Georgia gold for mcgrath

Bohermeen athlete Kevin McGrath took gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi in Georgia in the final of the 1,500 metres on Wednesday.

McGrath made it into the final of the 1,500 metres with a third place finish in qualifying. He finished third 4m:06s behind the winner from Serbia who crossed the line in 4m:03s and an athlete from Switzerland.

McGrath had already run 3m:50.33s for the 1,500 metres this year in London and won a medal at the Schools International Athletic Board event in Scotland where he won gold in the 800m in JUly.

Yesterday's win for the Bohermeen athlete was a tremendous achievement.

The victory was achieved in sweltering conditions of over 30 degrees of heat and McGrath won the title in a blanket finish.

In his customary manner McGrath kicked at his normal 200m to go posting a time of 4:01:11 on the line defeating Elzan Bibic of Serbia 4:01:62 and third placed Pierre Proust of France 4:02:35.

The opening 800m was a very tactical run which left the medals to be decided on the final run, but McGrath is known for his final kick over the last 200m each time he raced this season and he had enough in reserve to clinch a famous victory.

According to Bohermeen AC chairman Stephen Ball - 'This win is a huge win for Kevin McGrath, his family, Bohermeen AC, Ireland and coach Joe Ryan, all the club members congratulate Kevin on his outstanding achievement,' he commented.

The St Patrick's CS, Navan student has become the third Irish athlete to win the 1,500m following in the footsteps of Ruairi Finnegan from Donegal in 2011 in Turkey and Colm McClean from Belfast in 1997 in Portugal.