hard training.
"The whole purpose of the Vienna meet was to get rid of the cobwebs. The one who swam best of all there was Niamh Cawley. She recorded a personal best in her 200 metres individual medley (2:22) and went close to another best in the 100 metres backstroke (1:04.6).
"For this time of year that is exceptionally fast swimming for anybody."
The Irish performances were all the more creditable considering that many of the countries were using the event as a selection meet for the European sprints. "And to be fair to the Olympic Council, we would not have been there without them," Doyle said.
It is understood that the Trojan Club, who provided one of the more impressive competitors in Chantal Gibney in Vienna, are planning for a short-course meet that would suitably fill a void within the next few weeks. Meanwhile, this weekend's attractions include the Coca Cola Distance races at the Grove Baths in Belfast, the Ulster, Munster and Leinster Provincial Schools finals and the Dolphin Open in Cork.
