More National medals for Kildare athletes
Lorelle Houlihan of Crookstown Millview A.C. finished seventh in the U17s girls high jump with a jump of 1.50m during day three of the 123.ie National Championships at Tullamore Harriers Athletics Club in Tullamore, Offaly Photo: Paul Phelan/Sportsfile
The action just never seems to stop in the Athletics World. From domestic competitions to International, Kildare athletes were in action over the past week, sweeping up the rewards and showcasing the excellent athletic ability within the county at the moment.
At the Morton Games, John Fitzsimons (Kildare AC) made a welcome return to athletics finishing eighth in the 800m. The juvenile athletes were in action at Day 3 of the All-Ireland championships on Saturday, taking home five medals. While on Sunday it was back again to Tullamore for the National Relays and All-Ireland B championships.
Ireland played host to two Continental Tour meets during last week: the Cork City Sports and the Morton Games. Usually two well supported athletics events with superb competition, this year proved to be no different. At the Morton Games, there was a welcome return to competition for John Fitzsimons (Kildare AC). After a two year hiatus due to injury, Fitzsimons was on the line for the DCU sponsored men’s 800m final.
A previous Irish national senior 800m champion and a participant in the World Championships in Budapest three years ago, the Kildare AC man has been plagued with injuries since then, forcing him to sit out several seasons. Finishing eighth in a time of 1.49.85, Fitzsimons was delighted to be back racing and completing his first 800m in over two years under 1.50 minutes. We hope to see him at the National Championships at the end of the month.
More silverware was added to the vast amount accumulated from the All-Ireland championships thus far. There was no gold this week but there were two silver and three bronze medals to add. The silver came from Saoirse Ballasty Byrne (Naas AC) and Noah Treacy (Kildare AC) with bronze from Ava Waugh (Eire Og), Finian Sexton (Crookstown-Millview) and Hugh Melaniphy (Naas).
Saoirse Ballasty Byrne (Naas) was in excellent form. Running strongly in the U18 200m heats she finished first and joint fastest from the collective heats with Raheny’s Rachel Afari. The final produced a thrilling dual between Afari and Ballasty Byrne, with the Naas AC athlete having a slight advantage coming down the home straight. However a late push by Afari saw Ballasty Byrne lose out on the gold medal by just over one tenth of a second. In the same final Caoimhe Farrell (St Coca’s) finished seventh in her first All-Ireland track and field.
After what seemed to be an endless series of fourth place finishes from various Kildare athletes, further medal success did come Kildare’s way. Noah Treacy (Kildare AC) finished second in the boys U17 Javelin. Treacy threw a best of 51.54m to take silver behind Sam Kingston (Leevale) with fellow Kildare athlete Hugh Melaniphy (Naas) in third place.
There was bronze too for Finian Sexton (Crookstown-Millview AC) in the boys U17 Triple Jump. Sexton jumped 12.15m in his second round jump to nab the bronze medal. Three Kildare athletes took part in the same triple jump, all producing excellent results. Daire Molloy (Crookstown-Millview) finished fifth with Ruaidhri Archbold (Newbridge) finishing sixth.
Finishing second in her U14 200m heat Ava Waugh (Eire Og) gained automatic qualification for the final. For Waugh she came into the 200m final as the third fastest overall, a position she wanted to keep, to be assured of a podium placing. The final saw Waugh come off the bend after 100m in fourth place. Working hard through the final 100m she moved into the top three, taking bronze on the line, by a narrow margin. Unfortunately this was at the expense of another Kildare athlete, Ella Murphy (Crookstown-Millview). Murphy lost out on a medal by just five hundredths of a second.
Charlie McCabe (Newbridge) led out the boys U14 1500m, feeling somewhat confident. However in what was a rather strategically strange race the pace was pushed on in the early stages of the race by Harry McVeigh (Newcastle AC). McVeigh liven up the pace eventually ceding the gold to Rian Keys-Donovan. Charlie McCabe finished seventh in 4.36 seconds.
Iris McCartan (Clane) left her final surge to the line a little too late in the girls U15 1500m. The 800m All-Ireland medallist, fell just one tenth of a second shy of eclipsing Julie Tatt (Longford) for bronze on the line.
In the 200m it was also fourth place for Kylie Mhondiwa (Le Cheile) as she ran a fantastic race from start to finish. She was just over a tenth of a second from the bronze medal. It was eighth and 11th place for Matthew Ennis (St Coca’s) and Zain Soobaya (Celbridge) in the U15 1500m as Dylan O’Rielly (Shercock) literally ran away from the opposition.
Jayden Murphy (Newbridge) finished seventh in the boys U16 1500m. Blessed Nleya (Crookstown-Millview) came into the final as the fifth fastest athlete and came away from the final with the same ranking. Matthew Burke (St Coca’s) in his first season of All-Ireland competition finished fifth in the 250m hurdles final U16. However, it was Olivia Smith (Newbridge) who lost out on a medal in the girls U17 300m hurdles by the closest margin of any athlete.
Smith won her heat and came to the final as the fastest overall qualifier. Going well in the first 150m of her final Smith looked like she would be standing on that medal winners podium. A slight mistake on the penultimate hurdle, caused her to check her balance and ultimately cost her a medal. She finished fourth with a time of 45.43 seconds.
There was yet another fourth place in the girls U17 javelin as Grace Garvey (Clane) took fourth with a throw of 34.41m, loosing out on a bronze by just 35cm – a close effort in javelin terms.
Jamie Tuthill (Clane) was up against strong opposition in the boys U19 Long Jump. Tuthill finished a creditable sixth, jumping a best of 5.82m from the third round. The competition was won by the U20 champion Ryan Onoh (Cork City AC) with another leap beyond the 7m mark – besting at 7.06m.
Crookstown-Millview had several girls who competed in the jumps. Lorelle Houlihan finished seventh in the high jump with a best of 1.50m. In the Long Jump Grace Norton was sixth and Tuilelaith Mills19th. Danielle Kelly (Celbridge) finishing one place ahead in 18th. It was seventh and tenth in the Triple Jump for Norton and Mills. In the U16 Long Jump Florence Harte was consistent with her jumps. Finishing fifth, she had a best of 5.08m from her final round. This was one place ahead of Anna Dillon (Newbridge) who jumped 5.07m.
The intense summer heat made conditions challenging on both days in Tullamore. With temperatures at 28 degrees, Sunday was particularly hot. Athletes did their best to keep in the shade, venturing out in the high temperatures only for their competition. Four sets of relay medals were won by Kildare teams. It was silver for Clane AC girls U13, Crookstown-Millview girls U14 and boys U17 with bronze for their u17 boys.
It was All-Ireland silver medals for the Clane AC quartet of Hayley Dunne, Annie Gray, O’Jane Bangura and Amelia Owie. Competing in the third of the three heats, the girls finished second to Galway City Harriers in a time of 53.52, trailing by just one second. From the start, it was clear that the race was between Galway City Harriers and Clane AC.
The two teams the first to change the baton at each change zone. This was not the first time that Clane AC found themselves racing against the Galway girls. At the All-Ireland Indoors back in April, it was Galway City Harriers that took gold (in a championship record) with Clane AC in second place. In fact last Sunday, it was the same teams that took first, second and third, and in the same order.
In the boys U17 Crookstown-Millview ran a superb race to take silver. The team of Finian Sexton, Daire Molloy, Matthew Osadolor and Blessed Nleya finished second in 44.64, four tenths of second behind Clongriffin. Right up to the final baton change when Matthew Osadolor passed the baton to Blessed Nleya, the two teams were tightly matched.
With Nleya closing slightly over the final 100m, gold was only ceded by a small margin. This race was a marked improvement for the Crookstown-Millview quartet over their performance at the National Indoors back in April. On that occasion it was Clongriffin who also took the title. Kilkenny City Harriers and Dundrum South Dublin filling the other two podium places with Crookstown-Millview in fourth place. There was no mistaking the determined approach the boys took as they raced last Sunday.
Mid-way through the race the boys had passed Ratoath and had moved from fourth into third. Closing in on Dundrum South Dublin, they passed the Dublin team with 150m to go. Racing down the home straight, Blessed Nleya ran his heart out, crossing the line in second place.
The boys U16 Crookstown-Millview team finished third overall, taking bronze medals. The team of Oisin McGrath, Charlie Murphy, Dominic Binns and Blessed Nleya were fourth at the final baton change. Storming down the home straight Blessed Nleya passed Leevale AC to take bronze. This is a big improvement for this team who finished sixth at the National Indoors.
There was more silverware for Crookstown-Millview. The girls U14 team of Emma Dunne, Georgia Coughlan, Caoimhe Conroy and Ella Murphy also took silver, going one better than the bronze they won at the National Indoors. The quartet were in the final of the four heats against all the fastest ranked teams in the country.
It was never going to be an easy race, but the girls were up for the challenge. In what proved to be one of the closest finishes of the day, it took a photo finish to decide the ultimate winners. Metro St. Bridget’s were awarded the gold by just four hundredths of a second.
The boys U14 team from Crookstown-Millview finished fourth in their heat. The team of Conor Lawler, Michael Tomlinson, Ruarc Fennin and Dylan Burke finished tenth overall. The girls U18 team of Annalise Moore, Eve Wright, Georgia Myerscough and Rachel Beattie were unlucky not to medal. The team ran well and were just four tenths of a second off bronze medals.
Held in conjunction with the relays the All-Ireland B Championships are for those athletes who did not qualify for the A championships. In the past this particular competition has proved to be of excellent developmental value for athletes. Five gold medals were won in a competition that saw a huge boost in numbers competing.
Ailbe Byrne (Newbridge) ran a brave race in the girls U14 800m. Going straight to the front, Byrne built up a sizable lead before being caught over the final 200m. She finished third overall. It was bronze for Fia Leavy (Le Cheile) in the girls U14 Long Jump with a jump of 4.44m. Jane Keaney (Newbridge) finished seventh in the girls U15 800m, within strides of a bronze medal. Keaney has made excellent progress over the past year. It was gold for Fia Handy (Crookstown-Millview) in the girls U15 Long Jump. Handy jumped 4.56m to finish 15cm ahead of Ailbhe Hennessy (Tralee).
It was silver for John Brannigan (Crookstown-Millview) in the boys U15 shot putt. Brannigan threw a best of 10.19m. Lucy Gill (Crookstown-Millview) finished fourth in the girls U16 100m, just a few tenths of a second off bronze. Eibhinn Humphreys (Naas) ran an excellent race in the girls U16 to take silver. Humphreys made a bold move taking out the race.
She held on to the lead for all but the final few meters when she was eclipsed by Kilkenny’s Amelia O’Brien. Lucy Cousins (Suncroft) threw 9.35m in the shot putt, being rewarded with a silver medal. Cousins led up to the final round, when she was surpassed by Eimear Fitzgerald (Ennis) by a meagre 6cm. The U16 Kildare girls proved to be very strong.
Already bagging two silver medals, Makayla Owie backed up the strong Kildare presence on the podium with a fantastic gold medal in the long jump. Jumping 4.58m she was 10cm clear of Ava Dunne (Tallaght) in second. Lucy Cousins (Suncroft) took another medal finishing third.
Not to be outdone by the girls, Charlie O’Neill (Crookstown-Millview) jumped 5.57m in the boys U16 long jump, to take gold. Making this a double gold for Kildare in the U16 long jump. Eoin Kelly (Le Cheile) added another gold to the collection with a clearance of 1.58m in the U16 high jump.
The younger age groups were also collecting silverware. Oran Tuite (Suncroft) took bronze in the U12 Long Jump. Then came a fantastic gold from Eirinn McElroy (Newbridge). McElroy seemed to carry on jumping when all the other competitors had finished their competition. Finally settling on a height of 1.33m, his gold medal was secure.
