The Paralympics has begun!

The Paralympics has begun!

12 days of great sport began on Tuesday and will run until 5 September. 29 Irish athletes will compete in total in Japan with first-time Paralympians powerlifter Britney Arendse and high jumper Jordan Lee carrying the tricolour into the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony.

Athletes will represent Ireland in nine different sports, including athletics, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, powerlifting, swimming, shooting, and table tennis. 4,400 athletes will compete in 540 events across 22 different sports. Swimmer Barry McClements was first in action in the 400m freestyle at 1am on Wednesday morning.

Ambitions are high for Team Ireland. With 11 medals won last time out in Rio, Team Ireland hit a high of 16 in London. Like Rio, the conditions in Tokyo are not going to be as favourable for the Irish as they were in London nine years ago, but hopes are still high for a major haul. Cork’s Niamh McCarthy is among the major gold medal hopes after she won silver in Rio in the discus at her first games. Cork’s Patrick O’Leary will compete in his second games after finishing sixth in Rio in canoeing, the first time the sport appeared at the games.

Kerry woman Mary FitzGerald competes in the F40 shot put but is a UCC student and is coached by a Corkman, so we can claim her too perhaps!

Ireland boast some of the biggest Paralympian stars around including Jason Smyth, who has already won five gold medals at three Paralympic Games. He has been known as the fastest Paralympian on the planet and has a great chance of netting Team Ireland gold in the T13 class.

In 2010, he made history as the first Paralympian to compete at an open European championships, where he qualified for the semi-finals of the 100 metres. He is the second fastest Irishman in history after Paul Hession. Ballymena’s Michael McKillop is a Paralympics middle distance great having won ten medals at major championships along with winning four Paralympic gold medals. He competes in the 1,500 metres T37 class. Good luck to all our Paralympians - we are proud of you!

Of course the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final last Sunday was incredibly disappointing. The Rebel Treble failed at the last leg, as it was always likely to. This Limerick team are incredible. They are huge, hugely skilful, incredibly fit and tactically superb. They have no obvious weaknesses.

They are one of the best teams I’ve ever seen, maybe the best. There’s no shame in losing to such a good team when this is essentially the first year of a new and very young and exciting Cork team.

The worry is that the defeat was so resounding that it might hamper the huge gains Cork made this year. This Cork team are at the start of a journey.

The good news is the wellspring of hurling talent that bubbling forth from Leeside. The resounding capture of All-Ireland titles by the minor and U20 teams in the last week mean that the future is bright for Cork hurling, brighter than it’s been since 2013.