Solid outing for senior Irish men.
26th May 2016, 00:00a.m. | International
The Senior Irish men were in action today at the 2016 European Artistic Championships and had some fine performances on some key apparatus. The team, consisting of Jack Neill (Salto, Lisburn), Dan Fox (Douglas, Cork), Adam Steele (Douglas, Cork) and Chris O’Connor (Douglas, Cork) started the rotations on the High Bar at 2pm local time in Subdivision 2.
New senior Adam Steele demonstrated he is a stylish gymnast putting out a nice routine on High Bar for 12.666. Dan Fox impressed with a strong Rings routine scoring 13.733 whilst Douglas club mate Chris O'Connor made a triumphant return to Irish duty posting solid scores for the team on Pommel & Rings. Jack Neill, the best of the seniors on the day, hit a great pommel routine, scoring 13.633. A tight Vault performance earned him a score of 14.333, whilst his Floor routine score of 14.066 helped him to a 19th place finish in the All Around standings. Combined, the team scored 234.861 and placed 22nd despite missing key team member, Olympian, Kieran Behan.
Gymnastics Ireland CEO, Ciaran Gallagher was at the PostFinance-Arena in Bern to see the Team in action and applauded the team’s efforts.
The seniors delivered a solid performance today even while missing our 2016 Rio Olympian Kieran Behan who is resting and prioritising his build up to the summer Games. It was a welcome return to international duty for Chris O'Connor in addition to the first outing for new Irish senior Adam Steele. Together with Jack Neill & Dan Fox the guys delivered a solid team effort, our congratulations to them and also coaches Simon Gale and Will Banthorpe.
Ciaran Gallagher CEO
Tomorrow the finals of the All Around take place and Ireland will have their first ever male gymnast, Rhys McClenaghan (Rathgael, Bangor) compete in the Junior All Around Final. Rhys will take to the floor at 6.30pm local time and we wish him the very best ahead of his historic appearance.
There will be Live Scoring from @gymnasticsire on Twitter plus updates on Facebook and Instagram. Keep an eye on our social media channels for the remainder of the competition this week and again next week when Ireland’s female gymnasts are in action.