Limerick's Neville 'so happy' to make European Indoors semi-finals

EXCITING Limerick teenage athlete Ciara Neville has qualified for the semi-finals of the 60m at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade in her international debut at senior level.

Seventeen-year-old Emerald AC athlete Neville finished fourth in her heat on Saturday morning in a time of 7.46 to qualify automatically for Sunday afternoon’s semi-finals.

Afterwards the delighted Castletroy College student said: "I'm so happy. I had to take this opportunity. It might never come around again."

Neville, whose personal best for the 60m indoors is 7.30, goes in the semi-finals at the European Indoor Championships at 3pm Irish time on Sunday.

The exciting Limerick athlete, a past pupil of Monaleen NS, equalled the national senior 60m indoor record to win the national junior title in Athlone earlier this year.

The time was also a national junior record and European indoor qualifying time. Neville was part of the 4x100m team that finished fifth at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Poland last summer.