2000 when Ireland’s first Golden Boy of athletics, Ronnie Delaney came to open the An Riocht tartan track on which an estimated £500,000 had been spent at the time. It was also a glorious occasion on Saturday, December 1st.1956 when at just 21 years of age the same Ronnie Delaney won Ireland’s most celebrated gold medal in the 1,500 metres final against a world class field. Everywhere – that time meant on the pages of the four national newspapers then: The Irish Press; The Irish Times; The Irish Independent; and The Cork Examiner – and on the one and only Irish radio station, Radio Éireann. Winning the Hearts AgainThe Irish Olympic hero, Ronnie Delaney won the hearts of all in Castleisland again on that great day in the summer of 2000. National athletics hero, Ronnie Delaney 1935 – 2026.

Source: The Irish Times March 12, 2026 18:51 UTC