Golden moments for Shelley and Leahy

Ireland were celebrating double Paralympic gold yesterday morning, the heroes in question being Gay Shelley and Tom Leahy. Shelley exceeded all expectations to secure individual gold in the boccia while the silver Leahy won in the discus on Sunday was upgraded to gold after Poland's Robert Jachimowicz was disqualified.

The thrills of an outstanding day of success came in the boccia arena where the highs and lows of sport were felt keenly by the Irish team. Gay Shelley will never again experience birthday celebrations like those he enjoyed yesterday, his gold medal performance coming on the day he turned 32.

Shelley could not have scripted his big day better, first cruising to a 7-2 victory over the current world number one in his semi-final before triumphing in a nerve-wracking final. It was the last ball of a tense match that clinched the gold, the 4-3 result over Spain's Antonio Cid sending the Irish crowd into raptures. "It's fantastic, it's unreal," said an ecstatic Shelley after the final. "I've waited 10 years for this."

There was to be no fairytale for Johnny Cronin, however, the massive crowd favourite losing out by the narrowest of margins in the semi-finals before suffering the same fate in the bronze medal play-off. Cronin was distraught at losing out and yesterday was trying to recover in time for the pairs competition.

"On the day it just didn't go for me," the crestfallen Corkman said afterwards.

His coach, Liam Harbinson said: "Unfortunately his body gave way after all the hard work he's put in over the past three or four days. Hopefully now he'll bounce back again and do the business for us in the pairs."

News of Leahy's gold was greeted with delight in the Irish camp, the decision announced after officials ruled that Jachimowicz had been entered in the wrong class and that his throw of over 18 metres was ineligible. That meant Leahy, who threw a season's best of 16.05 metres, moved into the gold medal position. "Over the moon," was his reaction to the news.

A rearranged medal ceremony has been scheduled for today, a moment Leahy said will be the proudest of his life. "I can't wait. I want to get out there, see that flag and hear the anthem," he said.

The ruling was made after an appeal from the British team, who had Stephen Miller in fourth spot. They were convinced that the Pole had been incorrectly classified, giving him an advantage over his rivals, and lodged a protest. Paralympic classification can be a complex issue, based, among other things, upon an athlete's range of movement, mobility and control within a specific disability group.

In Stadium Australia wheelchair athlete John Fulham reached the final of the men's 200 metres but, due mainly to a poor start, was unable to make any impact. Fulham favours the 100m which takes place on Saturday.

"I said if I made the final in this event I'd be doing very, very, well," he said. He was unhappy with his start to the final and will work extensively between now and Saturday to rectify the problem. "I didn't crank it up fast enough, I didn't look like I was going anywhere in a hurry, which is what sprints are all about," said Fulham.

Elsewhere, the news on the Irish front was not quite so promising. The table-tennis team ended their involvement at an early stage after failing to produce a single victory.

Medal hopes also faded in Rushcutter's Bay, where the three-handed solar team needed at least a top-three finish from all remaining races. Starting the day in eighth, they placed seventh in the morning race, effectively ending ambitions of a podium position. They must now compete for pride, of which there is no shortage, in the final four races.