BOWLING: Just because your son represents this island in bowling, it doesn't mean you have to understand the game, writes Alison Healy.
As David McCauley (16) sent his bowling ball hurtling towards the skittles yesterday, his father Joseph Patrick freely admitted that he could make head nor tail of the scoring system.
David's mother Jean nodded in agreement. "Haven't a clue how it works," she said. But the scores did not really matter to the youth from Derry, who was watched by millions of people around the world as he lit the Flame of Hope which opened the World Summer Games last Saturday.
He has become something of a superstar since. "They all know him. They all want to talk to him," said Jean as people crowded around David in the Blanchardstown bowling alley.
"Is that the boy who lit the flame?" asked a Honduras delegate waving a camera. "May I take your photograph?"
A BBC crew is making a documentary about David, while he appeared on Network 2's The Den earlier this week, and his mother appeared on ITV.
Is he famous now? "Am I, am I?" he asked, his eyes lighting up. "I wasn't nervous in the opening ceremony but I think I'm going to be nervous in the closing ceremony. There's going to be Westlife there and everything."
If the Team Ireland bowling team was a boyband, David would be the cute one who got all the attention.
"There are 11 others in the team you know," said one coach as this reporter asked about the Derry boy. "But everyone wants David," he said.
Everyone wanted Westport's Patrick Mulroy too, after he bagged a silver medal in the singles. A small group had gathered around him to have their photograph taken and, when a few more joined the circle, the photographer stepped back to fit them in. Soon more people were sneaking into the frame, and the photographer was tripping over himself, trying to squeeze half the bowling alley into the picture. "I've seen smaller wedding parties," he said, grappling with the camera.
The bowling team has been on a roll since the Games began, according to head coach Veronica Murray. "Everyone has bowled above their limit. All three teams took bronze in the team event. Anything after that was a bonus."
Claire Hayes from Baltinglass could have been responsible for the first baby born during a Special Olympics event when she competed on Thursday. Her nine-months pregnant sister Pauline came to support her and as the tension increased in Claire's game, all eyes were on Pauline. "We thought the excitement might cause her to have the baby," Veronica said. "But Claire took it all in her stride. She's a very steady player, well focused."
Claire bagged a bronze in that event, to accompany the silver she won with Ita O'Brien in the doubles on Tuesday. What was the best bit of the week for her? "Getting the medals," she said without hesitation.