On his way to the elite gold medal at the National Criterium Championships on Friday night, Dillon Corkery of Gerard Cycles-DHL (All photos by Toby Watson unless otherwise stated)
Dillon Corkery on becoming Irish crit champion
Dillon Corkery said Damien Shaw put him under so much pressure at the National Criterium Championships he thought he might be dropped late in the contest.
Corkery, who went on to win the title aged just 19 years, said he was overwhelmed after the finish.
He had a large group of supporters at the event in Mullingar on Friday; his parents on hand to witness their son crowned champion.
The young Gerard Cycles-DHL rider broke clear with Shaw (Holdsworth Pro Cycling) with just three laps completed.
Many of the riders in the field were lapped within 10 to 15 minutes of racing, such was the pace. And Corkery said Shaw was flying.
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However, the local man and former national road race champion needed to drop Corkery; who has a better sprint.
And when Corkery withstood Shaw’s work rate and, later, his attacks; the Banteer teenager arrived at the finish line for a two-up sprint.
He prevailed in that gallop, taking his third win of the season and his first national elite title. All of this despite the fact he is in his first year out of the juniors.
“Ah jeze yeah, I didn’t believe it like,” he replied when asked how he felt coming over the finish line.
“I turned the corner after the finish and I broke down in tears because I’ve worked so hard; working with Tim Barry.
“And I just really needed something to give me a bit of a boost. I was sick there a few months back and it took me a bit of time to come around.
“I’ve started coming into good form again after the Rás. To win this is huge for me. The last time I won a gold; I think it was U11 or U12.
"I won the crit champs and the road and the TT all in the one year. I placed (at championships) then afterwards, but I never got gold again.”
With mother Margaret on Friday evening; Corkery was overwhelmed and his family delighted.
He said Shaw, leading, put him under serious pressure, especially towards the end of the race.
He may have been too tall to fit on the podium, but he still owned the top step; from Shaw and Moore.
And having put his youth and junior racing days behind him, he is coping admirably with elite racing. Not only has he won races, he has also ridden very well in some of the hardest events in the country.
He collected several top 10 placings on stages at Kerry Group Rás Mumhan and Victus Tour of Ulster.
And going into Friday night’s contest he was counting himself in, though also aware he was up against real quality.
“I really, really, really wanted this,” he said of the title win. “I knew I was up against stiff competition. So I was a bit doubtful now to be honest with you.
“Even the neutral lap was crazy – 45 to 50 kilometres an hour. It was lined out on the neutral lap.
“In the first three laps there was a few quick attacks; Conn McDunphy went and then Ben Walsh went.
“I went to attack up the left into the last corner to the finish at the end of the third lap. And Shaw came up the right.
“And the two of us ended up falling in together and then forcing the move to stay away.
“And that was it; it stayed from there, just three laps in the race was gone. It was just myself and Shaw for the whole way.
“The gap bounced around at 10 or 12 seconds for most of the race. Then Darnell Moore jumped after us and he got it down to seven seconds or so.
“But then it shot back out to 27 seconds or something; that’s what we were hearing. I didn’t want Darnell coming across, he is just so strong.
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"We were lucky he didn’t get across because I would have been in trouble. A late attack from him would have been dangerous.”
With very proud parents Margaret and Nicholas; a big moment for the Corkerys.
Winning atop Glengesh as a junior (Photo: David McVeigh – The Belgian Project)
Beating Conor Hennebry to win Rás Luimní back in March; his second win in two days in his first weeks as an elite. Corkery has now put behind him the illness he suffered since those wins (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Asked how he coped with Shaw as a breakaway companion, to his credit Corkery was brutally honest.
“I gave him as much as I could. But you and I both know; Shaw is a different animal,” he said of Shaw’s legendary power.
“I was trying to come through at times and it was often hard to come around him. He did more work than me; I would be honest about that.
“He attacked me a couple of times coming in the road. And I was saying to myself ‘I don’t know how the legs feel here’.
“I thought I was goosed; thinking ‘if he jumps me now again on this last lap I’m in trouble’. I thought he was saving a little bit.
“I knew that if I came to the line with him, I’d have a better chance than if I jumped him with a lap to go, you know?
“I was thinking ‘just play it safe, hold on til coming out of that last corner’. It was a headwind going into the corner; I didn’t want to lead it out.
“We only sprinted until about 150 metres to go, he kicked first and we both went for it. And I just got that kick on him going into the line.”
And once over that line the tears flowed, with his team mates, friends and family all bailing into the celebratory mill.
It was a great moment; one made sweeter for the overcoming of recent obstacles.
Corkery enjoyed a good Rás Tailteann; 26th overall with just seven Irish riders head of him in the final standings.
But he said he had wanted more from it. On stage 4 into Glengariff, Corkery was very close to making the front group; of just 26 riders.
In the end he rolled over the line in the second group on the road; one of 18 riders 1:58 down on the leaders.
He had crashed on Healy Pass when climbing well. And though he got back into the front group, the effort of doing so cost him dearly.
He would just about slip out the back at the top of the climb. And he wouldn’t see the group again.
“I expected a little bit more out of it,” he said of the Rás, adding there were only between 30 and 40 riders left in the group when he crashed on the Healy Pass stage.
“I’d burnt a lot of matches getting back on. We were about a kilometre from the top. And I could see the mountains jersey and the yellow jersey attacking.
“I was clinging on for dear life and ended up in the second group; that cost me a lot. I had been hoping for maybe a top 15 overall in the race, so that day cost me nearly two minutes.”
Having ridden in Navan yesterday he plans to go to Belgium for a week before the National Road Race Championships in Sligo on Sunday week.
“I just want to get in three or four races; just get that extra speed in the legs that I don’t have yet. So hopefully I will come home for the nationals with a bit of extra form.”
Asked whether he plans to base himself abroad later this year or next year, he said more wins were needed at home first.
“I want to go away, but at the same time I have to win more races this year here," he explained.
“In my opinion, if I am not winning races here, there is not much point in me heading abroad and getting hammered for a year or two.
“Once I get used to the Irish scene and I am good at it, I would head away then.”
Having been offered college scholarships last year, he deferred as he wanted to give cycling his full attention.
While now working, he says because he is involved in a family business he can plan his training and work falls in behind it.
“I turned college down at the last minute; I really wanted to have a crack off the bike.”
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