Irish Life Health National Juvenile Even Age & Senior & Junior Cross Country Championships25/11/2019 What constitutes a good day. When your day out is a trip to the All Ireland cross country championships your ambition has to be tempered with a little caution as it is the most competitive competition in any sport in Ireland.160 talented and motivated kids start each race so every race is a battle. Before the start we would have been satisfied with a little progression. Of course when your first athlete out on the day manages to blow the doors off with an outstanding performance with a 3rd place finish in his first All Ireland cross country race one has to adjust the ambition.
So it was with young Kevin Finn's performance in finishing 3rd in the Boys U12 2000m race. Kevin is a son of Kevin and Breda Finn of Garrykennedy and with such an assured and composed performance the future looks bright for this young endurance athlete. Next up were our U14 boys and these boys equalled the endevour of young Finn and almost equalled the result. In the end 7th from Diarmuid Moloney who was out of age and 12th from Ben Walshe was outstanding. They helped Munster finish 2nd in the provincial battle. Also in this race newcomer Thomas Bergin showed huge promise with a top 40 finish and combining with Diarmuid and Ben was part of the 6 man Tipp team which won the county title. Our U16 boys stepped up next and came into this race hoping to better their 3rd place finish from last year. If its progression we were looking for then our 2nd place finish in the club battle has got to be considered a success. Despite this the team were just a little disappointed to lose by just 8 pts. Tom Walshe in 17th and Cian Hodgins in 19th were running out of age and it sets themselves up nicely for their own U15 All Ireland's in 3 weeks in Dunboyne. Seán Hayes had his best ever cross country race in 40th place and Luke Purcell rounded off the team in 60th. Next year we will definitely be aiming for top team spot. Last but not least was our only girl on the day Ailbhe O'Neill running in the combined U18 / 20 race. At just 16yrs old and despite giving away 3 yrs to many of the competitors Ailbhe finished 25th U18 & 39th overall and was the 6th Munster athlete home which helped them win the provincial title from Leinster in 2nd. Ailbhe is primarily a track runner but is now becoming a much more rounded athlete which will really stand to her when the indoor track season starts in the new year. So it was a good day all around and we have one more All Ireland club day out in three weeks with the uneven age groups in Dunboyne Co Meath on the 15th December. I do love cross country days.
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Sunday 17th November Munster Masters & Juvenile Inter-Club Cross Country Championships Venue: Beaufort, Co. Kerry Time: First race at 11:30 (Arrive in time to get numbers and warm-up) Arrive: 10:30 (allow time for traffic) Entries: (Complete) https://ireland.entry4sports.com/entry/v5/competition/showEntries.php?compid=71 Relays U12 Mairead Emily Sarah Lilly Duffy Ruairí Kevin Mikey Dylan U14 Ben Diarmuid Thomas Shane Cleary U16 Tom Seán Cian Luke Jamie Thanks to Sean as always for the write up and to Elaine for the Pictures (see Facebook)
I was always told that the three R's were the most important things in the world if one is to succeed in life. So what's a coach to do when he was always told that he was never any good at any of them, make up a couple of his own that's what so let me introduce you to resource and resilience. For resource I've got the greatest natural resource anywhere in the world, Irish youths and with them they bring a level of resilience which is humbling in its simplicity and empowering for all who witness it. So it was again today from all our athletes including our Munster newbies U11s Emily O'Neill, Lilly Marchand and Sarah Long. Today may not have been their day but they can take great comfort knowing that many of our cross country Gods started out in exactly the same manner and now command a great deal of respect from all in Irish endurance running. Speaking of cross country Gods Cian Hodgins is well on his way to such a mantle winning his third Munster title in a row and leading his team of Tom Walshe 4th, Ben Walshe 9th and Thomas Bergin 24th to their 3rd Munster title also. Jennifer O'Leary running her first Munster Cross country race was sixth in a very classy race and will now go to the all Ireland's in Dunboyne with her Munster teammates hoping to take the All Ireland provincial title. Also U13 our boys were in flying form. Diarmuid Moloney lead the team home in 4th with teammate Kevin Finn who was out of age in only his 3rd race for the club in 5th. Our two track stars Ruairí Walshe in 35th and Dillon Bergin 69th combined with Diarmuid & Kevin to finish just 4pts off the bronze club medal. U17 Ailbhe O'Neill ran an excellent race for 7th and this track star will benefit hugely from the strength gained. Also U17 our boys team of Luke Purcell, Seán Hayes, George O'Leary, Jamie Moloney and Shaun Himli were a very competitive 4th. Three of the team were out of age and Luke in 19th will be especially delighted with his showing and will be a force to be reckoned with going forward. So roll on the uneven All Ireland's in Dunboyne in December. I do love cross country days. Well done to Tom McCutcheon 2nd and James Sage after finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the All Ireland schools indoor combined events representing St Joseph's Borrisoleigh.
Well done also to Ellen O'Dwyer 9th over all representing St. Mary's SS Nenagh. All in the Top 10 in Ireland! Well done to you all. Sunday 10th November Munster Juvenile Uneven Age U20 & Senior XC Venue: Conna, Co. Cork Time: First race at 11:30 (Arrive in time to get numbers and warm-up) Arrive: 10:30 (allow time for traffic) Entries: (Complete) https://ireland.entry4sports.com/entry/v5/competition/showEntries.php?compid=72 We traveled the short journey to Thurles Crokes on Sunday for the county cross country relays with a small contingent of just two U12 teams. What we lacked in quantity we made up for in quality.
Our girls were first up for this very enjoyable 4x500m event. The ground was in descent condition despite heavy rain in the preceding few days. Our quartet of Anna Paxman, Emily O'Neill, Mairéad O'Brien and Sarah Long put up a stirring performance with the lead changing on a number of occasions with the eventual winners Clonmel. The girls were all smiles at the end and can now look forward to the Munster relays. Our boys team of Ruairí Walshe, Dillon Bergin, Kevin Finn and Mikey Ryan knew before the start that a big performance was needed to upset a very strong Newport quartet. Our boys were up for it and gave Newport a fright before just coming up short. On a tougher course it could have been interesting so roll on the Munster relays in a couple of weeks. I do love cross country days. t the conclusion of the juvenile relay programme the Master and U23 athletes got their chance to shine in the rain which by now had started to fall and quickly cleared out the not so committed supporters.
From the start our only two competitors in a big field David Sheahan and Aaron Quigley got stuck in and were two of the driving forces of the lead group of six athletes. After two of the five laps David made a break with John Fitzgibbon of Thurles and Paddy Cummins of Moycarkey. Despite giving away years to his competitors David rolled back the years and he finished a very close second overall and 1st O45. Not far behind Aaron ran a very solid race finishing 7th overall and 1st U23. They now move on to the Munsters in Beaufort, Co Kerry in two weeks the same day as the juvenile relays. Full Results here: http://www.tipperaryathletics.com/results/2019/County%20Tipperary%20U23%20&%20Masters%20XC%20Results%202019.pdf?fbclid=IwAR37iBoAE5yeiwZgeakJdr0WGRkKX61ByvPZOCjU-F9nayKp0Ymu32_xZ_Y Well done to James Sage (St.Joseph's Borrisoleigh), Tom McCutcheon (St.Joseph's Borrisoleigh), Grace Brennan (St Marys, Nenagh), Mark Carroll (CBS, Nenagh) & Ellen O'Dwyer (St Mary's Nenagh) competing in today's Munster Schools Combined Events Championships in Nenagh.
The Munster Combined Events competition is made up of 60m Hurdles, Long Jump, 200m track, Shot Putt & 800m Track and is scored by points awarded for finishing position in each discipline. A lot to do in one day! Great results from our club's athletes with James finishing in 3rd with 2648 points (Intermediate Boys), Tom in 2nd with 2497 points (Junior Boys), Grace in 6th with 2139 points (Intermediate Girls), Mark in 5th with 2257 point (Intermediate Boys) & Ellen, with the clubs performance of the day, winning the Girls Junior competition with 2397 points. Well done all! Results can be found here: http://munsterschoolsathletics.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Schools-CE-2019-Results.pdf The coach never learns. He spends his life wishing for an old fashioned cross country course as were once fashioned by teak tough men and women of West Clare or South Kerry. Of course when one does arise as it did today in Limerick Racecourse the one person struggling to get around is of course the afore mentioned coach. The legendary Thurles runner, hurler and coach Patsy Dorney was grinning from ear to ear as we entered the course today so I should have known it was going to be tough. Patsy likes his cross country runners to be able to run straight through a thorny ditch with nothing for protection only an inate can do attitude. Being big, tall or small does not enter the equation just the fight and hearth of the athlete.
With this in mind it was always going to be a good day for our endurance squad. The U16 boys squad go from strength to strength. Led today by schools international Tom Walshe and his U15 teammate Cian Hodgins in 2nd and 3rd positions despite both being a year out of age. They were ably supported by Luke Purcell having his best race ever in 9th and track star Sean Hayes in 23rd position. Age is no barrier to bravery and right from the off today our youngest competitors Donnacha Browne U10 finishing 19th in his first Munster Cross country race and Lilly Duffy and Anna Paxman in the U12 girls showed huge resilience with fine battling performances. Kevin Finn was another stand out today with a 2nd place finish in only his 2nd race for the club. In fact Kevin led the race out from the start and will surely be an endurance star of the future as the longer the distance the better. His U12 teammates Ruairí Walshe, Charlie Cairns and Dillon Bergin also ran well and were unlucky to finish just outside the team medals. Our U14 boys were in good form also and Diarmuid Moloney was our first man home in 11th coming through very strongly late in the race. Ben Walshe was 13th in his first cross country race of the year after a short period out with injury. Both of those boys were on the Tipperary team that won the county title and will look forward to trying to do the same in the nationals on the 24th of November in Abbots Town. Thomas Bergin who is new to the group is showing great promise with a top 40 finish and will be a man to watch in the future. We also had three U18 athletes running and firstly Ailbhe O'Neill who hasn't always enjoyed tough cross country courses but this international track star has added another string to her bow by showing great resilience to record a 7th place finish a year out of age. Her teammate Lucy Mulcahy also had a great race and both girls were on the Tipp team that finished 3rd in the county competition. Ted Collins too showed great determination to finish top thirty over a gruelling 6000m course a little outside his normal 800m track distance. Excellent performance from Aaron Quigley finishing 4th U23 in the Munster Xc and also helped the Tipp Senior men's novice team to the bronze medals. The next outing for most of these athletes is the uneven age group Munsters in Conna, North Cork on November 10th. |
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