And so it began. Paddy Barnes led out Team Ireland at the spectacular opening ceremony...
Sanita Puspure made it out of her single sculls heat, but she would suffer the agony of fourth in the quarter-finals.Kieran Behan was head over heels as he finished 38th in the Artistic Gymnastics, but he failed to make the final.Heartbroken Fiona Doyle could not hide her dismay after missing out on the 100m breast stroke semi-finals.Paddy Barnes fell at the first hurdle after a surprise split-decision defeat to Spain's Samuel Carmona Heredia.Padraig McCarthy's fall aboard Simon Porloe hit Ireland's hopes in the eventing.The rowing events suffered delays and cancellations due to the weather - though there would be plenty of joy on the water for the Irish...The boxers' woes continued when Joe Ward lost to Ecuador's Carles Andres Mina.Padraig Harrington and Séamus Power led the charge on the golf course. They would finish 21st and 15th respectively.Sinead Lynch and Claire Lambe made the lightweight double sculls final - but there would be no dream medal as they took sixthJudy Reynolds and her horse Vancouver K went all the way to the Equestrian individual dressage, where they finished 18th.Mark English’s Games came to an end when he finished fifth in a highly competitive men’s 800m semi-final.Scott Evans turned plenty of heads in his badminton march, going down to Denmark's world No 4 Viktor Axelsen in the last 16Gary and Paul O'Donovan pulled like dogs to deliver Ireland's first medal of the Games in the lightweight double sculls.More pain in the ring as Steven Donnelly's welterweight campaign came to an end at the hands of world champion Mohammed Rabii.Ciara Mageean’s bid to reach the Olympic 1500m final ended in disappointment after she finished in 11th in her semi-final.Fionnuala McCormack led home the Irish marathoners with a superb 20th. Lizzie Lee was 57th Breege Connolly was 71st.
There was heartbreak for Katie Taylor as she was beaten by Mira Potkonen on a split decision...... and outrage from Michael Conlan after he controversially lost to Russian Vladamir Nikitin.Tori Pena cleared 4.3m in the women’s pole vault, but failed to progress to the final.Ciara Everard failed to qualify from the heats of the women's 800 metres after an eighth-placed finish.Golfer Leona Maguire, with her sister Lisa on her bag, finished a highly creditable 21st. Stephanie Meadow was 31st.There was sweet redemption for Annalise Murphy as she won a Laser Radial silver medal, four years after her agonising fourth-placed finish in London.Thomas Barr set a new Irish record in finishing fourth in 400m hurdles final - a stunning performance in Rio from the Waterford man.Co Meath woman Natalya Coyle finished in seventh in the women’s modern pentathlon, improving on her ninth-place performance from four years ago...... while her comrade Arthur Lanigan O'Keeffe finished eighth in the men's competition.Triathlete Bryan Keane completed a remarkable journey to the Games, finishing 40th six years after a shattered kneecap threatened to end his career.Rob Heffernan delivered yet another excellent performance at a major championships as he crossed the line in sixth place in a gruelling 50km Walk. Brendan Boyce came home in 19th.Aileen Reid claimed 21st in the Women's Triathlon.Chloe Magee's Rio adventure ended after she fell to a second Badminton Group P defeat against German Karin Schnaase.And in the blink of an eye it was all over, with Gary O'Donovan carrying the flag with pride during the closing ceremony.David Oliver Joyce proved no match for the elusive Azeri fighter Albert Selimov in their round-of-16 bout.Oliver Dingley dove into the history books as he finished eighth in the final of the men's 3m springboard. He was first Irish diver in 68 years to compete at a Games.The Green Machine gave it everything in a 3-2 defeat to eventual champions Argentina, but their Rio dream did not extend to the quarter-finals.
