Sprinter’s homecoming turns into a marathon!

Olympic sprinter Cillín Greene endured a bit of a marathon getting home from Japan to Claregalway.

On top of the 42-hour journey, without much shut-eye, the 23-year-old from Kiniska faced other obstacles on his way from the Olympic Village to Claregalway village, for his homecoming on Saturday evening.

His plane touched down early to Dublin Airport but Team Ireland’s bags went missing for the guts of two hours; a collision on the airport road out of the capital also delayed the final leg of his journey to County Galway.

When he finally got home, at about 7.10pm, Cillín had a quick shower and headed straight out to the pitch in Claregalway, to meet his new legion of supporters and admirers.

Despite the rain – and the arduous journey – the turnout of well-wishers was worth the wait.

After signing autographs and posing for photographs, Cillín got a Garda escort through the parish, where locals turned out in huge numbers to acknowledge his Olympic efforts in Tokyo.

Read the full report – with loads of photographs – in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie