Sporty Limerick family perform a mighty battle on popular RTÉ show

A LIMERICK family battled it out on the second episode of Ireland's Fittest Family but after three tough challenges, failed to make it out of the first round of the competition.

The Sheehans from Fedamore lit up our screens on Sunday evening as the competition for a place in the quarterfinals heated up.

Margie (49) and her children Ben (18), Joshua (16) and Danny (14) had to work together to try and make it to the next round of the show.

Ireland’s Fittest Family is a show that challenges families from all over the country to take part in extreme endurance challenges that take place anywhere from steep sand dunes to airports to Irish bogs and a 180-metre ski slope.

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The show features returning coaches, camogie player Anna Geary, former Munster Rugby legend Donncha O'Callaghan, hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald and new coach jockey Nina Carberry.

This year’s series features 16 different families all fighting to be crowned Ireland’s Fittest Family.

The Sheehans took on the Gallagher’s from Cork, the Burns from Waterford, and the Nugent's from Louth in the episode.

The opening event on Sunday's episode featured the return of the popular Fast and Furious challenge which involves the four competing families jumping over hay bales, crawling through cargo nets and rat tunnels in what has been described by the show as a "relentless relay race".

The Sheehans, coached by Donncha O'Callaghan performed a mighty battle but in a photo finish came third overall in the opening challenge with Anna Geary's Gallagher's taking first place. 

The second event featured the return of another popular challenge called Sling-Shot where the families are submerged waist deep in a pond and attached to bungee cords. 

There the families must pick up balls and wade through the water to place them in barrels.

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Each ball in the barrel is worth one point and the Sheehan's scored a total of 13 points.

At the end of the two challenges the Burns were eliminated from the competition and the Sheehan's and Gallagher's were left to fight it out in an eliminator challenge for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Sheehans put in another fierce battle in the eliminator but unfortunately ended up losing the challenge and were eliminated from the competition.

Ireland's Fittest Family returns next Sunday, October 16 at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.