Sport

Freestyle: Shane Ryan impresses for Ireland in Amsterdam

SIX of Ireland's top swimmers were in Holland last weekend for the annual Amsterdam Swim Cup, which was the first of the Dutch qualifying events for next year's Rio Olympics.

Brendan Hyland, Andrew Meegan, Jordan Sloan, Nicholas Quinn, Dan Sweeney and Shane Ryan were joined by more than 200 high level competitors from 16 countries. Ryan emerged as the most impressive of the Irish with two fourth place finishes in the 50m and 100m Backstroke events in the very respectable times of 25.32 and 55.11. Andrew Meegan was another to achieve a top eight place when he finished in sixth place in the 1500m Freestyle in a time of 15:45.90.

Local boy Jordan Sloan from the Ards club was the only Ulster competitor there and he went in three of the Freestyle events,all against top quality opposition.He was 58th from 95 in the 50m Freestyle in a time of 24.22,56th from 126 in the 100m in 51.99 and 31st from 101 in the 200m in 1:53.00.

Water polo like swimming also closed down for the Christmas Holiday this week with some of the local clubs in a happier frame of mind than others.

Brugha finished the year on a high when they went clear at the top of the National League and remained unbeaten when they beat nearest rivals Half Moon 9-8 in a high quality game at the excellent facility at the Aurora complex in Bangor.Their women's team also finished the season on a positive note when they beat Glenalbyn 4-1 at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin to stay within three points of leaders St.Vincents.

Setanta have made a spirited return to the top flight and continue to pick up points.A 10-9 win over North Dublin was a bit of a surprise and they were close to St. Vincent's for long periods before going down 8-11.They could well take a few more scalps before the season ends.

Clonard haven't had their troubles to seek this year as they still search for their first league win having shipped a couple of heavy defeats in the process.They suffered a big loss when Irish international Kevin Johnston who is currently living in Dublin transferred to Half Moon but they still have a strong squad with the ability to do much better.