The mainstream media and public interest at the weekend was focused on events in the Aviva Stadium, the RDS and Semple Stadium but ‘minority’ sports were also grabbing  headlines and with good reason.  An Olympic year is their main chance to shine and build a platform for increased interest and commercial support.  This weekend was a good staging post along the way.
Natalya Coyle, a 21 year old athlete from County Meath may not be as well known as her County’s senior footballers but she succeeded in becoming the first Irish Modern Pentathlon competitor at the Olympics since 1980 when she sealed her place at the World Championships in China on Saturday.
Aileen Morrison came second in a World Cup Triathlon event in Madrid and Gavin Noble did enough to secure his Olympic place in the men’s event.
Sycericka McMahon won silver in the 50 metres breaststroke event at the European Swimming Championships.  She will be one of four Irish Swimmers at London 2012.
The Irish team has now passed the number that travelled to Beijing four years ago and all competitors are there purely on merit having achieved A qualifying standards or winning their place through qualifying events.
There is no guarantee of medals at the games but the team will travel with high hopes and shows Irish sport to be capable of playing well on the greatest of stages.