Irish Women Claim Silver

Two Irish women have brought a silver lining to the Irish summer, by picking up medals at major European championships.

17-year-old Grainne Murphy took a silver medal in the 1500m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Hungary on Saturday afternoon.

It came just weeks after 100m hurdler Derval O'Rourke claimed Ireland's only medal - another silver - at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.

Murphy's win marks the Leaving Cert student out as a real prospect for the 2012 Olympics in London, and gives a much-needed boost to swimming in Ireland.

The sport has never fully recovered from the controversy surrounding Michele Smith, who won four medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but later was banned from the sport for doping violations.

Swim Ireland has also been rocked in the past two decades by a series of sex abuse scandals involving high-profile coaches.

So Murphy's win has reawakened interest in swimming in Ireland, and she's now targeting the world championships in Dubai at the end of the year.

Not only did she wipe more than 28 seconds off her national record over 1500m at the championships, she was cruelly pipped for a bronze medal by 0.05 secs in the 800m freestyle final.

O'Rourke's silver medal in Barcelona, was a repeat of her dramatic performance in Goteburg four years ago.

O'Rourke has now medalled at four major championships, and has the handy knack of peaking at just the right time for major tournaments - marking her out as one of Ireland's greatest ever athletes.