Rhys McClenaghan revealed a recent shoulder injury had hampered his chances of completing a golden triple of major titles this year after crashing out of the World Gymnastics Championships in Doha.
The 19-year-old toppled from the pommel midway through qualifying on the apparatus, scoring a lowly 11.066 which is nowhere near enough to earn him a place in the final early next week.
While it proved a disappointing twist after his previous gold medals at both the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships, McClenaghan stressed the importance of continuing to focus on the bigger picture.
McClenaghan said: "I had a shoulder injury one and half weeks ago and as a result I'd done maybe three full routines in training, as opposed to almost 100 routines before the Commonwealths and Europeans.
"That just led to a bit of a negative mindset and to be honest pulling-out did cross my mind, but I think it was important to come here and keep focused on Olympic qualification.
"I've been through a lot of tough things this year so I'm happy to come out with two major titles under my belt. Despite what happened here, I'll walk away from 2018 a very happy guy."
McClenaghan's year is not quite finished as he plans, injury permitting, to head to Cottbus in Germany early next month for the first of the individual World Cups with direct Olympic qualification at stake.
McClenaghan's rival, double Olympic champion Max Whitlock, whom he pipped to gold at both previous big events this year, was due to enter qualifying along with the rest of his Great Britain team-mates later on Friday.
The best Irish performance on the day was a 13.766 by Adam Steele on the Vault. Steele finished 38th in the all-around standings.
Andy Smith scored 12.233 on the floor and was 113th in that event.
Meaghan Smith will compete in the Women’s Artistic qualifications tomorrow from 4pm Irish time.
