Devins races for Connacht
MATTHEW Devins lined up last weekend for Connacht in the Rás na nÓg Youth Races after being selected to represent the province on recent performances.
Matthew along with Keith Mulroy, Darren Foy and Eoghan Jennings were a strong looking team on paper and on recent results.
Stage 1 was a short criterium of 10 laps on a 1.8km hilly circuit. From the start Matthew was in the thick of the action firing off the front of the bunch. Every time he was brought back Keith or Darren would attack. Nothing got away until 2 laps to go with Keith finally breaking away after countering an attack from Matthew.
Keith took the win for Connaght after very aggressive racing from the Connaght Duo. Matthew finished 7th after suffering a stitch in the final lap.
Stage 2 was 5 laps of 7.8 km technical and very hilly circuit. With Keith now in the yellow jersey as leader on the road it was up to the Connacht team to defend his lead. Luckily Keith had a very strong team to help him.
There were numerous attacks from various riders but with Matthew and Darren policing the bunch and riding well nothing was staying away for long.
As the laps counted down the bunch began to break up as the fatigue set in. Connacht was also losing riders with Eoghan dropping back then Darren. Which left only Matthew to help Keith defend the jersey. Entering the last lap there was only 15 riders left such was the pressure put on by Matthew.
With 5km to go the Irish Champion Tom Moriarty sprung into life taking advantage of the work done by Matthew. He attacked hard putting everyone under pressure including Keith. Matthew torn between going for the win and helping his team mate did the honourable thing staying with Keith and helping him defend the jersey. With 1 km to go Keith could no longer hold Matthew’s wheel and told Matthew to go ahead and try and salvage something from the Stage. Matthew did go ahead but could only make it back into the lead group with one rider Darren Rafferty from Island Wheelers holding on for the stage win with Tom Moriarty 2nd and Cathal Gallagher 3rd Matthew could only manage 8th at the finish.
Stage 3 and the final Stage on Sunday was another 5 lap race of 7.8km circuit total 38km. From the start Connacht riders were to the fore, with a plan to go for the stage win. For the first few laps there was a lot of attacking with nothing sticking. The Connacht duo attacked continually with Keith being first to get up the road. His gap was yo yoing between 30 and 45 seconds. But Tom Moriarty’s Kanturk team brought him back this time the shoe was on the other foot with his team having to do the work in chasing down anyone who tried to get away.
Tom’s team succeeded in bringing Keith back but as soon as he came back Matthew attacked taking 2 riders with him Johnny Foster from the Bohermeen club and Donal Walsh from AAA Donegal, with just just over 1 and half laps to go.
There seemed to be a stall in what was left of the main bunch which helped Matthew gain time very quickly.
The 2 riders Matthew was with seemed to be in trouble with Donal first to loose contact. Such was the pressure put on by Matthew. Within 2km Matthew had also put Johnny out the back and gained 35 seconds on the bunch. This continued all the way to the line with Matthew gaining over 3 minutes on a very tired peloton. Johnny Foster held on for 2nd at 40 seconds and Donal holding on to 3rd a further minute back.
Tom Moriarty lead home the main bunch for 4th. place 3 minutes later after Matthew had crossed the finish line.
This left Matthew in 2nd overall with the race being based on points, which seems a bit unfair as Matthew had gained so much time. Keith dropped to 5th overall. Darren crashed with 2km to go to the finish which cost the Connacht team the team title.
But overall it was a very impressive display by the team with more races to come.