Ironically, James McIlroy is in the centre of a selection controversy. When the Irish expatriate declared for Great Britain in 1999, he felt it would boost international selections.

While Ireland has recently modified its selection procedures under the leadership of Liam Hennessy leaving political popularity a thing of the past, the Brits don't always put the best on the line.

Fairplay to Ricky Soos who beat McIlroy in the British AAA's 800mChampionship but he only possess the B Standard for the upcoming World Championships in Paris. McIlroy, a former Ballymena & Antrim athlete has run the A Standard on three occasions including a PB run of 1.45.30 at the Weltklasse.

McIlroy's previous best of 1.45.32 still ranks second on the Irish 800m All-Time list.

Some Irish fans are bewildered that Gareth Turnbull is representing Ireland in the 1,500 metres in Paris while James Nolan has run almost a second faster. Neither athlete has run the World Championship A Standard of 3.34.90. If Nolan had achieved the A Standard he'd be headed to Paris despite losing to Turnbull in 1,500m final at the Irish Championships. This selection policy was announced prior to the Woodies Irish Championships.

The Larne man ran 1.46.41 at yesterday's Grand Prix I meeting in Helsinki, Finland. All is not lost for McIlroy as has the Olympic A Standard for Greece.