'We do need to take a hard look at ourselves,' says McGonagle

ATHLETICS EUROPEAN INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:IT CAN'T be a good sign when Irish athletes are subjected to a full autopsy while the championships are still alive.

There may have been some thrilling finals here yesterday afternoon, but by then the Irish interest was well and truly dead, the team’s bags already packed for the lonesome journey home – sadly, short of any shiny souvenirs.

The scary thing is not so much that the Irish medal chances started and finished with Derval O’Rourke’s fourth place last Friday: it’s that no one else came close. Indeed, the lack of even another Irish finalist forced team manager Patsy McGonagle to declare the obvious, that performances in Paris were definitely “disappointing” and that the sport itself still lacks proper leadership.

And if they can’t deliver at a European Indoors then forget about the Olympics. Truth is, it was a small team, not at its absolute strongest, and Mary Cullen might well have figured in the 3,000 metres final had she not withdrawn from Saturday’s heats because of illness.

In any case, the only Irish interest at the Palais Omnisport yesterday was listening to McGonagle’s fairly grim assessment. With London ominously close this might also be as good as it gets.

“It wasn’t a good performance, from a team perspective, no,” he said. “And definitely not compared to some recent indoor championships. One has to be disappointed we didn’t medal. Go back over these recent indoor championships and we’ve always medalled.

“I know, too, there is always a public demand for medals, and we didn’t deliver.

“But we should keep it in some context. First of all it was a small team. Secondly, some of our heavy hitters weren’t here. David Gillick, Paul Hession. And our walkers too, obviously. So it’s probably not the best judgment of Irish athletics at this particular time. We’ll have a more accurate check on things when we get to Daegu later in the year, for the World Championships.”

Still, none of the nine-strong team could be buoyed by their performance, including O’Rourke – who of course is never satisfied with anything less than a medal.

The last of them exited on Saturday afternoon when Darren McBrearty fell short of making the 800m final, followed by Ailis McSweeney in the 60m. Earlier, Tori Pena had improved her national pole vault record to 4.35m, yet that was still well short of qualification. Likewise Kelly Proper in the long jump, despite a season best of 6.45m.

“I still think we had a couple of encouraging performances,” reckoned McGonagle. “And there is still some exciting talent coming through, despite everything. But we’ve never really had the depth in the numbers. We’re a small nation. We only have a handful of athletes capable of impacting, even at the best of times.

“But there is a duty of care there, for the association, to support them, put the proper structures in place. We do need to take a hard look at ourselves. But one of the things we haven’t had in Irish athletics is consistent leadership, unfortunately. We had a great opportunity there for a few years, when the country had money, but we didn’t even end up with a proper structure.”

Indeed Ireland still doesn’t have a proper indoor running track – while the crucial director of athletics position, vacant since the Beijing Olympics, is only being filled next month, when the American-born Kevin Ankrom finally takes over, reportedly after doing reasonably well with New Zealand. But anyone expecting Ankrom to have an impact before the London Olympics is sadly mistaken.

“In fairness, Ankrom has a big task on his hands,” said McGonagle. “If he isn’t supported sufficiently, and sensibly, and without any old sullenness, we’re going to have these negative conversations for time immortal.

“But no one else is going to break through at this point, in terms of medal prospects in London, even final prospects. That’s where the sport is at. It still needs performance leadership. I’ve been in this space a long time. I’ve been watching other countries. Norway, for example. They’ve brought in foreign coaches and developed athletes, with the proper structure.”

McGonagle also defended the decision to only consider A standards for London: “We know only A standards will survive at the Olympics. There will also be emotional stories or arguments for bringing athletes on B standards. We’ve done that before, and they didn’t perform. I think now that is the marker. It’s no good creating doubts in athletes minds, that they might get there on B standards.

“At this moment it’s set in stone. You either hit A standards or you don’t.”

Few of the Irish athletes could have any excuse for not making a greater impact here – with the obvious exception of Cullen. The stomach illness that ended her hopes in the 3,000m was the latest in a line of setbacks, and worse still yesterday’s final was run to suit her, as Britain’s Helen Clitheroe – two months after her 37th birthday – won the gold medal in a relatively pedestrian 8:56.66. That made Clitheroe the second-oldest woman to win at the European Indoors.

That’s not saying medals were easily won: Britain’s Mo Farah was pressed damn hard to defend his 3,000m title, although that was something of an African showdown, as the Somali-born Farah had to fend off the former Ethiopian Hayle Ibrahimov, now disguised as an Azerbaijani.

Yet British athletics continues to thrive, under very sound structures, and is well on course to take centre stage in London.

In the end, though, the French fittingly enjoyed their best indoor championships in many years, with the madly partisan crowd treated to a world record triple jump from Teddy Tamgho, who leaped 17.92m to claim the gold, adding to the titles also won by Leslie Djhone in the 400m in 45.54, and Renaud Lavillenie in the pole vault with 6.03m – both French records.

How the Irish fared

Derval O’Rourke (Leevale AC)

60m Hurdles: 2nd, heat 4/4, 8.07; 3rd, semi-final 2/2, 7.98; 4th, final, 7.96 (season best).

Ailis McSweeney (Leevale AC)

60m: 4th, heat 3/4, 7.38, progressed as fastest loser; 7th, semi-final, 7.34.

Mary Cullen (North Sligo AC)

3,000m: Withdrew due to illness.

Tori Pena (Finn Valley AC)

Pole Vault: 12th, qualification, 4.35 (national record), did not progress.

Dan Mulhare (North Laois AC)

3,000m: 6th, heat 3/3, 8:04.57, did not progress.

Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC)

400m: 4th, heat 3/5, 47.63, did not progress.

Darren McBrearty (Letterkenny AC)

800m: 4th, heat 1/5, 1:49.74, progressed as fastest loser; 5th, semi-final, 1:49.78.

Marian Heffernan (Togher AC)

400m: 5th, heat 2/3, 54.94, did not progress.

Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC)

Long Jump: 13th, qualification, 6.45 (season best), did not progress to final.