Let’s hope Amy doesn’t follow Eve into retirement

Dan Coyle was Dundalk’s first Olympian, competing in the hammer at the 1948 London Games. The second was Kate O’Connor, the heptathlete who competed with distinction at the recent Paris Games.

Eve McCrystal is not an Olympian, but a Paralympian. Along with the partially-sighted Katie-George Dunlevy, she formed one of the best partnerships the country has ever produced, up there with rowers O’Donovan and McCarthy.

More than that, the Paralympics has not had a more successful duo. They took second place in the B 3000m individual pursuit in Paris a fortnight ago, giving them their sixth Paralympic medal.

There are golds and world titles among their collection, and victory at the Tokyo Games in 2021 is one of their finest achievements.

They’ve crossed the line together for the last time. Having been a team for a decade, biking it in the velodrome and on the road, the partnership has ended. Both have done their country immensely proud.

McCrystal, born in Jenkinstown, has long been one of the Cooley Peninsula’s finest sportspeople, sitting alongside Robert and Dave Kearney, Paddy Keenan, and, looking far into the past, the Prince of Full-Backs, Eddie Boyle.

Back to the Olympics, and the prospects of the Five Rings again being flown around town. Kate O’Connor is 23, and as said here before, staying injury-free, getting stronger and improving with age, competing in Los Angeles in four years’ time is not beyond her.

Same applies to Israel Alatunde. Ireland’s fastest runner, having twice broken the national 100m record, lowering the figure for a second time no later than a few weeks ago, he won’t lack for preparation as he attempts to fulfil a cherished ambition.

He’s to come under the guidance of Lance Brauman who knows a thing or two about how to get an athlete to run his fastest. Bauman’s star pupil is Noah Lyles, who left an indelible mark on the Paris Games, coming out on top in a terrific 100m final.

That’s Alatunde and O’Connor – could there be another of what we like to call a ‘townie’ alongside them? Maybe not in a green blazer, but that’s by the by.

Blackrock’s Peter McArdle had all the credentials to compete for Ireland back in 1956 when his career was at its height. But because he belonged to an organisation that didn’t have IOC recognition, he was barred, along with many others of this country’s finest. He made Rome in 1960, but wearing the US singlet.

Nothing would give townsfolk more delight than to see boxer Amy Broadhurst making it third time lucky. The former world champion was an outsider in the race to Tokyo three years ago, trailing Kellie Harrington. Both fought at the same weight.

But having won a number of titles after that, a World among them, Broadhurst had good reason to firmly set her sights on Paris.

It might mean having to move up a weight to avoid competing with Harrington after the Dubliner had declared her intention to defend the title she had won in Tokyo; but it was a change worth making.

It didn’t quite work out for her. Injury played its part in her not being in peak form for the Ireland qualifiers, and after failing to win favour at home, as it were, she opted to have a go at qualifying under the Great Britain banner. No luck here, either.

She may have burnt her Irish bridges by choosing to affiliate with her father, Tony’s land of birth earlier this year. Whether or not, she should stay in the race. She’ll be 31 when Los Angeles comes around.

Old? But it’s seven years younger than the present age of her great friend and sparring partner, Katie Taylor, who, no-one can say, is still not at the top of her game.

And Eve McCrystal? She’s 46, with her long-time partner, Katie-George, 42. Give it a go, Amy.