OlympicIRL

English is the first language of Ireland so it's normal for us

Time for some old but gold.... Fairground Attraction - Perfect Deacon Blue - Real Gone Kid Beautiful South - A Little Time

Now if the juries also close their eyes and ears when we perform then it would be appreciated

Belgium.... don't know how they qualified, worst song and singer of the night for me

Italy's song is also among the better ones

UK have a decent song, better than most at least.

Must be the "hell" segment

Oh please, no more of her

The Irish votes.... SWE - YesGEO - NoAUS - YesALB - NoBEL - NoMNE - YesFIN - YesAZE - NoPOR - YesGRE - YesPOL - NoMDA - YesISL - YesCZE - YesCYP - NoARM - NoSLO - YesLAT - No My top 3: 1. Slovenia 2. Australia 3. Portugal

Gold and Silver for Irish boats at Opening Rowing World Cup of 2017 Ireland will be coming home from Belgrade with a gold and silver after today's A Finals at the first Rowing World Cup of the 2017 season. There was gold for O'Donovan, but perhaps not for the O'Donovan that Irish fans were predicting. Mark O'Donovan and partner Shane O'Driscoll lead from halfway and stormed to gold in the men's lightweight pair ahead of Russia and Great Britain. Denise Walsh added to the Irish medal tally as she grabbed silver in the women's lightweight single sculls. Her sprinting abilities were again on show as she catapulted from 5th to 2nd in the closing stages, finishing 4 seconds behind the winner from Switzerland. There was disappointment however for Irish Olympic heroes Gary and Paul O'Donovan as they could only manage 4th place in the men's lightweight single sculls. The brothers were tipped for gold here but could not break onto the podium with Great Britain emerging victorious in the season opener. Sanita Puspure put in a strong performance in a very fast race to come home in 5th place in the women's single sculls, a pleasing way to kick off her international season. Speaking after his gold medal success Mark O'Donovan remarked that a new coach, new technique and fresh training regime has helped them make the progress needed to challenge this season: ‘Feeling really good during the race, we’ve got a new coach, so that is a new step for Ireland. Going forward we are going to a training camp in Varese and looking to implement new training and technique before Europeans.’

Four Irish boats into A Finals at Rowing World Cup in Belgrade Ireland will be well represented in Sunday's finals at the first Rowing World Cup of the 2017 season in Belgrade. A total of 4 Irish crews qualified for the A Finals after a successful day of semi-final and repechage action. Olympic silver-medalists Paul and Gary O'Donovan booked their spot in the final with a convincing win in their lightweight men's double semi. The O'Donovan brothers used their trademark sprint to pull away from the crews from the Netherlands and Spain at the halfway point and will be fighting for a medal tomorrow. There will also be Irish representation in the men's lightweight pair after Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll finished second in their semi-final. Not to be outdone, the Irish women were in fine form with Sanita Puspure claiming one of the two A Final berths on offer in today's women's single sculls repechage. Denise Walsh was already directly qualified for the A Final of the women's lightweight equivalent after a blistering sprint finish in her heat on Friday saw her come from way down the field at 1500m to claim victory and an automatic qualification spot. A great start to the World Cup series for the Irish crews, wishing them all the best for tomorrow's finals!

My heart would have been in my mouth if I had been watching

Michael Jung and Sam though.... what a performance, what a combination! He deserves to mentioned in any awards ceremony for sportsperson of the year, he is so dominant

It's good to see the Irish riders taking a more positive approach to the course. Sometimes I feel our riders play it a bit too safe and rack up bunch of time penalties by not pushing a bit harder. But I guess that's a luxury you only get when you have full confidence that your horse can get you round safe. Happy to see Cathal bounce back strongly, I feel this is going to be a big learning curve for him

Ah Jonty I haven't seen the action today but generally I enjoy it when the cross-country is a stern test. I prefer it when CC clear rounds are extremely rare and makes it a proper 3 discipline event.

Even better! Too bad for Cathal

Jonty Incredible score!

Joined

Less of that cheek from you

Can you relate to the lyrics of Katie Melua, "feeling 22, acting 17"?

I turned 30 earlier this year... I still don't believe it

Athletics Ireland selects initial team for IAAF World Championships Athletics Ireland have named a provisional team of 8 athletes for the World Championships in London this August. The team is comprised of race walkers and marathon runners who will now be able to fine-tune their preparations without the burden of having to chase selection. Among the athletes pre-selected is 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Robert Heffernan who will again compete in his favoured discipline, the men's 50km walk. He will be joined by fellow Rio 2016 Olympians Alex Wright and Brendan Boyce. In addition to the men's walking team, the marathon squads have been made known. Two-time European Cross-Country champion Fionnuala McCormack will spearhead the Irish challenge in the women's event alongside Claire Gibbons McCarthy. The men's team is comprised of 2016 Olympians Paul Pollock and Mick Clohisey and will be joined on the startline by Seán Hehir. Ireland Team - IAAF World Championships - London 2017 Men’s 50km Race Walk: Alex Wright (Leevale AC) Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny AC) Robert Heffernan (Togher AC) Men’s Marathon: Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrocks AC) Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders AC) Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham WSAF AC) Women’s Marathon: Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole AC) Clare Gibbons McCarthy (Leevale AC)

Haha . Thanks for supporting our Bee Gees

Azerbaijan.... wonderful!

Historic European Medal Success for Magee Siblings Irish badminton are celebrating a first medal at the European Championships after brother and sister mixed doubles pairing Sam and Chloe Magee captured bronze in Kolding, Denmark at the weekend. The European Games bronze medalists replicated that performance, coming through a tough path to reach the semi-finals. The unseeded pair defeated the 5th seeds from the Netherlands in round 1 before conquering the 4th seeded Polish duo in the quarter-finals. Sam and Chloe eventually bowed out against the number 1 seeds from Denmark Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen, losing 21-14, 21-10. A delighted Chloe had this to say of their medal success: “I just can’t believe it......we wanted to get that medal and we knew we had a good draw if we played well enough. But we had the number five seeds in the first round so could easily have lost there". "The aim, the goal was a medal. I think our whole career, that was our aim, winning a medal and we’ve done that today".