COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Team NI updates from Glasgow and daily schedule across bowls, boxing, gymnastics and swimming
Team NI athletes took to the Commonwealth Games stage in Glasgow for the first official day of competition on Friday – with bowls, boxing, gymnastics and swimming across the agenda.
DAY ONE SCHEDULE
BOWLS: 8.30am – Gary Kelly (men’s singles); 11.20am – Chloe Wilson/Shauna O’Neill (women’s pairs).
SWIMMING: 11.13am – Lottie Cullen, Grace Davison (women’s 200m backstroke heats); 11.26am – Paddy Johnston, Conor Ferguson (men’s 50m backstroke heats); 11.37am – Alana Burns-Atkin (women’s 50m butterfly heats); 11.54am – Adam Bradley (men’s 100m breaststroke); 12.20pm – Barry McClements (men’s S10 100m butterfly heats); 12.23pm – Team NI (women’s 4x100m freestyle heats)
BOXING: 11.45am – Louis Rooney (men’s 55kg round of 32)
GYMNASTICS: 1pm – Rhys McClenaghan, Eamon Montgomery, Ewan McAteer (individual qualification)
Gary Kelly followed up Thursday's men’s singles section B win with victory on Friday over New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy by 2-0 following set success of, respectively, 10-1 and 7.5.
"Obviously really, really proud of that performance and it was fantastic to get the win there and go two for two,” said Kelly. “I felt comfortable, I found the rank early, which is always important...look, Shannon McElroy is an incredible player, he's a fantastic competitor and athlete - a lot of respect for him.
"It made me try and stay focused and concentrate as much as possible and I think that I could put a good performance in against him.”
Kelly was Thursday’s Team NI flag-bearer for the official opening ceremony, alongside Bethany Firth as baton-bearer.
“It was a surreal moment...very, very proud,” he said. “What a feeling on behalf of all the athletes for Team Northern Ireland and to be the flag-bearer for everyone and represent Northern Ireland was a very emotional and very proud moment.”
Team NI swimmers finished the heats with a string of quality results – securing lifetime bests, season bests and final spots.
Lottie Cullen and Grace Davison put Northern Ireland firmly in the mix for tonight's 200m backstroke final.
Cullen, racing in heat one of three, went in ranked on a season's best of 2:12.23 from April's Irish Open and Commonwealth Games Trials. She went stroke-for-stroke with Australia's Hannah Fredericks in a fast opening heat, touching the wall in 2:12.23 to match her lifetime best.
Two heats later, Davison made it two for two from Team NI – entering the meet in a time of 2:12.36, she produced a lifetime-best swim of 2:12.24 to close out the heats session.
The pair finished sixth and seventh fastest overall.
Paddy Johnston produced the swim of the morning in the men's 50m backstroke, smashing his lifetime best.
Seeded on 25.65 from the April trials, Johnston stormed to 25.38 in heat three of five — nearly three-tenths of a second faster than his previous mark.
Conor Ferguson also impressed in the day's final heat, touching in 25.48, just 0.02 seconds off his season's best.
Both Johnston (11th) and Ferguson (12th) advance to tonight's semi-final.
Alana Burns-Atkin narrowly missed her lifetime best in the 50m butterfly heats, swimming out of lane two in heat six of seven.
Entered on 27.16, she clocked 27.67 to finish 16th overall — enough to progress to tonight's semi-final.
Competing in the S10 category – despite being classified S9 – Barry McClements produced an exceptional swim in the morning's S10 100m butterfly heat, clocking a season's best of 1:01.92 — well inside his entry time of 1:02.38.
Northern Ireland's relay quartet of Danielle Hill (56.14), Emily Hughes (55.58), Ellie McCartney (57.01) and Victoria Catterson (55.35) finished third in heat one, enough to secure sixth place overall and a spot in tonight's women’s 4x100m freestyle final.
Rhys McClenaghan, competing in Glasgow having worked his way back from shoulder surgery, enjoyed an assured start on the pommel horse across his qualification session.
His score of 14.500 will secure a spot for the Olympic champion in Monday’s final.
He also described time on the floor as “a nice bonus” following a stumble at the end of an attempted triple somersault landing towards a 12.350 score.
"The floor was a nice bonus," McClenaghan told TNT Sports. "I haven’t been on floor since 2018. The energy is great here in Glasgow.
"It would’ve been nice to come home with two medals, but it won’t be a floor final for me here.
"My pommel horse was far from perfect, and there are people from all over the world who can beat that.
"That was the best score I got all year. It done the job, but we build from here."
Team NI colleague Eamon Montgomery will face an anxious wait for results off the third sub-division run following his 13.00 score.
Ewan McAteer appears in line for the vault final having moved to second in qualifying off 13.650.