James Scully Closes Out Paralympic Swimming European Championships For Irish With Season's Best 50m Backstroke

There was just one Irish swimmer in action on the final evening of the Paralympic European Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

James Scully put in an impressive performance in the final of the S5 50m Backstroke in a season's best time of 46.50 seconds to finish in seventh place overall.Great Britain's Andrew Mullen picked up his fourth gold medal of the championships to win the event.

Teenager Ailbhe Kelly was first reserve for the final of the S8 50m Freestyle but did not get to start as there were no withdrawals from the event. Reflecting on a busy week National Paralympic Swim Coach Jim Laverty can be pleased with his team's performance at the championships which included two bronze medals, six lifetime best and six season's best swims.

Laverty said"I think the week went well. We had a small team but I was really pleased how they stepped up. We started off with a high on day one with three personal bests and a medal. Three of the five swimmers all swam lifetime bests this week and I think that's very encouraging going into Worlds in 2015."

Paralympics Ireland Performance Manager Dave Malone, who is also at the event commented; "It was a very high standard European Championships with many of the worlds' leading swimmers competing, and overall a good performance from our five strong team. Their performance serves as a really solid platform to build on over the coming two years leading into Rio."
James Scully, who swims with the National Aquatic Centre club was the standout performer with two Bronze medals in the S5 100m and 200m Freestyle events, one lifetime best and two season's best times.

Fellow club mate Ellen Keane, whose only completed her Leaving Cert a few weeks ago performed really strongly and had three fourth place finishes in the 100m Freestyle S9, 100m Breaststroke SB9 and agonisingly close to bronze in the S9 100m Butterfly final by just .18 of a second today. She also recorded two lifetime best swims, and three season's best times.

Fifteen year old Ailbhe Kelly on her senior international debut swam an impressive three lifetime bests in the S8 100m Backstroke twice, and the 400m Freestyle finishing fifth overall in each.
Having made it throught the heat in comfortable fashion Laurence McGivern, who swims with the Invictus club in Belfast, was disappointed to miss out on making the podium in his sole event at the Championships; the S9 100m Backstroke, but in a closely contested final with a blanket finish it was a brave performance from the Irish swimmer.

Jonathan McGrath who is part of the Limerick High Performance Swim squad was sixth and seventh overall in the S8 400m Freestyle and 100m backstroke respectively, outside his best times.