{"id":52147,"date":"2026-08-18T07:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/52147\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:30:10","slug":"eamon-montgomery-rhys-has-brought-the-rory-mcilroy-effect-to-irish-gymnastics-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/52147\/","title":{"rendered":"Eamon Montgomery: Rhys has brought the \u2018Rory McIlroy effect\u2019 to Irish gymnastics \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAMON Montgomery believes Rhys McClenaghan<\/a> has done far more than win Olympic<\/a> and world titles – he has knocked down the mental barrier to Irish gymnasts reaching the top.<\/p>\n

The pair are friends, training partners and part of the Irish team preparing for the men\u2019s European Championships that starts tomorrow in Zagreb. <\/p>\n

But Montgomery sees McClenaghan\u2019s trailblazing career as having a Rory McIlroy<\/a> effect on others coming through now, just as it inspired his own journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not even the Olympic gold, although that\u2019s obviously Rhys\u2019 biggest achievement,\u201d said the Belfast<\/a> man.<\/p>\n

\"PFL<\/a>\"Tiernan<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 2018 when he won his Commonwealth medal, and then in 2019 when he got his first world medal, I thought, \u2018He can do it\u2019, and that started the cogs turning in my head and made me believe I could do it too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt unlocks the path. Before that everyone\u2019s thinking, \u2018No way\u2019. But once someone you know does it, it knocks the wall down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"77 August 2026; Eamon Montgomery during the Gymnastics Ireland content gathering day at the Sport Ireland National Gymnastics Training Centre in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald\/Sportsfile (David Fitzgerald \/ SPORTSFILE\/SPORTSFILE) <\/p>\n

Montgomery (23) and McClenaghan (27) train together at their coach Luke Carson\u2019s Origin gym in Newtownbreda and regularly make the journey to the National Gymnastics Training Centre in Blanchardstown to join their Ireland team-mates.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see it in other sports too,\u201d said Montgomery.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody does well, like when Rory McIlroy wins a major, and the other Irish golfers think, \u2018Hang on, I can do that\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only a matter of time. Rhys showed you can do it and then it just takes a while for people to catch on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery already won World Cup medals, including silver on floor in Antalya in March, having announced himself as a senior international with a podium finish at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Paris in 2022.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

He also represented Northern Ireland at his second Commonwealth Games recently, where he was frustrated after his floor score left him outside the final.<\/p>\n

Now his attention turns to Zagreb, where he will compete in the all-around at a European Championships for the first time, taking on all six apparatus rather than concentrating solely on floor.<\/p>\n

Being forced to take almost a year away from the sport in 2024 after an ankle injury was followed by back problems changed his outlook.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking I\u2019d like to do as much gymnastics as possible before I retire instead of just doing floor all the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opened up doors in my head to enjoy pommel, even though I\u2019ve always hated pommel. I enjoy it a bit now, and I enjoy high bar (horizontal bar), too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat time off made me love gymnastics as a whole more instead of just one piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young guns James Hickey and Oisin O\u2019Connell are also part of the Irish team, while Belfast teenager Chester Enriquez has been ruled out through injury. <\/p>\n

\"77 August 2026; Eamon Montgomery during the Gymnastics Ireland content gathering day at the Sport Ireland National Gymnastics Training Centre in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald\/Sportsfile (David Fitzgerald \/ SPORTSFILE\/SPORTSFILE) <\/p>\n

Along with Montgomery and McClenaghan, Daniel Fox and Adam Steele provide the experience alongside the younger members.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe five or six years ago it was only Rhys,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cThen Adam started coming through with his all-around, which was impressive, then I came through with medals.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow James has come through and there are others. Chester\u2019s the youngest and he was with us at the World Cups, where he did very well.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Montgomery first found gymnastics almost by accident. His parents were taking him to the swimming pool in Lisburn when they went through the wrong door at the leisure centre and discovered a new gym.<\/p>\n

He joined the waiting list and eventually got his chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was already doing flips on the trampoline in the back garden,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWhen I started gymnastics, I just loved it, so hopefully it was the right door we went through, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now he hopes the path McClenaghan opened remains wide enough for the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m young in the general population sense, but in gymnastics I\u2019m just coming out of the young phase into the middle,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still have plenty to give, I think. Yeah, it\u2019s still ahead for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited, it\u2019ll be good to be part of a team again and the stuff I\u2019m doing now is the best I\u2019ve done yet. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m going backwards at all. It seems to be getting better year by year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAMON Montgomery believes Rhys McClenaghan has done far more than win Olympic and world titles – he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[20037,11504,20038,399,20039],"class_list":["post-52147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rory-mcilroy","tag-gymnastics","tag-olympics","tag-rhys-mcclenaghan","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-team-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}