Ireland's hopes of achieving promotion in the Europa Cup fixture in Lithuania next month suffered another severe blow yesterday when Catherina McKiernan followed Sonia O'Sullivan out of the squad.
McKiernan informed BLE officials that she was not available to compete in the 5,000 metres, a announcement which will heighten speculation that she will run in the Dublin mini-marathon on the same weekend. Hopes that O'Sullivan would agree to travel to Kaunas immediately after making her first track appearance of the new season at Paris on June 4th were never better than tenuous.
After completing that superb double in the world cross country championships in Morocco in March, she had indicated she intended to be more selective in formulating her programme in the summer. That, I suspect, will be of little comfort to the selectors, who were hoping to assemble all the experience at their disposal for the challenge of lifting Ireland out of the bottom grouping in the Europa Cup.
In the event, they have come up with a very useful replacement for the 3,000 metres in Una English who, if not as accomplished as O'Sullivan, has acquired a reasonable amount of international experience. English, a chemist based in Switzerland, was in the team which finished third in the world cross country championships at Turin last year, and, in addition to her outdoor record, she has some good indoor performances to her credit. Filling the 5,000 metres vacancy left by McKiernan's withdrawal is proving more difficult. Valerie Vaughan is currently recuperating in Colorado from a tendon injury and is unlikely to be available to run in Lithuania.
There was better news for the selectors from Susan Smith, the Waterford woman who hinted at a return to form when she ran 13.83 seconds for the 100 metres hurdles last weekend. Smith has confirmed her availability for both hurdles races, in addition to the two relays. The withdrawal of Peter Coughlan, who is graduating at Brown University at the time of the European meeting, could well herald a return to international competition for one of the most popular of all Irish athletes, TJ Kearns. Kearns, who announced his retirement from international competition last season, may find himself pressed into the high hurdles event as a replacement for Coughlan after making his seasonal debut in domestic competition last weekend.
Other changes in the Europa Cup squad see Brigid Corrigan replace Sharon Foley of Letterkenny in the high jump, while in the men's competition, Roman Linscheid takes over from Pat McGrath in the hammer throw. Athletes travelling to Lubjana, Slovenia, for an international meeting on May 31st include discus thrower Nick Sweeney, who experienced such a frustrating time with injuries last summer. Also selected are the Ryans, Neil and Gary, in the sprints, and Tom McGuirk, another Olympian, who gets the 400 metres hurdles vacancy, originally intended for James Matthews of Crusaders.
Ireland Squad - Men - 100m: N Ryan (Nenagh). 200m: G Ryan (Nenagh). 400m: P Kelleher (Bandon). 800m: J Nolan (UCD). 400m hurdles: T McGuirk (DCH). Long Jump: D O'Farrell (Borrisokane). Discus: N Sweeney (DSD). Women - 100m and 200m: L Barry (Emerald). 400m: K Shinkins (DCH). 800m: F Davoren (UCC). 400m hurdles: F Norwood (Kilkenny). Triple Jump: S Hoey (DCH).
