Kildare's Connolly leaps to national title
Ciaran Connolly of Le Chéile AC, Kildare, on his way to winning the men's high jump
An extravaganza of athletics greeted us recently Athletics Ireland, National Indoor Championships. With tickets sold out a week prior to the event, it was one of the best attended national indoors in many years.
The star of the show from a Kildare perspective was Ciaran Connolly (Le Cheile) who after an absence of four years became the National Indoor High Jump champion. Elsewhere there were athletes from Newbridge, Naas, Celbridge and Le Cheile taking part.
In a world apart but not so many miles away, the Kildare County Road Novice Championships took place amid atrocious weather conditions.
The individual winners were Doireann Mullany, (Celbridge AC) and Chris O’Sullivan (Naas AC). Newbridge won the ladies team title with Naas taking the men’s.
This year’s national senior indoor championships produced record attendance with athlete participation also increased. Since last June, athletics has seen a rise in popularity, as our athletes perform well on the world stage. National figures like Sarah Healy, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sarah Lavin, along with Bori Akinola, Isreal Olatunde and Eric Favors were competing in their respective events, all household names at this stage.
The weekend had several billed headlines, the most prestigious being the Bori Akinola versus Isreal Olatunde clash. Both 400m races slotted into the headline status, with Sharlene Mawdsley expected to take the title. Behind Mawdsley the burning question was who amongst eight athletes could possibly take silver and bronze and be in line for a potential place on the Irish relay team for the European Indoor Championships. In that mix was Le Cheile’s Caoimhe Cronin, who hoped at the very least to make the semi-final. While the Mark English versus Cian McPhillips 800m dual never materialized, there was plenty of other exciting competitions to focus on.
Ciaran Connolly (Le Cheile) most certainly gave the county plenty to focus on. Connolly is no stranger to national indoor or outdoor medals. He certainly is not new to High Jump national titles either. Back in 2021 in a rain drenched Morton Stadium in Santry he won his last High Jump National title. Since then he has been plagued by a foot injury, that prohibited him from doing the event he most loved.
He last competed at the National Indoor championships in 2023 where he finished second and bowed out for the last two years recuperating and rehabilitating his foot. Arguably his best year was back in 2021 when not only did he win the national seniors but he jumped his personal best of 2.11m.
Passing on the opening height of 1.75m and again at 1.80m, he entered last weekends competition at 1.85m. Something that is not uncommon for experienced high jumpers to do. In fact only one athlete chose to jump the opening height of 1.75m. With everyone clearing 1.80m, the pressure was on to have the most impeccable jumping clearances from that point onwards.
The next three heights (1.85, 1.90 and 1.95) he cleared with ease. He was at the latter height the only athlete to make first attempt jump clearances. He held the lead. With just two athletes attempting 2.00m the pressure was not on. Lorcan Murphy dropped the bar on his first attempt, Connolly did the same. Murphy again had a failed jump with his next attempt. However, Connolly was clear. He had cleared 2.00m.
Watching anxiously as Murphy prepared for his final attempt to clear 2.00m, Murphy failed on his final attempt. He had now effectively won his first national title in four years. While Connolly did go on to attempt 2.05, he did come close on one occasion, but the final height settled on 2.00m.
Another athlete to do very well was Runo Ayavoro (Newbridge). Avoyro has performed consistently at senior level over the past few years. His participation at the u23 European Championships back in 2023 cemented his position as a sprint specialist. 2023 was undoubtedly his best year, with a personal best of 6.88 seconds achieved at the Irish Universities Championships. However, his 2025 season to date has in general been more consistent that in previous years.
Competing in the last of the nine heats he fished second to Sean AIigboboh (Tallaght AC) in 6.88, equalling the personal best he set two years previously. All the semi-finals were fast. He was drawn in the same semi-final as the vastly improved Bori Akinola (UCD) and Nenagh Olympic’s Gabriel Kehinde. Akinola cruised home to a comfortable 6.70 with Kehinde close behind in a comfortable 6.78. Ayavoro, stepped up a notch and looked equally comfortable with a rapid 6.84, an improvement on the time he recorded in his heats. He had set a new personal best in the process.
The men’s 60m final was a much-anticipated dual between the Irish record holder Isreal Olatunde and the fastest man in Ireland this year, Bori Akinola. Akinola has the fast time, but Olatunde is known for being a championship performer. For Ayavoro to make the final, especially one of this calibre was something special. His 6.84 seconds only ranked him eleventh on the Irish 2025 ranking list. Coming into the competition, a place in the final was his main aim as he knew he could not match the pace of the two big boys or indeed that of the vastly improved Max O’Rielly (Kinsale). Runo Ayavoro mixed with the big guns and finished 8th in the national 60m final. There were several other Kildare athletes in action in the 60m. Kevin Migge (Naas) has been showing good form lately broke his long time PB running 7.24 in the 60m. David Oghuvbu's finished 3rd in a time 7.06 of in his heat. This was enough to see him line up in the semi-final. Unfortunately for Oghuvbu's, this was where his journey ended as he finished 8th in the semi-final, recording the exact same time as his earlier round. Eoghan McGrath and James O’Sullivan (Celbridge) also took part but had to be content with just the heats.
Naas AC’s Georgia Price may be the club’s newest recruit, but she certainly proved herself worthy of making a national senior championship last weekend. Price was one of a few young athletes from Naas to take part in the championships. Her national senior championship debut with Naas AC kicked off with the triple jump on Saturday. In the absence of Crookstown-Millview’s Sophie Byrne, all hopes of a medal rested with the Naas girl. To claim a podium place she was however going to have to improve upon her personal best of 11.33m. After two jumps, she had moved into fourth place. However, it was on her second jump that she sustained an ankle injury and was forced to retire from the remainder of the competition. Despite not taking any further jumps Price finished in 6th place. The following day despite carrying an injury she came within .03 seconds of her personal best in the 60m. Vivien Fleischer (Celbridge) finished 10th in the triple jump.
Another top eight finisher in this year’s championship was Alison Dempsey (Naas AC). Dempsey has had the privilege of being a multi-eventer in her juvenile days and can as such turn her hand to a few events. Over the past two years, one such event is the shot putt. Her personal best was set last year at 9.77m. Throughout the six rounds of the competition she did improve her performance, reserving the best until last, Dempsey threw 9.35m, her best performance of the day to take eight place. It must be remembered that the throwing events unlike the track events, see athletes mature at a much older age. Thus, the young Naas athlete has many more years to improve and impress in her chosen event.
It was also the triple jump that produced yet another top eight finisher. Eoghan McGrath (Celbridge) is an avid athletics performer, specifically over the Long and Triple Jumps and the short sprints. Competing on Saturday in the triple jump, he too reserved the best until last and produced a leap of 11.84m to finish in 6th place. Eoghan also finished 8th in the long jump, after some challenges in getting his mark correct.
Joseph Richards (St Coca’s) was not afraid of a challenge. The young athlete competed in a highly competitive 1500m, where Olympic semi-finalist Cathal Doyle was the favourite to take the title. In fact he was drawn in the same heat as Doyle himself. Richards did not, however make that final that saw Doyle take the gold. Competing in the second heat was James Smith (Celbridge) who in an uncanny incidence also finished in 12th place in his heats.
Caoimhe Cronin (Le Cheile) was fortunate to be really mixing amongst the greats. Billed as one of the highlights of the weekends running. The ladies 400m produced a convincing victory for Sharlen Mawdsley on what was the third and final round of the 400m series. Having made it through the heats and into the semi-final, the Le Cheile AC athlete was 5th in the semi-final. Cronin’s indoor best is 55.35 from 2023. Championships running is less about times and more about tactics. With three to qualify for the final, her aim was to make the top three. Unfortunately for Cronin, this years 400m was one of the most competitive ever and her action was halted in the semi-final. Another Kildare athlete to take part in the 400m was Sarah Kiernan (Naas AC) who has made somewhat of a resurgence in her performances. Kiernan produced a new personal best to finish 4th behind Caoimhe Cronin in the heat.
The ladies’ sprints saw several other Kildare athletes take part. Beibhinn Hughes (Naas) finished with a new personal best in the 60m. Joining Hughes in the 60m were Georgia Price (Naas), Sarah Millea (Celbridge) and Ria Kelly (Celbridge). Both Millea and Kelly qualified for the semi-final. Drawn in the same semi-final, both girls performed well to take 6th and 7th place. The previous day the Celbridge duo competed in the 200m where qualification for the final was solely based on times and the girls did not make the final this time. Shane Kennedy (Celbrdige) was 3rd in his heat of the 200m.
A wild, windy and wet scene greeted the participants for the County Road Novice last Sunday. Surface water along with spontaneous downpours of wind driven rain, made the conditions challenging if not outright difficult at times. It was as one participant described weather where “you could not put a cat our in it”. Despite the atrocious conditions forty-three men and almost thirty ladies lined out for 5k and 3k races. With surface water covering some of the proposed water, the course itself had to undergo a minor change prior to the race.
The ladies 3k race saw a group of four athletes make a break from the main group. Doireann Mullally (Celbridge), Eadaoin McCourt (Clane), Sarah Gavan (Naas) and Denis Fox (St Cocas’). It was Mullally who proved too strong for this group over the final 400m where the Celbridge AC athlete took gold four seconds adrift of McCourt and a thirty second further gap to Sarah Gayer (Naas). The team title went to Newbridge AC. The Newbridge team featured some excellent team based performances with the team consisting of Ciara Barrett, Eabha Brennan, Elsa Browne and Eve Dowling. The runner-up title were Celbridge AC (Doireann Mullany, Grainne Hickey, Michelle McCabe, Ellen Gannon). 3rd Team were St. Cocas AC. Denise Fox, Anita Curran, Kate Brilly, Marianne Maguire. Chris O’Sullivan (Naas) looked very comfortable as he took control of the men’s 6k race. The lonely road around the Curragh triangle was not helped by the lack of spectators who had taken understandable cover from the unprecedented rain. O’Sullivan finished 15 seconds clear of Eoin Murphy, (Newbridge AC) with the young Adam Veighy, (Naas AC) grabbing the bronze medal just six seconds behind. O’Sullivan was backed up by his teammates Adam Veighy, Aaron Reneghan and Stephen McGibney, who finished 3rd, 5th and 6th respectively. The team took the gold medal. Newbridge finished second. Led by Eoin Murphy in second, the team consisted of (Neil Cash, Jim Eustace and Conor Walsh). Celbridge AC finished in third place with Eoin Dowling, Tom O'Leary, John McCormack and Vinny Quirke making their contributions.
