Medal haul after Mike's Italian Job

ROSSCARBERY’S Mike Keohane returned home to West Cork with three medals from the tenth European Transplant & Dialysis Championships in Cagliari.

The Irish team won a staggering 54 medals including 11 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze, with Keohane playing his role.

He won a bronze medal in the 5km race walk and it could have even been better, he explains.

‘I’ve never been fitter than I am now and I was very confident that I’d do very well in the walk. I was leading but then a judge called me for two fouls and there were still three kilometres left so I had no choice but to ease up because three fouls would see me disqualified. I had to let the athletes who won gold and silver pass me out then, which was disappointing,’ Keohane explained.

He wasn’t down for long, however, as he bounced back with a superb bronze in the shot putt where he threw a personal best and he added a silver in the discus to his impressive medal haul.

‘It was a good championship and what I did notice was the standard is going up and up and the competition for medals is higher than it has ever been,’ said Mike.