Coaches: Sally Batley and Elaine Ryan
Over the weekend of April 25th 24 Irish gymnasts traveled to Wales to take part in a great battle between the Celtic nations – Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland in the prestigious gymnastics event – ‘Celtic Cup’.
The 24 strong team, comprises of 12 girls and 12 boys of both Minor and Junior age, proudly 50% of the entire female gymnasts representing the Team Ireland were local Galway gymnasts. Selected for the Irish Minors were Kate Molloy, Aisling Fuller, Jane Heffernan and Emma Slevin who joined Dublin’s Jenny McGrane and Cork’s Meg Ryan to make the final team selection. These 6 gymnasts competed fantastically with PB’s across the board on various events successfully returning home with the bronze medal behind the leaders Wales, and in second place – Scotland. This years Minors squad exceeded all previous Irish teams improving the overall team score by a massive 12 marks!! An exciting future ahead awaits these gymnasts to say to least!!
On the juniors Team was Galway girl’s Sarah Hynes and Emer Shimizu joining Belfast international gymnast Casey Bell, Dublin’s Taylor Coyle, Mayo gymnast Li LIng Martin and stepping in at the last moment due to a withdrawal was Niamh Hutchinson from Dublin. Another very exciting competition to watch as Team Ireland put Scotland under some serious pressure during the last 2 rotations, however on this occasion despite some truly outstanding performances it was the bronze medal that the Juniors also proudly returned to Ireland wearing. The Irish Juniors also making significant progress for the Nation increasing this years team score by over 9 full marks.
Super weekend gymnasts, great result and good luck in the upcoming International Flanders Team Challenge which all of these Galway gymnasts will compete within once again representing Team Ireland over the weekend of May 31st – in Ghent, Belgium.
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