Partician College - Best school in Leinster
Inter Boys Patrician College winners.
Postponed twice, the Leinster schools cross-country was held in Navan on the nth hour prior to entries for this weekends All-Ireland schools closing. Moved from the Phoenix Park to Navan due to flooding, conditions in Navan while better than Dublin, were mucky, wet and downright miserable for the athletes. A pattern seen right thoughtout the entire cross-country season.
Navigating mud, hills and more mud, it not seem to bother the Patrician College in Newbridge as they took the best Cross-country boys school in Leinster. A title they clinched from St Kieran’s college in Kilkenny who seem to own the distinction for the last decade.
It all began with a huge performance from 1st Year Aidan Keyes. He was our only competitor in the Minor Race and he mixed it with some very experienced athletes to finish 2nd just one second behind Irish u14 Cross-country champion Kilkenny’s Daniel Greene competing for Borris Vocational School.
Jack Brennan (Newbridge & Patrician College), Jayden Murphy (Newbridge and Patrician College), Matthew Ennis (St Coca’s and Clongowes College), running against athletes a year older, were in the leading pack for the majority of the race. Brennan continuing the battle to the final 100m alongside eventual winner Michael Moran (Blackrock College). It was silver for Brennan, 4th for Murphy and 5th for Ennis. The Patrician College pair of Brennan and Murphy were backed by Callum Gibbs & Cormac Holden to take gold team. Completing the full team line up were; Rian Coleman, Oisin Roche, Franciszek Malicki & Donnacha Archbold. Naas CBS as always produced strong Cross-country teams and finished third on this occasion. They were led home by Rory McCarrick in tenth place.
Ronan Keaney (Patrician College) spearheaded the college’s gold medal winning team. Returning from injury since Christmas, Keaney finished a very creditable 6th place. Supported by Alexander Guther (18th) and Ben Crampton (19th), along with Matthew Grogan (25th) the team clinched first place with 15 points to spare over Colaiste Mhuire. Completing the team was Ciaran Coogan, Cole Christie, Oisin Byrne and Shane Matthews.
Leaving cert student Rhys Johnson (Pipers Hill) finished 4th in the senior boys race. Already committed to a US college for an athletics scholarship, Johnson finished his penultimate cross-country schools race on Irish soil. The talented athlete has represented Ireland on two Schools Cross-country internationals and can leave behind a highly decorated legacy in schools athletics. Harry Cahill, competing for Maynooth Post Primary finished 12th, thus gaining individual qualification alongside Johnson for the nationals this weekend.
Clane’s Chloe O’Neill (Newbridge College) led her team in the minor girls. It was 17th place for O’Neill with her team finishing 7th. Iris McCartan (Clane AC and Newbridge College) was the first Kildare athlete home in the Junior girls. McCartan finished 6th. Behind McCartan it was her schoolmate Jane Keaney who also gained individual qualification to take 13th place. Two places further back, just squeezing in on the 15 strong individual quota was Robyn Browne.
Newbridge College won the overall team in the Inter girls. This was one of the most competitive races of the day. Rachel Keaney (Newbridge College) finished 8th. Her schoolmate Robyn Rainbow finished 16th, just missing out on individual qualification. Keaney and Rainbow were joined on the podium by Mia Lennon, Kate Hargaten and Abby Smith.
There was just one medal for Kildare this year at the national senior indoors amid some very promising performances. Once again Kildare’s star performer was Ciaran Connolly (Le Cheile) who finished third in the senior men’s hurdles.
Better known for his high jump accolades, Connolly was the reigning National Indoor high jump champion, having made a comeback in 2025 as a surprise winner of that event. In 2026, he has made a switch to the hurdles, spending the winter perfecting his technique under the auspices of coach Lisa Dixon. The tall Le Cheile athlete is well suited to the short hurdles (often known as the high hurdles) based on their height of 106cm – the highest of all hurdle races. Best suited to tall athletes like Connolly, the event is challenging often posing a difficult for those attempting the event.
Drawn against the 2024 and 2025 national champion Adam Nolan (Carlow), Connolly was never going to have an easy passage to the podium. Nolan has been unbeatable since 2024 and held the Irish lead going into the competition. Having not raced this year over the event was a challenge for Connolly but one he navigated well. Racing to the left of Nolan he chased hard from the gun, reaching forward with every hurdle. Clocking 8.45 seconds he beat other notable athletes such as Emanuelle Osas of Ratoath, a former medallist at this event. Taking the bronze medal at the line was a superb achievement for the Le Cheile athlete – especially in light of the rather short preparation time in the lead up to the competition. While the high jumper will miss his presence, it looks like he has already fitted in comfortably into the world of hurdling.
It was good to see Kildare athletics officials at the national championships. Carmel Kelly (St Coca’s) , Majella McGrath (Celbridge), Anne Brennan (Newbridge), Olivia Archbold (Newbridge), Brian Dowling (Naas) and Sarah Kearns (Naas) all contributing to the running of the event over the two days.
Several Kildare athletes took their place on the starting line in the men’s 60m. With ten heats and over 80 athletes registered for the event, it was one of the largest fields over the two day competition. Center stage it was the national record holder Bori Akinola who stole the show as he powered through all three rounds to snatch gold in the final – in a convincing manner. Lining up alongside Akinola in heat 1 was Kevin Miggee (Naas). Finishing 4th, the Naas AC athlete clocked 7.21 and ended his 60m journey at that point. Ooran Poole (Le Cheile) finished 7th in heat 6 – also ending his 60m journey. Two athletes who did advance to the next rounds were David Oghuvbu (Naas) and Runo Ayavoro (Newbridge). Oghuvbu finished second in heat 7 clocking 7.00 seconds. In heat 9 Runo Ayavoro crossed the line in first place, clocking 6.97, the only athlete in this heat to dip under the seven second mark. Oghuvbu finished 7th in the semi-final. It was not good news for Ayavoro as mid-way through his semi-final his hamstring gave way, forcing him to hobble across the line.
Sarah Millea (Celbridge) was the only Kildare female to contest the 60m ladies event. Millea was drawn in heat 1 against eventual gold medallist Ciara Neville. Finishing 7th in a time of 7.88 seconds. The previous day she finished second in the heat of the 200m in a time of 25.43 but failed to advance to the final.
Shane Kennedy (Celbridge), finished third in his heat in the men’s 200m. Keely Hogan (Le Cheile) finished 4th in the heats of the 400m. He later joined his Le Cheile team mates for the 4x200m relay. The team of Keely Hogan, Ciaran Connolly, Jules Robelin and Rory Ardiff finished sixth in the final.
In his senior debut John Paul Archbold (Newbridge) made the final eight competitors in the long jump. Competing at this level is tremendous experience for the sixteen year old as he gets to experience the different level of competition that the juvenile ones he is accustomed to. Athletes take their competition much more seriously, at senior level, where every detail matters. Leaping 6.63m on his first jump, this proved to be Archbold’s best effort. He finished a very creditable 7th place overall. At the top of the table Sam Healy (Leevale) beat his clubmate, Reece Ademola, the favourite. Both athletes leaping 7.56m and 7.49m to take gold and silver respectively.
Lydia Fleischer (Celbridge) took part in the triple jump. Fleischer finished 11th overall with a best jump of 9.95m.
Aoibhinn O’Sullivan continues her journey through the pole vault. The Naas AC athlete was one of twenty competitors in the ladies pole vault competition – the highest number ever. Pole vault has fast become an attractive event with a marked increase in participation both at juvenile and senior level. Ireland has a new national champion as Clodagh Walsh (Abbey Striders) cleared 3.30m to take gold. O’Sullivan make a good account of herself, finishing in 6th place with a new personal best of 2.80m.
Locally the Naas town 10 miles and half marathon race took place last weekend with Karl Nolan (Clonliffe) taking first in the 10 miles in 55.41 minutes. The half marathon was won by Eoin Brennan (Tullamore Harriers). Brennan clocked 1 hour 15 minutes and 5 seconds to beat Jonathan McCoy (Belfast). The first lady was Molly Hyland (Crusaders) while Shannan Denehar (Clane AC) was the first female in the 10 mile race. Huge numbers participated in both events. A whopping 671 in the half marathon and 352 in the ten mile race.
