National squad shaping up to stimulating future

Ireland's achievements in athletics are greatly undervalued according to the coach of the national Ireland's cross-country team, Jerry Kiernan. The former Olympic marathon runner, who along with assistant Peter McDermott, has taken charge of the squad to compete at the World Cross Country Championships next year at Leopardstown race course in Dublin, says that Irish athletes are more highly regarded outside the country than in Ireland.

"Time and time again we are consistently being rubbished and time and time again we bring credit to the country. It is incredible how we are appreciated abroad given our small population and it is amazing the impact made by our athletes.

"Given the dominance of an indigenous sport (GAA) Irish athletes have been highly successful. Take last weekend at the European Cross Country in Sweden as a microcosm. We thrashed nations of a similar size. Look at the Finlands and the Denmarks and the Norways . . . we were able to take them to the cleaners. It is pretty brutal out there in international running and Ireland does remarkably well."

Coming after the men's team earned a rare bronze medal in the European Championships in Malmo, Kiernan's role now is to generate a cohesive team spirit and put the in-form runners on the course in March. Ireland's best achievement came in Limerick 1979 when the World Championships were last staged in this country. On that occasion, John Treacy won gold and the team finished as runner-up to England.

Kiernan must now plot a course over the next three months and along with medallists Peter Matthews, Seamus Power, Gareth Turnbull and Keith Kelly, five other names will be added including that of Mark Carroll. The squad will possibly get together at the new £2 million Finn Valley Athletics Club facility in Donegal over the Christmas break and then aim for warm-weather training in the Algarve at the end of January after the meeting at Stormont in Belfast.

"My belief is that if we have a strong team with no real weakness, then we will do well. Running is the most individual sport of all. Athletes are a self-centred bunch and more concerned about their own performances than that of the team. That's just how it is. In an ideal world you'd like to get them all together for a couple of months but realistically what you hope for now is a commitment. That is about it."

What was deeply encouraging about the European event was not only Matthews' and Power's hardened athletic maturity but that American Collegiate champion Keith Kelly still managed to come in 25th despite being unwell.

"Kelly was feeling unwell when he came back to Ireland. He had a bug," says Kiernan. "But as an athlete he is a great bit of stuff. I can see him winning that event in a few years' time. He peaked to win the Collegiate title and it is significant who he beat in that race but talking to an American coach who was out in Sweden, he said that Kelly was a pale shadow of how he can run."

If all of the top runners turn up fit then the women's team have the stronger chance of picking up medals. From them Kiernan will be expecting a little more.

"If you get them all out as well as Sonia (O'Sullivan) and Catherina (McKiernan) there would be reasonable optimism that we would win medals either individually or as a team." he says. Clearly much will hinge on McKiernan whose training has been hampered all year by injury.

"Do I think she (McKiernan) will be fit enough to genuinely compete ? The honest answer is I don't know. You are talking about a girl who has won a silver medal four times in this event. Unless she can win the race I'm not so sure . . .

"Right now we are in good shape, we just happen to have the athletes."