Two of the biggest guns in the field set to battle for the junior road title at the national championships in Cork this Sunday; but there are others who can match and beat Michael O'Loughlin and Eddie Dunbar. It promises to be a fantastic showdown (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
By Brian Canty
This Sunday’s National Junior Road Race Championships is one of the most open and eagerly-anticipated events in the category for years, with upwards of a dozen riders capable of taking home the gold medal.
Last year, it was first-year junior Fintan Ryan of the Standard Life-Nicolas Roche Performance Team who was first home when he out-sprinted his breakaway companions in Omagh for what was the biggest win of his career.
He has taken a number of strong victories this season and will be back to defend his title in Blarney, Co Cork, this weekend.
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Last year the silver and bronze medals went to Stephen Shanahan (Limerick CC) and Dylan O’Brien (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC). They have both made huge strides over the last 12 months and will definitely be there or thereabouts again this time around.
With selection for next month’s UCI World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, set to be hugely competitive, those with designs on making the junior selection will be looking to put in a strong performance in the title decider on Sunday.
Daire Feeley is one rider who has really stuck his head above the parapet this year. The Donamon Dynamos man has a great nose for a breakaway and a fast sprint; two assets that have often made a national champion.
Daire Feeley has become a really prolific winner this year; can he land the big one in Cork on Sunday? (Photo: Jimmy McElroy)
The Roscommon man took a brilliant win in the Donegal Three-Day over the June weekend and subsequently performed very well in the Nations Cup events abroad prior to being selected on the Irish team for the European Championships in Switzerland in early July.
He has won a host of races since the season began while also being a key player in Eddie Dunbar’s successful retention of the Junior Tour of Ireland crown.
If he has fully recovered from the injuries he suffered in a crash at the JJ Kinahan criterium recently, he should push hard for the title.
Dunbar has been so dominant this year and last that he will be the man to watch and will undoubtedly be marked more closely than anyone else in the field.
However, he is partial to putting in early attacks, which seem like suicide at the time; only to build a lead and hold it all the way to the finish.
Sunday’s 11km circuit is a tough one which will suit him; a number of testing climbs, including one that reaches 11 per cent in places, should split the field to pieces and the O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk man will relish that challenge.
Stephen Shanahan has some good European racing in his legs and is strong enough to medal at, or even win, the national junior road race championships.
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He has been in very good form the last fortnight where he raced seven races in 10 days on the Continent, taking a win, three second places and three thirds.
However, he teamed up well with team mate Dylan O’Brien last year, and it was the latter who went closest to the win.
Dunbar knew he would be so heavily marked in the road race that he prioritised the time trial, which he won.
He then appeared to work for O’Brien for sections of the road race. Under the astute tutorship of coach Dan Curtin, the strong pairing may opt to do the same this year.
Michael O’Loughlin (Standard Life NRPT) is a double stage winner of the Junior Tour and having performed superbly against far more experienced riders in the Suir Valley Three-Day over the August Bank Holiday recently he definitely will not lack the miles or the confidence to attack.
The big question is how team manager Phil Finnegan will play his cards with so many aces.
Mark Downey, Aaron Swan, Matthew Teggart, Craig McAuley - just back from two weeks racing in Belgium - and defending champion Ryan are all also capable of winning and will all feel a win may well book their place on the plane to Spain next month.
Bags of Promise: Downey and Teggart up the road in Newry last weekend; both have the goods to be national champion (Photo: Toby Watson)
Downey is coming into the race on the back of a silver medal in the European Track Championships, making him the only one in the current very strong crop of juniors to medal at a major championships.
Along with team mate Teggart, he attacked early and often at the Newry Three Day last weekend; showing he is willing and able to make an assault on road racing again now that his track goal for the season is out of the way and his medal is in the bag.
Cathal Clarke (Newry Wheelers CC) and Ryan Reilly (Foyle CC) are both very punchy riders, the latter enjoying a good spell of racing in France at the moment. Both should have their say in the how the race unfolds and possibly take home a medal.
Simon Tuomey (Giant Store Cork) is another man well worth mentioning. He was unlucky to finish fifth in the Junior Tour when his all-or-nothing rides in the final days saw him misdirected off the course on one occasion
Like fellow first-year junior O’Loughlin, he rode the Suir Valley and did extremely well. He’s one of the few juniors who have been able to stay with Dunbar on the climbs this year and if he gets into the key selection on Sunday, he could definitely medal.
Wexford's Seamus Sinnott has also done very well this year and could be in with a real chance if a bit of luck went his way; which any rider hoping to win or medal will need.
Sunday’s road race gets underway at 12.30pm with the riders to cover 10 laps of the course for 106 kilometres.
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