Minority Sports – Herald Sept 10. Football free zone!

SWIMMING: A combination of cold weather and an extra 600m to the new finish at O’Casey Bridge took its toll at the 91st Dublin City Council Liffey Swim, with some of the backmarkers needing over an hour to complete the watery 2.4km journey.

First home in the men’s race was Declan Proctor of Eastern Bay, who although  off “go” , held off the faster swimmers for a popular victory. Second was Sean Kenna of St Vincent’s with Michael O’Kane of Westwood third. Scratch man Colin Turner of Aer Lingus, still a schoolboy, finished 36th in 28 minutes 20 seconds.

First woman was  Maria Quintanilla a Spaniard swimming for Dublin Bay SC, who held off Joan Barron of St Vincent’s and Sinead Tyrell from the Garda club in the final stages of the race. Tyrell, with a time of 26 minutes 58 seconds, was the fastest swimmer on the day. 

Over 200 men and 100 women took the plunge with ages ranging from 12 to 70.

The 2.4 kilometre swim began at Rory O’More Bridge on Watling Street.

ROWING: Ireland’s adaptive rowing crew qualified for next year’s Paralaympic Games in London when they made the final at the World Championships in Bled, Slovenia. They also improved on their own Irish record with a time of  3 minutes 32.63 seconds for the 1000m distance.

In the final, the Irish had hoped to pip Germany for the bronze medal, but finished fifth behind the dominant British crew.  Since their semi-final time would have given them a medal, there was some disappointment despite the elation of making London 2012. The crew of Anne-Marie McDaid, Sarah Caffrey, Shane Ryan and Kevin du Toit with cox Helen Arbuthnot now take a few weeks’ break before resuming training.

Ireland’s women’s double scull and lightweight women’s double scull were also attempting London 2012 qualification but didn’t make it. They have a second  chance at next year’s final qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in May.

POOL: Despite less than ideal preparations, Dubliner Fred Dinsmore took a bronze medal at the World 9-Ball Wheelchair Pool Championships in Poland. Dinsmore, a three times world champion, beat British player Roy Kimberyly twice and whitewashed local favouorite Leszek Blumczynski 7-0 in the elimination rounds. With his only loss coming at the hands of old rival Kurt Deklerck from Belgium, he made it into the semi-finals  and so was guaranteed a medal. He then came up against Finnish player Jouni Tahti and never recovered from a slow start losing 4-9. “I’m disappointed but probably got pretty much the maximum possible with the bronze,” said Dinsmore after.

BADMINTON: Home players are expected the dominate the Mount Pleasant Badminton Open today (Sun)in Dublin’s  Ranelagh. With Chloe Magee competing abroad, Jennie King is top seed in both the women’s singles and doubles where she pairs up with Keelin Fox. Dan Magee and Niall Tierney are seeded to win the men’s doubles, while Magee and Fiona Glennon are favourites for the mixed doubles. Top seed in the men’s singles is Scott Burnside from Lisburn.
(Update: results – Men:  Singles –  S Burnside bt D Leinster 21-14,21-15. Doubles:M Cobbe/E Cousins bt D Magee/N Tierney 21-13,21-19. Women:  Singles: J King bt V Tsvetanova 21-14,14-21,21-19 Doubles: J King/K Fox bt P & F Glennon 21-19,21-16. Mixed:F Glennon/D Magee bt V Tsvetanova/ D Leinster 21-14,21-10)

SQUASH: Myron Evans proved best of the Irish at the European Masters Squash Championships in Porto, Portugal when he finished runner-up in the over-70 age group. Barbara Sanderson proved best of the women taking bronze in the women’s over 60 age group.

Sutton player Eoin Ryan made a shock exit in the men’s over 40 quarter finals when he lost to German player Andreas Omlor in a see-saw match that went to five sets. Ciaran McCoy went out in the men’s over 35 quarter finals.

DARTS: Top amateur darts players from 39 nations will compete in the WDF World Darts Cup in Castlebar from September 20. Although drawn in a group with tournament favourites England, Ireland looks certain to advance to the knock-out stages.

Captaining the Irish men’s team for the first time is 19-year-old Martin Heneghan from Roundfort in Co Mayo, backed up by Martin McCluskey (Donegal), Connie Finnan (Limerick) and Sean McGowan (Sligo). The women’s team consists of Olive McIntyre (Leitrim) and Angela de Ward (Donegal) while Emma Smith (Galway) and Darragh Clancy (Galway) play in the youths’ tournament.