Hammer breakthrough nails it

Sportswoman of the Month/Eileen O'Keeffe (athletics):When Eileen O'Keeffe broke her own Irish hammer record at the Europa Cup in Finland this summer, taking it to 69.44 metres, almost two metres better than the runner-up, one third of our judging panel reckoned that was more than enough for the Kilkenny woman to win her second sportswoman-of-the-month award, to add to the one she collected exactly two years ago.

Two-thirds of the panel, though, appealed for a little patience, insisting it was only a matter of time before O'Keeffe broke the 70-metre barrier, her target for the last two years, her "four-minute mile".

In an attempt to enlighten the uninitiated, like that one-third of our judging panel, the athletics man at The Irish Times explained to us that a 70-metre throw was the equivalent of hurling a 10lb ball of steel almost the length of a football pitch.

To this day we don't quite know how that's humanly possible, but en route to winning her seventh successive title at the National Senior Track and Field Championship in Santry (where she also won the discus title) O'Keeffe didn't just do it once; remarkably, she did it five times.

Five of O'Keeffe's six throws beat her previous record of 69.44 metres, the best of the lot a throw of 73.21 metres, enough to move her to 13th in the world rankings (in Irish athletics only Alistair Cragg, 12th for 5,000 metres, is ranked higher).

That 73.21-metre throw also beat the A standard for this month's World Championships in Osaka and the A standard for the Olympics next year.

Having missed that standard by just four centimetres at the Europa Cup the 26-year-old nurse, a member of the Irish team competing at the World University Games in Bangkok over the next 10 days, was doubly determined to get it in Santry.

"For it to actually come so easy is just fantastic," she said. Her aim now is to throw beyond 70 metres in a major competition.

Her opening throw in Santry was a massive 70.68, over a metre further than the record she set in Finland, but it was her third attempt that truly signalled her elevation to the upper reaches of her sport.

Famously, O'Keeffe became hooked on the sport when her elder brother chanced upon a hammer-throwing video in the local "pound shop"; having dabbled in school, she became determined to perfect her technique after viewing the video.

Her father laid a cement throwing circle on the home farm, and it was there O'Keeffe, coachless, developed the winning technique. Her season's best throws since 2000 tell the story of her progress: 53.35 metres (2000), 57.17 (2001, her first Irish record), 61.10 (2002), 63.35 (2003), 64.66 (2004), 69.36 (2005), 69.32 (2006), and, last month, that throw of 73.21 metres.

Her big brother's pound was, evidently, a pound very well invested.

Monthly winners

January- Marie Breen (basketball): Captained Glanmire to victory in the Superleague National Cup.

February- Chloe Magee (badminton): Helped Ireland to the final of the Helvetia Cup and won the singles and doubles titles at the national championships.

March- Nina Carberry (horse racing): A Cheltenham Festival winner on Heads Onthe Ground in the Sporting Index Handicap Chase

April- Emma Byrne (soccer): Arsenal's women won every competition they entered last season. One of their stars was Byrne, the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper.

May- Lisa and Leona Maguire (golf): Twelve-year-old twins from Cavan. Leona won the Hermitage Scratch Cup and Lisa reached the semi-finals of the Irish Close at Lahinch.

June- Jessica Kürten (equestrian): Dropped out of the world top 10 after a quiet start to the year but embarked on a run of form in April that lifted her back to third.