Being compared with star names from the past is something of an occupational hazard for a professional sportsman.

Footballers are always being labelled 'the next George Best' or the 'new Maradona'.

In golf the search is on for the next Tiger Woods, even while the current one is still in his prime.

And English cricket's prolonged search for the new Ian Botham only came to fruition last year with the emergence of Andrew Flintoff in the Ashes triumph over Australia.

The same applies in athletics of course, and nowhere is the pressure greater to live up to the legends of the past than in middle-distance running.

So spare a thought for Northern Ireland's James McIlroy at this year's Commonwealth Games as he attempts the impossible - matching up to the incredible achievements of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram.

"I have never done an interview without the mention of Coe, Cram and Ovett," admits McIlroy.

"Tom McKean had it, Curtis Robb had it, I had it when I was younger. When you run well, the comparison comes."

McKean won three European Cups and the European title over 800 metres in 1990, but never achieved the success on a global stage which came so readily to Britain's famous trio.

Robb briefly threatened to restore Britain's reputation and was sixth in the 1992 Olympic final, but again never won medals at the highest level.

So far McIlroy's story is a similar tale of frustrated ambition, with fourth place in the European Championships in 1998 and fourth in last year's European Indoors perhaps his greatest achievement to date.

But the 29-year-old from Larne is hoping a change of coach after failing to qualify for the last Olympics will prove a turning point.

"I was at the point where I was disillusioned because you are trying your hardest," McIlroy said. "It is like a card game, where you are dealt sixes and sevens.

"Now I have face cards; maybe I haven't got the ace card yet but it is getting better."

McIlroy moved from the UK endurance centre in Middlesex to Tony Lester's sprint group in Eton, and was rewarded with a semi-final place at last year's World Championships after a superb tactical run in his heat.

"The good thing about Tony Lester is that everything is structured," he said. "His military background comes out and one week does not change from the next.

"He is extremely confident in his own ability and within a couple of months he changed everything with me.

"I used to do quite a lot of endurance and thought fundamentally that if I did not change something, I was not going to improve.

"Now I am training like a sprinter, lots of heavy weights and conditioning. I train with the sprinters and do starts and drills. It is surprising the amount of endurance work I still do, but I have not run over 30 minutes at any stage."

McIlroy could only finish seventh in that semi-final in Helsinki but went on to break his own Northern Ireland 800m record later that month with a time of one minute 44.65 seconds in Rieti.

It will take something similar to win a medal in Melbourne in March, and perhaps then the comparisons with Coe, Ovett and Cram will be in a more flattering context.