Irish Junior Shooting Team wins Gold, Silver medals in GB Junior International Event

The Irish Junior Shooting Team ended off a highly successful tour this week at the 15th Annual Great Britain Junior International Event, with Susan Cunningham (17, Kells, Co. Meath) winning the Gold Medal in the Junior Women's Air Rifle Grand Prix competition and Damien Fagan (20, Navan, Co. Meath) winning the Silver Medal in the Junior Women's Air Rifle Grand Prix competition.

National Target Shooting Association ltd
National Governing Body for Olympic Rifle & Pistol Target Shooting in Ireland

CONTACT DETAILS

Mark Dennehy
Secretary, NTSA
email: secretary@targetshootingireland.org
phone: 085 7747546
fax: 00 866 504 9073
web: http://www.targetshootingireland.org

PHOTOS:

Ladies' Junior Rifle Team. Left to Right, Paula Cunningham, Susan Cunningham, Elizabeth O'Hagan.
http://www.wilkinstowntargetshootingclub.org/photos/Eve...4.JPG

Susan Cunningham being presented with her Gold Medal for Women's Air Rifle by Mark Dennehy, Irish Team Manager.
http://www.wilkinstowntargetshootingclub.org/photos/Eve...7.JPG

Communities united by target shooting - The Irish and Northern Irish teams at the GB Junior International Event, 2007
http://www.wilkinstowntargetshootingclub.org/photos/Eve...8.JPG

Geoff Cooney and Matt Fox, Team and personal coaches to the Irish Junior Shooting Team.
http://www.wilkinstowntargetshootingclub.org/photos/Eve...6.JPG

Team Ireland - the Irish Junior Shooting Team at the 15th Annual GB Junior International Event, 2007. Left to Right, Shane Flynn, Damien Fagan, Paula Cunningham, Susan Cunningham and Elizabeth O'Hagan.
http://www.wilkinstowntargetshootingclub.org/photos/Eve...m.jpg

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

IRISH JUNIOR SHOOTING TEAM WINS GOLD, SILVER MEDALS IN GB JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL EVENT

Bisley Camp, Surrey, UK, August 11 -- The Irish Junior Shooting Team ended off a highly successful tour this week at the 15th Annual Great Britain Junior International Event, with Susan Cunningham (17, Kells, Co. Meath) winning the Gold Medal in the Junior Women's Air Rifle Grand Prix competition and Damien Fagan (20, Navan, Co. Meath) winning the Silver Medal in the Junior Women's Air Rifle Grand Prix competition.

This brings the total medal count for the Irish Junior Shooting Team to 6. Susan Cunningham has, along with her Gold medal, the Silver medal for the Individual Junior Women's Air Rifle match from Wednesday; the Junior Women's Team of Susan Cunningham, Paula Cunningham (16, Kells, Co.Meath) her younger sister and Elizabeth O'Hagan (20, Co.Meath) won the Silver medals in the Team Junior Women's Air Rifle match, also on wednesday; and Damien's Silver Grand Prix medal makes six. This equals the previous record medal count set five years ago by a team from Wilkinstown, Co.Meath.

There were tears of joy and emotional reactions amongst all of the shooters and support staff at the outcome. The icing on the cake was when Team Manager Mark Dennehy (31, Greystones, Co.Wicklow) was asked by the National Smallbore Rifle Association to officiate at the medal presentation ceremony, which meant that he had the honour of putting the Gold medal around Susan's neck.

This event also marked the first time an Irishman has adjudicated at an international event, with Team Manager Mark Dennehy finding himself seconded to the Judges pool in an unexpectedly early exercising of his recently-granted ISSF Class B Judges' Licence.

There were a total of 165 competitors (including the Irish Junior Team) competing in the event from the official GB Junior team as well as teams from England, Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland, Denmark, Germany, the USA and Ireland.

The Irish team returned to cheers from fans and supporters at Dublin Airport last night at 18:45.

The Irish Junior Shooting Team is:
Team Officials:
Mark Dennehy, Team Manager
Geoff Cooney, Team Coach (Wilkinstown, Co.Meath)
Marina Cunningham, Team Childrens Officer (Kells, Co.Meath)

Team Shooters:
Women's Air Rifle:
Susan Cunningham (currently the Irish National Champion in Women's Air Rifle) (Gold Medal, Junior Women's Air Rifle Grand Prix; Silver Medal, Junior Women's Air Rifle Individual; Silver Medal, Junior Women's Air Rifle Team)
Paula Cunningham (Silver Medal, Junior Women's Air Rifle Team)
Elizabeth O'Hagan (Silver Medal, Junior Women's Air Rifle Team)

Men's Air Rifle:
Damien Fagan (currently the Irish National Champion in Men's Air Rifle) (Silver Medal, Junior Men's Air Rifle Grand Prix)
Shane Flynn (Personal Best, Junior Men's Air Rifle) (Co.Meath)

ENDS