“I knew I had to bury myself. I'm thrilled with the way I won"

Conn McDunphy was victorious in the A3 event at the Laragh Classic this afternoon; the Lucan CRC crossing the line solo at the end of a tough 80km event in Co Wicklow promoted by St Tiernan's CC (Picture: Sean Rowe)

By Brian Canty

Conn McDunphy might be the man best known for his premature celebration in the Eddie Tobin Memorial in Bunclody back in July, but the Lucan CRC rider has made a fine fist of erasing that memory in the interim.

Today he took a superb win in the Laragh Classic A3 race by romping clear of a big field on a truly wretched day for racing.

He won the Wexford Two-Day last month and took a fine 7^th in the time-trial in the Junior Tour in July. But today ranks up there with anything he’s done this year.

Things weren’t looking too good for the first year DIT student when a break of around eight riders went up the road featuring a number of strong men from Orwell Wheelers, Bray Wheelers and Swords CC.

Eager to not let the race pass him by, McDunphy jumped clear of the bunch on the descent into Laragh on the last of three and a half laps.

He rode as hard as he could up the climb and managed to catch the lead group which started to fragment with 10 kilometres remaining.

McDunphy throws his hands up in the air thinking he’s won in Bunclody back in July only for Sean Moore to mug him on the line; ouch! The Lucan man had no such problems today when he blew everyone away to win solo (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Back on terms with the leaders but not keen to hang around, he took flight again.

Related News

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains

Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain

He went clear on his own and powered solo to the finish, holding off the chasers by around 50 seconds.

Stephen Murphy (iTap) put in a fine performance to take second with Ian Murphy (Bray Wheelers) taking third.

“It’s certainly be up there with my best ever wins,” the winner said.

“Although I think the Wexford Two-day overall win would be the highlight of my season and I was absolutely delighted with my seventh place in the Junior Tour time trial.

“But the way I won today gave me huge satisfaction. I definitely wasn’t going to be celebrating too early this time. I learnt my lesson there!

“I’ve been marked quite a bit in the races recently so when I got the gap on my own I knew I had to bury myself to stay away.”