Grace Meade so happy and proud of her protégé Mona McSharry

It was fitting that the homecoming for Mona McSharry after her Olympic bronze triumph in Paris also honoured her long-time coach, Grace Meade, with the huge attendance giving great applause when the coach joined her protégé on the platform in the Market Yard, Ballyshannon on Wednesday evening.

With her triple All-Ireland medal winning father, Sean Meade, seated in front of the stage, it was a special night for the Meade family.

Meade was the driving force behind Mona McSharry from when she first came to the Ballyshannon Leisure Centre and Marlins Swim Club until she left for  the University of Tennessee in 2020.

That involved many, many sessions, a huge amount of them in the early morning before McSharry went to school in the local Coláiste Cholmcille in Ballyshannon.

Now Meade was there beside McSharry again as she was paraded through Ballyshannon displaying her Olympic bronze medal won in the 100m breaststroke in Paris.

“It’s a huge day for the Marlins (Swim Club), such a small club. Years and years of dedication from the young lady herself and the commitment of all the Marlins coaches over the years.

“The support of the Ballyshannon Leisure Centre, made all this happen. It has been an incredible journey. There were a few ups and downs along the way but we kept going through it all and it just has been incredible for the town, for all the local kids in the area. But it all happened in that little pool  there behind us, the BLC, a little 25 metre pool. If you dream big it can happen,” said Meade, speaking prior to going on stage.

McSharry had also been given a great homecoming three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics when she reached the 100m breaststroke final. But now she was returning home with a medal this time around.

“Yeah, it’s everybody’s dream to get to the Olympics. Three years ago she made it to the Olympic final, which was incredible, but that wasn’t part of the plan. She was going there for experience to see what it was all about. The Paris Olympics was always the plan, to get to the final and then to get on the podium.

“It was great to have that experience in Tokyo, even though there wasn’t a crowd there because of Covid; it was a very different atmosphere.  But the atmosphere in Paris was  electric. You couldn’t but encourage and motivate all the swimmers and all the athletes over there. It was absolutely phenomenal.”

For Meade herself, a fine footballer who won an All-Ireland medal with Donegal, there was great personal pride in being the coach of an Olympic medal winner.

“Ah yeah, I do. There was a lot of work that went into it, without a doubt, when we were in Marlins, a lot of early mornings and it was just me and Mona there for a long time.

“There were plenty of others involved on the way,” said Mona, mentioning her strength and conditioning coach Sean Flannery and psychologist Caroline Currid for their input.

“There was plenty in her backroom team but a lot of the time in the pool it was just Mona and I, yeah and it’s such an honour.”

The coach was also very pleased with the outpouring of support which had been shown for Mona McSharry in the Ballyshannon area.

“It’s fantastic to see the community come out this evening and the support she has been receiving over the years. Win or lose, the support has always been there. That’s just very, very special.”

It was the same, if not better, in Paris during the games with the support from the north west for McSharry amazing and Meade really enjoyed the experience.

“She had all her best mates over there. Her boyfriend came over from America. We were all over there. It was like just one big family, the McSharrys and the extended McSharry family. We had great craic over there. It was amazing,” said Meade.