Kellie Harrington lead tributes as Irish sport stars rally around Ciara Mageean after shock cancer diagnosis
Double boxing champion
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Ciara Mageean revealed that she is fighting cancer on a social media post
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Kellie Harrington was one of the first to wish the Irish runner well after the shock news
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Mageean shared a post while she was undergoing treatment after the diagnosis
Credit: Ciara Mageean instagram
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Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker also shared their support for Mageean
The reigning European 1500m champion and national record holder confirmed the news to fans, revealing that she has already begun undergoing treatment.
The determined ace shared a message of strength, saying she's 'ready to face this with the same fight I've always brought to the track.'
Portaferry native Mageean also expressed her appreciation for the support she's received, saying she was 'incredibly grateful' for the outpouring of love.
Dubliner Harrington was one of the many to comment on the social media post.
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Kellie wrote: 'Just know, we all love you and will be praying for you and keeping positive spirits up for you."
Former sprinter and
While her Olympic track and field team-mates also ushered in their words of support for the Down runner.
Sophie Becker said: 'We are all behind you, sending you so much love and strength."
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Dutch hurdler Femke Bol also sent her wishes to the Ireland star with a touching post.
Sharlene Mawdsley shows off makeup before Zagreb race
She said: "Sending you love and strength."
Earlier in the day Mageean shared the health shock in a statement on social media.
It read: "To everyone who's been part of my journey so far, I have some difficult news to share: I've been diagnosed with cancer.
"It's been a lot to take in, but I've already started treatment and I'm incredibly grateful to be surrounded by the love and support of my family and close friends.
"Right now, my focus is on healing and taking things one day at a time. I kindly ask that you respect my privacy and that of my loved ones as we move through this together. Your understanding means more than I can say.
"Thank you for the love and strength. I'm ready to face this with the same fight I've always brought to the track."
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Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
What time and TV channel is Georgia vs Ireland on today?
What does an Ireland team look like when sixteen players are away with the Lions and a further two front-line stars, Caelan Doris and Robbie Henshaw, are injured?Well like this one lining up to play the first of two summer test matches, against Georgia and Portugal. Actually, the good news is that players such as Jamie Osborne, Sam Prendergast, Craig Casey and Ryan Baird are in situ while recently capped Jimmy O'Brien, Thomas Clarkson, Cormac Izuchukwu and Gus McCarthy are in the are two debutants in the line-up, Leinster's powerhouse winger Tommy O'Brien who could do no wrong post-Christmas and Connacht's beanpole second-row Darragh Murray (pronounced Muh-ray if you must know...)Munster cause-celebre Gavin Coombes gets a chance to make his case with a rare have mustered a selection show-casing nine players who play in France, six from the Top 14 and three from PROD2 (see team sheet at bottom).The other six are with Black Lions, the side selected from their domestic league and coached by national coach Richard Cockerill that represents Georgia on an invite in the EPCR European Challenge Cup. They've beaten Scarlets 23-7 in Llanelli in 2023 and Vannes 22-19 in Tbilisi mightn't get any easier with those coming from the bench either as it has a similar Top14/PROD2/Black Lion make up. Tedo Abzhandadze, incidentally, went to Terenure is what you need to know about the match:Where and when is it?The match takes place at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi on Saturday, July time is kick-off?The action gets under way at 6pm Irish are the match officials?Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)Assistant referees: Adam Leal (England) & Ben Whitehouse (Wales)TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)QUOTES CORNERPaul O'Connell, Interim Ireland coach said: "They have a mixture of players playing in France who bring a real, I suppose, flair to what they do and the Black Lion players have impressed a lot of the coaches as well. The likes of Mikeil Babunasvili and Luke Ivanasvilli from a forward point of view, these kinds of guys are really tough, well organised, smart rugby players."They had a good Autumn, nearly beating Italy, they had a good summer, they put 29 points on Australia down there although they didn't beat them. They beat a tier one nation in Japan. They've been steadily beating tier one nations in the last number of years. So it's a brilliant test match for our players."Georgia Coach Richard Cockerill on the burning agenda in Georgia rugby: "If you are finishing bottom of the Six Nations why do you just get free rein to turn up next year and play?"We want the opportunity to prove that we can compete, so surely that's logical we get the opportunity to have a play-off."We feel we are probably a little bit too strong for the second level tournament although the other teams are improving, especially Spain and Romania, but for us to improve we need to play at a tougher level. Italy had that opportunity in the early 2000s."It would be the richest game in World Rugby - Georgia versus Wales at some point in the near future to see who plays in the Six Nations for the next tournament. That's jeopardy, isn't it? That would be a game people would want to watch."We feel we've earned the right, we want the opportunity to prove that potentially we're good enough to compete on a regular basis at that level."Debutant Tommy O'Brien, just turned 27, finally fully fit and finishing the season as one of Leinster's most valued players: "I guess I've known what I can do in training but it's obviously behind closed doors so the general public wouldn't see it."But I had a bit of confidence in what I was doing and the fact you're training in Leinster with such high level players, such international quality players, I took a bit of confidence from that and I felt I just needed to get a chance to get a couple of games under my YOU KNOW: Ireland beat Georgia 14-10 at RWC 2007 - thanks to Denis Leamy getting his hand under the ball preventing a touchdown after Georgia had crossed the Irish line looking to touch down in the 78th minute. DID YOU KNOW: Georgia are ranked no11 in the world, one place above ODDSGeorgia win: 7/1Ireland win: 1/10Draw: 35/1What TV CHANNEL IS IT ON?The match will be shown on Virgin Media - Joe Molloy will lead coverage with Ian Madigan, Andrew Trimble as studio analysts. John Forrest will be commentator with Alan Quinlan as co-commentator. Coverage begins 5.30pmTEAMSGeorgia : 15 Davit Niniashvili (Lyon); 14 Akaki Tabutsadze (Black Lion), 13 Demur Tapladze (Grenoble), 12 Giorgi Kveseladze (Black Lion), 11 Sandro Todua (Black Lion); 10 Luka Matkava (Castres), 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze (Oyonnax);1 Giorgi Akhaladze (ASM Clermont), 2 Vano Karkadze (Montpellier), 3 Irakli Aptsiauri Lyon), 4 Mikheil Babunashvili (Black Lion), 5 Lado Chachanidze (Black Lion), 6 Luka Ivanishvili (Black Lion), 7 Beka Saghinadze (Lyon), 8 Tornike Jalagonia (Provence),Replacements: 16 Irakli Kvatadze (Black Lion), 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili (Perpignan), 18 Beka Gigashvili (Toulon), 19 Giorgi Javakhia (Grenoble), 20 Ilia Spanderashvili (Valence), 21 Mikheil Alania (Black Lion), 22 Tedo Abzhandadze (Aurillac), 23 Tornike Kakhoidze (Black Lion).Ireland: 15 Jimmy O'Brien; 14 Tommy O'Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale; 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Craig Casey; 1 Jack Boyle, 2 Gus McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 4 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Darragh Murray, 6 Ryan Baird, 7 Nick Timony, 8 Gavin CoombesReplacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 Cian Prendergast, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Calvin Nash.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Georgia have plenty on their mind - including Ireland's scalp
Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill accepts his side may "get their asses handed to them" in Tbilisi on Saturday evening — but given where they are and what they are targeting in terms of the next World Cup, it will be some surprise if Paul O'Connell's Ireland aren't put to the pin of their collar at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium (kick-off 6pm Irish time). O'Connell's side features only two debutants — Tommy O'Brien and Darragh Murray — and the Ireland party will be braced for the tougher of their two summer Tests, in Lisbon against Portugal next Saturday. The Georgians are ranked 11th in the world and a targeting a quarter-final in Australia in 2027. Ireland's defence coach Denis Leamy understands they won't be short of motivation hosting Ireland at Test level for the first time. "You'd imagine that Georgia would have loads of reasons to be inspired to play a huge game against us, so we're expecting a really tough, tough game against opponents that are really well put together by their coaches," he said. "There's obviously Richard (Cockerill), but also Conor McPhillips who's worked in the Irish system as well and who's been with Bristol as well. He's a really experienced attack coach. So, you can see in their game that they're well put together. They're physical. They've got a great platform around their scrum, their maul, their lineout. It is a big test. We're out of our comfort zone and it's exactly the sort of test that we're looking forward to." Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill accepts his side may "get their asses handed to them" in Tbilisi on Saturday evening. Picture: Ben Brady/Inpho Leamy, like everyone in the travelling group, can see the Georgians building all the time — and asking the right sort of questions of Tier One opponents. The days of a one-dimensional threat up front are long gone. "I think it's very clear that they're well put together off their launch players, their scrums, their lineouts. They have really good three-phase, four-phase plays and they run them really well. Their big threat is Davit Niniashvili (who has joined Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle). He's obviously an excellent player, but they're very well put together at 10 by Tedo Abzhandadze. He runs the thing very well. They have the ability to play around you. They have the ability to take you on confrontationally, and they're a very, very well coached team. You can see that they're top-level rugby players and they're well used to playing in a big league like France." It's no bad thing, therefore, that Ireland are being piloted by a man whose attention to detail virtually ensures there are no nasty surprises in the pipeline. 'Paulie has already carved out a hugely successful coaching career so to come in and work with him, he's been very good to us. He's given us clear guidelines in terms of what he wants from us as coaches coming in from the provinces and playing the Irish way and implementing that gameplan," said Leamy. 'Paul's a natural leader, he's a brilliant leader. His presence alone is a great starting point. Look, he understand the game inside out, he has great knowledge and he's way of imparting that knowledge with the players is hugely impressive.' Denis Leamy: 'You'd imagine that Georgia would have loads of reasons to be inspired to play a huge game against us, so we're expecting a really tough, tough game.' Picture: Leah Scholes/Inpho It's a phrase Leamy uses too regarding sports psychologist Caroline Currid who, as Examiner Sport revealed last week, is part of O'Connell's wider strategy group. Said Leamy: "She's hugely impressive. She's worked with so many great teams like Dublin and Tipperary, and she won a few All-Irelands with Limerick as well over the last couple of years; so her record speaks for herself. She's got a great take on things. She's really gifted in getting her point across to players and the players are loving having her around. She's a real character." The former Munster stalwart has also noted with interest the different group dynamic these days, compared to his time with Ireland. I think in my generation, there was huge rivalry and I think there is still rivalry but it took us a few weeks for the frostiness to wear off. "The boys just seem to get on so well these days. They're straight in, they're best mates, they're constantly over and back on WhatsApp and all the different platforms. "A lot of the boys I've worked with are either Leinster or at Irish U20s level, so I know the vast majority of them. It's lovely to see them develop as players, how they've grown into men and how they've developed their own perspective on the game, their own opinions. It's excellent to be back in around them. We just find it like, when it's a national set-up, that the unity kind of straight away, that they all mix." GEORGIA: D Niniashvili, A Tabutsadze, D Tapladze, G Kveseladze, S Todua, L Matkava, V Lobzhanidze; (8-1) T Jalagonia, B Saghinadze, L Ivanishvili, L Chachanidze, M Babunashvili, I Aptsiauri, V Karkadze, G Akhaladze. Replacements: I Kvatadze, G Tetrashvili, B Gigashvili, G Javakhia, I Spanderashvili, M Alania, T Abzhandadze, T Kakhoidze. IRELAND: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, J Osborne, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; S Prendergast, C Casey (capt); J Boyle, G McCarthy, T Clarkson; C Izuchukwu, D Murray; R Baird, N Timoney, G Coombes. Replacements: T Stewart, M Milne, J Aungier, T Ahern, C Prendergast, B Murphy, J Crowley, C Nash. Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Young Cork angler to represent Ireland in world-class fishing competition in United States
Cian Hayes, a Dubliner who has fished with the Kanturk club for five years, will compete at the 22nd FIPS-Mouche World Youth Fly Fishing Championship next week. The competition will take place in Idaho Falls from July 12 -19. The championship venue, located near the famous Yellowstone Park, is known for its beauty and excellent fishing. Ireland is one of several countries set to compete at the event. Cian told The Corkman he is excited to compete at the championships, which will mark the second time he has represented his country. He said that preparing for a competition on the other side of the Atlantic is difficult as US rivers are totally different. 'It is not easy to prepare for the States because in the summer their rivers are in flood, which is the total opposite of Ireland,' Cian explained. 'There could be rivers that a flowing down miles per hour because it is fed by a glacier, and in the summer the ice melts and the flows through the river making the water level high, while rivers tend to be lower in Ireland,' he said. Thankfully, the Irish team will have four days of practice to acclimatise to the rivers. Cian earned his spot in the six-man team by qualifying through the Munster youth fly fishing competition for Kanturk. He then finished in the top three places in the river category of the All-Ireland competition. Team Ireland is made up of Cian, Henry Suiter from Magherafelt, Adam Adcock from Tipperary, Zack Barnett from Donegal as well as classmates Jacob Griffin and Lewis Harte Porter. Kanturk & District Trout Anglers are massive supporters of Cian, and they held a fundraiser in Killarney last month in support of the youngster's trip across the Atlantic. Cian received a cheque with the proceeds of the fundraiser during a presentation. 'I would like to thank the Kanturk & District Trout Anglers, Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland (TAFI), and TAFI Munster as well,' he said. Youth Officer at Kanturk & District Trout Anglers, Declan O'Sullivan, told The Corkman that the club is very proud of Cian. 'On behalf of the club I would like to wish Cian the best of luck in America, and we are so proud of what he's achieved so far,' Mr O'Sullivan said.
