Victory and strong riding at the weekend continued what is shaping up to be a breakthrough season for U23 rider Sean McKenna. The UCD CC man won the Peter Bidwell Memorial in Donore on Saturday and finished fifth in the Coombes-Conor Memorial the next day (Photo: Paweł Sadowski of www.shutterstills.com)
By Gerard Cromwell
Although he crossed the line alongside teammates Greg Swinand and Anthony Walsh for what he counts as a team victory in the Newbridge Grand Prix last month, UCD’s Sean McKenna got his first official win of the season at the Peter Bidwell Memorial on Saturday evening.
The 20-year old food science student was one of only three riders from the scratch group to make it across to the leaders in the handicap race, and then had the strength to attack them and out-sprint breakaway partner and friend Daragh Long at the finish.
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“On the first lap, nobody seemed too interested at all,” said McKenna.
“I attacked, Danny Bruton came with me and Mark Dowling came across about two kilometres later. With two laps to go, I think we were given a time gap of 1’05” and on a 6km circuit I wasn’t sure we could catch them. But suddenly we could see them on the finishing straight. Before that we hadn’t a clue where they were.”
The trio made the juncture with a lap and a half to go, and after Dowling put in a big attack going through Donore village, McKenna jumped clear with Long in tow.
“I looked back and there was only Danny chasing at the front of the group. And I know from riding A3 that when you turn around and look for help they’re not always there to help.
"Daragh was one of my teammates with Orwell a few years ago and we’re good friends. He’s been sick the last six or seven weeks and I knew he wouldn’t be in the best shape so I told him to hang on.
“If it wasn’t Daragh I probably would have attacked a few more times in the last 5km. I’d say if it came down to a two-up sprint on a flat road and he wasn’t sick he would have got me. I know from training that he’s well able to gallop but he rode dead honest.”
Now very much making a name for himself as a strong road rider, McKenna is also good against the watch (Photo: Paweł Sadowski of www.shutterstills.com)
In the end on Saturday, McKenna surged clear on the uphill finish for a convincing victory, affirming last week’s Ben McKenna Memorial winner and Eoin Morton’s view that the UCD group would soon come into form and produce more winners.
Indeed, McKenna came close to doing the double at the Coombes-Conor Memorial the next day, finishing fifth from a five-man break after first instigating the breakaway and then attacking numerous times on the last lap.
“I took off on my own,” he says of the move that sparked the original escape.
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“Chris Reilly, Conor Murphy, Marc Potts and Garry Jeffers came across to me and we rode for two or three laps.
"A five-man group came across to us and when they caught us Fraser Duncan attacked and took Adam Armstrong, Conor Murphy and Cormac Clarke with him. I missed the split but rode across the gap and once that was formed it stayed like that until the last lap.”
Here, McKenna attacked umpteen times but was closely marked by Armstrong as his Dave Kane Cycles teammate Duncan was putting all of his eggs into the basket marked ‘sprint finish’.
“It was either fifth or first, so I attacked about five times on the last lap,” says McKenna.
“I got away with Armstrong in one good move, but Conor Murphy kept bringing it back. Fraser and Adam were talking to each other a lot on the last lap and I could tell by Fraser that he was saving himself for the sprint. Armstrong was unbelievably strong and together they were unstoppable."
But it might have been a different story but for some bad luck for the UCD outfit earlier on.
"Colm Cassidy broke a wheel just as he got up to the break and if that hadn’t happened we might have had a fighting chance but every time I attacked, Armstrong took me back and even had a few goes himself. Then he led out the sprint and still took second. That was really impressive.”
Under the watchful eye of evergreen Greg Swinand, Anthony Walsh and Colm Cassidy, McKenna and the UCD team in general have come on in leaps and bounds this season and the Dubliner admits he has a newly found confidence in himself and the team this year.
“You do pick up a few things from these lads. They’ve a huge amount of experience and they’re telling us what to do and it’s just a matter of listening to them. They’re absolutely brilliant.
"I see Anto (Walsh) every second day and I’ve trained with Greg all winter. Last weekend is the strongest I’ve ever felt on a bike.
"They’ve brought me on a huge amount, but it’s not only them. We’ve Con Collis, Colm Cassidy, who’s flying and has just been unlucky this year; Ian Richardson, Eoin Morton, Eoin’s dad Peter, who’s been brilliant, my dad Mick, who used to ride in the past and my uncle, Ciaran McKenna.
“We’ve Jason O’Callaghan and Ciaran O’Conluain in the car and they’re giving us heaps of advice. The lads look after you so well, it gives you confidence. You can’t but do well with that kind of support.”
Finish of Peter Bidwell Memorial
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