McDonagh eager for chance to defend all his titles

AFTER a hugely successful year in 2019, in which he was crowned World Junior (U23) champion in his weight category, Ballinasloe powerlifter Tristan McDonagh was looking forward to returning to centre stage to defend his national, European and World titles in 2020.

Covid-19 has put paid to that – at least for now – but the 23-year-old, who only took up the sport in 2016 and is still a Junior competitor until January of next year, is taking it all in his stride. “I don’t know what is happening but, sure, that is the way the world has gone. Nobody knows what is going on.”

From the moment McDonagh enters the conversation, he proves an engaging and, often, witty interviewee. He has no shortage of anecdotes and he’s not afraid to tell them, even if they are at his own expense.

One he tells is of an incident in 2018 when he couldn’t compete for five months. “The brother dropped a weight on my hand. So, that kept me out for a while. We were in the gym when it happened and he was worse than I was after it.

“You should have seen him – and I wouldn’t mind my hand was like I don’t know what! So, that kept me out for four or five months. Most of the fingers moved great again, anyway, bar my pinkie!” he laughs.

While McDonagh has a great sense of humour, when it comes to powerlifting, he is by no means a joker. His showings in 2019 underlined that as he swept all opposition aside at the National, European and World Championships.

At the Nationals, McDonagh won the IPO (Irish Powerlifting Organisation) Junior 75kg weight class – a title he also had won in 2017. When it comes to the squat, bench-press and deadlift, he has no equal at his age grade or weight category in this country and the 11 Irish records he holds across the 67kg and 75kg weight classes supports that.

The same could be said at European and World standard. When he competed in the 75kg weight class at the WPC Junior European Championships in June last year – as the Irish representative – he secured first place to win the continental crown.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app

The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.