Another 4x100m relay record helps Ireland into fifth place at European Team Championships
Ireland has a total of 192 points heading into Day 2, which puts them in contention to reach a top-three spot and promotion to Division 1. The bottom three teams will be relegated.
For the second weekend in a row, the men's 4x100m relay team have broken the national record. After breaking the 25-year-old record in Switzerland last weekend, Michael Farrelly, Sean Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler and Israel Olatunde clocked 38.88 to beat the 38.92 they ran last week.
That time was enough to see the team win their heat and finish second overall. It also gave Ireland 15 points to help them climb up the leaderboard.
Day 1 ✅ | Team Ireland sitting strong in 5th 🇮🇪
After 20 events, Ireland holds 5th place on 192 points heading into Day 2 of the European Team Championships Division 2 in Maribor 🇸🇮
Results from the last events of the day⤵️
🔹Brian Fay 2nd place Men's 5000m: 15 pts
🔹Ava… pic.twitter.com/aK8vh2d9Og — Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 28, 2025
'Back to back records, it's fantastic,' a delighted Farrelly said after. 'The goal here was to run our fastest or second-fastest. We just ran our fastest again. To be on a team with these lads is an honour.'
Aigboboh was a sub last week and came in to replace the injured Bori Akinola.
'To be on the track here today and play a part is great. It's an amazing feeling. A great senior debut.'
Commenting on Ireland's fifth-place position, relay team captain Lawler said:
'We're going well and we're gonna go stronger again tomorrow. There's a lot of positive energy so we'll keep it up.'
🗣️"That record hadn't be broken for 25 years, and we've gone and done it back to back and to be part of something huge like this, it's just great."
The Men's 4x100m team reflect on their National record performance at today's European Team Championships💚#IrishAthletics… pic.twitter.com/ax4RPvcZA0 — Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 28, 2025
Sharlene Mawdsley and Jack Raftery also produced vital times over 400m.
Advertisement
Raftery became just the second Irish man to break 45 seconds after running clocking 44.98 to finish fourth in the event, contributing 13 points to Ireland's cause.
'I don't know if I have words for it,' a breathless Raftery said.
'I was lucky enough to be in a fantastic race. It's the best field I've ever been part of.
'I can't believe that. I felt great coming down the home straight. I'm really enjoying my running, I'm enjoying the process. I don't think it's gonna hit me for a couple of hours. I've no idea how I'm going to process this.'
🗣️ 'I don't know if I have words for it…I can't believe it. Oh my god I'm delighted.'
An elated Jack Raftery chats to us after clocking 44.98 at the European Team Championships to move second on the Irish all-time list 🤯#IrishAthletics #Maribor2025 #ETCH2025 pic.twitter.com/fJMR5ZRXsl — Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 28, 2025
Mawdsley ran season's best of 50.93 to take third in the women's race which amounted to 14 points.
'Honestly, I don't know how I made it around,' Mawdsley said.
'A season's best is great, it's a shame I didn't come first, I would have loved the top points but it probably would have taken a PB [personal best] to do that today.
'Today was about getting out there and doing my family proud.'
🗣️ 'A season's best is great…I'm looking forward to cheering on the rest of the team now.'
Hear from Sharlene Mawdsley after she clocked a season's best of 50.93 to finish third in the Women's 400m at the European Team Championships 🤩#IrishAthletics #Maribor2025 #ETCH2025 pic.twitter.com/aTwU5ffiju — Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 28, 2025
Meanwhile, Brian Fay earned 15 points after clinching second place in the men's 5,000m in a time of 13:56.07 behind Belgium's Issac Kimeli who won in 13:55.70.
Team Ireland sits in 13th place (33 pts) after the opening six events at the European Team Championships in Maribor 🇸🇮
Strong efforts across the board as our athletes get the campaign underway:
🔹Sean Mockler 12th place Men's Hammer: 5 pts
🔹Shane Howard 11th place Men's Long… pic.twitter.com/TImFr617R9 — Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 28, 2025
Elsewhere, Conor Kelly set a new national U20 record of 46.06 in the men's 400m of at the Junioren Gala in Mannheim. This improves on his previous record of 46.18, which he set last month at the IFAM Outdoor.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Extra.ie
3 minutes ago
- Extra.ie
Sky pundit angers fans after calling Keith Andrews 'British'
Sky Sports pundit and former Tottenham Hotspur defender Michael Dawson triggered a familiar nerve among Ireland fans on Saturday. Dawson mistakenly labelled Keith Andrews as 'British' while discussing how he might get on as the new Brentford boss. Andrews, who earned 35 caps for Ireland during his playing days, endured a 3-1 defeat away to Nottingham Forest in his first game as a Premier League manager. Michael Dawson sparked fury among Ireland fans. Pic: Visionhaus/Getty Images During the pre-match discussion on Sky Sports, Dawson remarked that Andrews getting the nod to replace Thomas Frank at Brentford was a 'new British manager getting an opportunity in the Premier League'. Unsurprisingly, the ex-Hull City defender's comment sparked a bit of irritation among Irish football fans and they made sure to vent their frustration on social media. One user wrote: 'Michael Dawson referred to Keith Andrews as a 'British manager' on Sky Sports today. Thought Sky Sports like to educate people on this matter or maybe that's just for the Irish women's team. Dawson and Sky Sports, clowns.' Another said: 'FYI Michael Dawson: Keith Andrews is Irish, not British! What is it about Sky Sports News getting things like that wrong?' A third added: 'Michael Dawson just said with reference to Keith Andrews that it's great to see a 'new British manager getting an opportunity in the Premier League'. Daft in this day and age really.' One other person saw the lighter side of it and quipped: 'We need Clinton Morrison to start calling the likes of Eddie Howe Irish.' Andrews will no doubt have more to worry about than pundits getting his nationality wrong after his opening day anguish against Forest. There were question marks about the Dubliner's appointment at the club with fans immediately presuming his lack of experience won't get him far. Andrews joined Brentford in July 2024 as a set-piece coach and was promoted to the major role after Thomas Frank's departure this summer. However, conceding from a corner five minutes into his first match set an ominous tone for a new manager whose specialty was set-pieces. Andrews has had a tough start at Brentford. Pic:Fans have not held back their criticism of the 44-year-old online. One said: 'Keith Andrews will be the first PL manager sacked this season. Completely out of his depth and everyone knew it back in June when he was appointed.' Another wrote: 'Get Keith Andrews the f*** out of here. An absolute joke of an appointment by Brentford. Feel sorry for their players and fans.' A third simply added: 'Brentford are playing like a team managed by Keith Andrews.' In fairness to Andrews, he was handed a pretty nightmarish task replacing Frank at the club. Not only did the long-serving boss depart but Brentford also lost two key players with star man Bryan Mbeumo moving to Manchester United and captain Christian Norgaard heading to Arsenal. On top of these, talented striker Yoane Wissa is heavily linked with a move to Newcastle and is essentially unavailable for selection until the move is complete. A couple of fans shared sympathy for Andrews, understanding the immediate obstacles thrust upon him. One fan said: 'Felt sorry for Keith Andrews. He clearly wanted Wissa in his squad and in his team today but he's obviously not in the right frame of mind after being tapped up. He wants the situation sorted. I don't understand why Newcastle don't just pay the asking price and get it over with.' Another agreed: 'Keith Andrews looked gutted today. He really wanted Wissa to play … it could have made a big difference. Now he has to replace him, so selling him quickly is a must.'
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'My life is on hold. It has been a kick in the balls' - Colin Hawkins opens up
His day began in a waiting room, a real-life purgatory. The clock ticked past nine when he took his seat. He recalls the noise of the water cooler; the rise and fall in volume as people passed along the corridor. Otherwise there was silence, which is not an uncommon thing on the seventh floor of the Mater Hospital, where cancer patients get their treatment. Read more: AZ Almaar manager's snappy response to question about Troy Parrott's future Read more: Shock report suggests Manchester United and Liverpool are eyeing up Ireland star And on this sunny Friday morning, this was where Colin Hawkins, one of only 20 Irish footballers to win a medal at an official World Cup event, went to discover if the cancer drug they'd given him would save his life. The clock ticked on. It was just after ten when he left his chair to take in the view from the seventh floor window; Croke Park to the right, Dalymount Park to the left. It was Dayler where Hawkins played when he was 25-years-old and considered the best defender in the League of Ireland. 'You felt invincible,' he says of his days as a professional footballer. But no one ever is. Still, at that stage of his life, the midpoint of a professional career, it is no exaggeration to say he was among the country's healthy elite. Now, as a 47-year-old man, his feelings of invincibility are over. So he sat back down for his appointment and waited, every second feeling like a minute, every minute an hour. Time passed. Time didn't heal. He thought about his upbringing. He was one of ten children, the only one of his siblings to become a professional athlete, a four-times winner of the League of Ireland, later a player with Coventry City in England's Championship, Europe's fifth best attended league. 'I probably took my health for granted,' he says. 'Put it this way, it was a big shock to my nine siblings that I was the one who got so ill. 'It can't be you, you are the sports guy', they said.' But it was him because cancer is a democratic illness. Anyone can be diagnosed with it. A King of England died from it. It doesn't discriminate against rich or poor. 'It is two-and-a-half years since I was first diagnosed,' Hawkins says. 'And the thing you learn about this life is that you don't know when your time is (up). 'I don't feel punished or whatever. It is just unlucky. Still, if you ever want a wake-up call about why you should enjoy every day of your life, go into the Mater every Friday. 'Walk to the seventh floor. Go into the waiting room where you receive your treatment. You are handed a number. A person sits to your left, another to your right. 'I keep asking, 'how is this place so busy? Are more and more people getting cancer than ever before?' Their answer is actually reaffirming. 'No,' they tell me, 'more and more people are surviving.' Colin Hawkins is drawing the positives from life. (Image: ©INPHO/Donall Farmer) By now it was 11am. He still had the ticket in his hand. It resembled a small raffle ticket, a beige colour. He waited and thought back to 2023 when he started to feel unwell. By the time he discovered he had cancer in his blood, the pain became practically unbearable. He subsequently needed surgery on his neck and his back. 'When the myeloma is alive and active, that is when your bones break,' he says matter of factly. 'When it is gone and under control, all that pain is gone.' Good news came. He received stem cell treatment and entered remission. Then terrible news followed. His wife, Elaine, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Telling their three children this news was the hardest day of their lives. Better days came after that. Elaine's treatment worked. She, thankfully, is in remission. Life returned to normal for a while until his old pains resurfaced. He visited Dr O'Gorman in the Mater to review a new drug he had been on for six weeks. 'Your numbers have gone through the roof and your myeloma has gone crazy again,' he was told. 'We need to take you off this drug and get you on a new one.' That was three months ago. He had to check into the hospital that night and ended up staying for a month to see if he could deal with the side-effects of the drug. He got pancreatitis. There is pain and then there is pain. Pancreatitis was hell. But this feeling he had on that Friday morning was way worse, sitting on a blue chair, holding a beige-coloured ticket, staring at the clock, waiting and wondering. If the news was good, if he was told the drug was working, then life would go on. He'd return to work 'to CPM, the best employers in the world who have looked after me while I have been ill'. But if this drug wasn't working, what then? Was there a fifth drug they could try? He hadn't asked. 'Sitting in that room, waiting for that news was the first time I was seriously worried. Three treatments had failed. 'I had my bloods taken the day before. I had scans. As the clock ticked towards noon. I was waiting to be told if my numbers had improved or got worse. 'I have always fought it (his cancer) head on. This was the first time when I realised this was a trial drug; so if this doesn't work then what the hell is the next treatment?' The stem cell transplant he had received was supposed to give him ten years in remission. 'For the cancer to come back after 18 months was kind of unheard of for my age. I was obviously nervous waiting for the result.' Nervous waiting for a result! He remembers the first time he issued those words, back in 1998. He was a St Pat's player then. They won that year's League of Ireland title on the last day of the season, beating Kilkenny City away. But to become champions, they needed Dundalk to defeat their rivals, Shelbourne. So they waited for a result from Oriel Park. They got the news they wanted. The following year something similar happened, Pat's beating Bray on the final day of the season to win back-to-back titles. Consumed by the game, he worked to make the most of what he had, reaching an incredibly high level, representing his country at underage level, winning bronze at the 1997 Under 20 World Cup. And when he spent a month in the Mater Hospital over Easter, all those players from all those teams came in to visit. Brian Kerr, his Ireland manager in 1997, checks in at least once a week. Brian Kerr, the former St Pat's and Ireland manager, is still a regular at Saints games (Image: ©INPHO/Tom Maher) 'Brian has been incredible,' Hawkins says. 'He has such a big heart. Football people, they're great. They don't forget. They remember the big nights, you being there for them on the pitch. "This time they were there for me. All these years later and the dressing room spirit is still strong. It's why football is special.' Yet now all those characteristics which made him such a winner were being put to the test. He says: 'My life is on hold. Thursday I get the bloods done, Friday my treatment. It has been a kick in the balls. That is where my life is at the moment. 'I am not working because I don't have the energy. My immune system is really low. I kind of feel I have a permanent flu or a chest infection.' Yet he isn't feeling sorry for himself because he has spoken to people in the chair next to him in that waiting room, swiftly realising if they have no hope. And on this Friday morning three and a half hours elapsed before Dr O'Gorman called. And that was when the man who played in a World Cup U20 semi-final for Ireland, got up off the blue chair and walked into a doctor's office. In those steps, the fact he had been a champion footballer on four different occasions ceased to matter. He was just another number, waiting to hear if his cancer drug was helping. 'It is,' said Professor O'Gorman. 'You are responding well.' That was eight weeks ago. Today Colin Hawkins is in remission. This champion football player has just won the biggest prize of his life. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
David Clifford says Jack O'Connor is ‘the man for the job' of leading Kerry into their All-Ireland title defence
Clifford – who was named GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month for July – says O'Connor has the full backing of all the Kerry players to remain on as manager of the team Kerryman David Clifford says Jack O'Connor is the right man to lead the Kerry football team into their All-Ireland SFC title defence in 2026 and wants the five-time All-Ireland winning manager to remain in charge of the team. O'Connor's term as manager ended after Kerry's 10-point win over Donegal in last month's All-Ireland final, with the Dromid Pearses man strongly suggesting immediately after the game that he would be stepping away as manager after four years in the role – and having served 11 years in total as senior team manager across three separate spells.
