CLUB CALL
UNITED STRIDERS A.C.
The Senior Striders were competing in the Leinster Masters indoor championships, and Gavin Kelly had an amazing day.
He won the long jump event, and won silver medals in both the 400m and the 800m.
John McGrath had a super day as well, winning his 1,500m race in the morning and then for good measure, he came second in the 3,000m in the afternoon.
Staying with the middle distance events, Aedan Rogers had a great run in his Junior 1,500m, coming fourth in a season’s best of 4:17.
Last but certainly not least, Alan O’Connor had a great run over 3,000m in a fine time of 9:45, for a fourth place finish in the ultra-competitive Over-40 category.
The Striders had their best-ever day at an under-age provincial indoor championships, with both the relay teams and the individual performers bringing home lots of medals at the Leinster indoor Juvenile championships at Abbotstown.
Ciara Kelly was our only under-age competitor on the Saturday and jumped her way to a bronze medal in the Junior high jump. Ciara was back in action the following day and improved to win gold in the Under-19 event.
Also jumping really well were Daniel Wickham and Conor Murphy who set a P.B. in picking up another Leinster bronze.
Also in the jumping discipline, Aoife Muldoon followed her long jump medal the previous week with a gold in the triple jump. In the same event, Patrick Doyle made an impressive debut in competition, to scoop silver.
The Leinster relays were incredibly exciting, with all eight Striders teams performing really well and all being in the mix for medals. The big winners were -
Under-19 girls, 4 x 200m relay (Rebecca Bawden, Alannah Byrne, Aoife Muldoon and Ciara Kelly), third; Under-17 boys, 4 x 200m relay (Aaron Browne, Cian Flanagan, Patrick Doyle and Adam O’Connor), third; Under-15 boys, 4 x 200m relay (Darragh Flannelly, Aidan Shannon, Oisín Mac Eochaidh and Owen Lennon (second); Under-18 boys, 4 x 200m relay (Nik Walkden, Joshua Hewlett, Daniel Wickham and Cian Flanagan), third.
Also running really well, and with most making their finals, were: Under-12 boys (Ronan Shannon, Olan Delaney, Owen Hannan and Sam Myers); Under-14 boys (Myles Hewlett, Cosmo Hewlett, Finn Kelly and Ben Myers); Under-16 girls (Eve Byrne, Erinn Shannon, Clodagh Foran and Louise Doyle); Under-18 girls (Claire Doyle, Aisling Power, Rebecca Bawden and Aoife Nic Eochaidh).
Well done to all competitors, the substitutes who turned up ready for action, and the parents, who all made it a fantastic day out.
ST. JOSEPH’S A.C.
The annual Kilkenny athletic awards on Friday 23rd, February 23, at Gowran Park race course saw a huge St. Joseph’s attendance. Congratulations to all our athletes who received awards.
Eabha Mullally received an award as a member of the girls’ county Under-11 cross-country team which won national bronze medals.
Grace Glennon and Maeve Bookle were part of the county Under-13 girls’ team which was also the third best team in the country in the All-Ireland cross-country championships, while Danielle Griffin went one better, being a member of the county Under-15 girls’ team which won national gold medals.
Sally Forristal was a starring member of the county Novice women’s team which finished second at the national championships.
Jordan Knight won the county Juvenile track and field athlete award, with Verena Fenlon winning the county Masters track and field athlete award.
Sophie Becker won the international athlete award, with Maggie Helen O’Connor winning an award for a Leinster championship best performance in race walks, and she also accepted the county race walking shield for the club.
The final club award went to Larry Leacy who won the St. Joseph’s special club merit award.
A fantastic 37 Juvenile St. Joseph’s athletes, with coaches and parents, headed to the National Indoor Arena, Abbotstown, Dublin on Sunday, February 25, for the Leinster Juvenile indoor relay championships. After a fantastic day of relay action, three teams came home sporting much-coveted Leinster medals.
Leading the way was the boys’ Under-16 team of Danny Glennon, Eoin Kennedy, Cathal Beirne and Jordan Knight, with Evan O’Toole as substitute, who stormed to gold medals in a straight final.
The girls’ Under-15 team of Rachel Foley, Katie Taylor, Ciara Mullally and Erin Foley, with Danielle Griffin as substitute, won their heat and finished in a brilliant second position in the final.
Another hard-won bronze medal was achieved by the Under-13 team of Grace Glennon, Mairéad Mullally, Eabha Mullally and Grace Leavy. This team also won their heat and won their bronze medals in the final by a precious metre.
The unluckiest team was the girls’ Under-14 crew of Rachel Foley, Caitlin Mullally, Maeve Bookle and Grace Glennon, with Mairéad Mullally and Breanna Beirne as substitutes, who finished second in their heat and did not qualify for the final despite having the fourth fastest time of 20 teams.
The girls’ Under-16 team of Sophie Mullally, Ciara Mullally, Katie Taylor and Áine McDonald, with Erin Foley and Naoimh O’Connor as substitutes, finished second in their heat and sixth in their final.
The Under-17 team of Áine McDonald, Sophie Mullally, Chloe Mullally and Tara Glennon, with Naoimh O’Connor as substitute, finished fifth in a straight final.
Valiant performances at Under-12 and Under-13 level by the following athletes unfortunately did not result in final qualification: Eabha Mullally, Keelin Byrne, Lily Doyle, Sarah Foley, Leah Heffernan, Caoimhe Barry, Kadhla Croke, Cíle Garvey, Ciarán Cummins, Oisín Mullally, Conor Lanigan, James Cummins, Niall Cummins, Breanna Beirne, Maeve Bookle and Aoife Lanigan.
At the Leinster Junior, Senior and Masters indoors championships in Abbottstown, Dublin, Shane Power had a great win in the Senior men’s pole vault.
In the men’s Over-35 competition, Austin Lee won silver in the 60m hurdles and shot putt and bronze in the long jump. Mary Breen had a great day, winning the weight for distance with a championship best performance and finishing second in the shot putt.
Well done to Danielle Griffin who ran another fine race to finish 26th in the Leinster schools cross-country championships in Santry, Dublin.
Congratulations to Maria Griffin who won the Over-45 prize in the Kilmacthomas four-mile road race, and to John McDonald who ran a personal best time of 1:27:20 in the John Treacy ten-mile race recently in Dungarvan.
St. Joseph’s Athletic Club was founded in 1968 and is 50 years old this year. An event not to be missed is our 50th anniversary dinner dance taking place on Sunday, March 18, in the Rhu Glenn Hotel.
Adult tickets are €30 with Juvenile tickets costing €20. The following day, Monday, March 19, is a bank holiday so a great night is absolutely guaranteed.
NEW ROSS ROWING
New Ross Boat Club held its spring head of the river recently. This is an 18 km. race from St. Mullins, finishing up at the bridge in New Ross town.
Crews from as far as Belfast competed in perfect conditions for rowing, with all crews making it back to New Ross.
The fastest crew was the New Ross men’s Junior 18 4x+ of Jacob Ferguson, Luke Harrington, Donal Harrington, Ben Webb and cox Sam Furlong in a time of 59:21. Five crews from New Ross Boat Club competed in this very successful event for the club.
Shona Tierney, Laura Brown and Luke Sutton competed at the recent Irish squad trials held at the National Rowing Centre in Cork. This was a two-day event which saw over one hundred Junior athletes from clubs all over Ireland compete on Saturday in a 6k time trial in single sculls.
This number was then reduced, with the top 20 male and female athletes invited to return for Sunday’s crew racing. All three New Ross athletes were placed in the top 15 fastest scullers and returned for double racing on Sunday where they continued to put in great performance.
This has been a long trialing process which has involved continued monitoring and testing since September, with these athletes training six days a week.
Athletes will be invited to closed training camps from next month, and it is hoped all three New Ross athletes have done enough to be selected. Continued success to all three.
KILMORE A.C.
Kilmore Athletics Club’s awards night will take place in Mary Barry’s Bar, Kilmore, on Friday, March 9, from 7 p.m. onwards.
All current, past members and parents are invited to attend as we celebrate the club’s 85th year in existence.
Our Senior and Juvenile athletes will be honoured for their achievements throughout the year.
GOREY RUGBY
Gorey 26, Ashbourne 22: Gorey pulled off one of the shocks of round two of the seconds Towns Cup when they travelled to Ashbourne and, after what can only be described as a thriller, came away with a 26-22 victory.
A cold, crisp day and a light breeze on a perfect pitch were the backdrop to this match.
Gorey started well and put a number of good phases together, and on ten minutes they were awarded a penalty for Cian Hadden to split the posts and open the scoring.
The huge Ashbourne pack settled and began to put a lot of pressure on the visitors, and for almost the remainder of the half they dominated their significantly younger opponents.
The Gorey back row of Wafer, Hadden and Mason were working overtime to stem the flow.
But Gorey could have extended their lead when, with a clear overlap, and the line beckoning, Gorey got line fever.
A quick turnover by Ashbourne saw Connolly pick up and race from his own ’22. He off-loaded to Norton who went in under the posts, and Toolan converted to make it 7-3.
Ashbourne were playing with confidence, and on the 35-minute mark the pack took control with a number of big carries for the ageless Jeff Mahon to cross for a try and stretch their lead. Toolan converted again to extend their advantage to 14-3.
As Gorey have so often done this season, with seconds left on the clock they reduced that lead to six when Paul O’Connor ran in for a try. Hadden was just wide with the conversion, so 14-8 was the score at half-time.
The second-half saw Ashbourne immediately stretch that lead to 17-8 with a Toolan penalty.
The next 20 minutes proved nip and tuck as both teams tried to earn the advantage.
On the 60th minute Gorey worked their way into the Ashbourne ‘22 and, a number of phases later, quick hands saw Robbie Brooks cross for his first try. Hadden was just short with the conversion.
At 17-13, it was game on. On the 68th minute Gorey pressed and, when Michael Wafer stole a loose ball on the ground, quick hands saw Ciarán Allen charge over for a try to go into the lead (18-17).
In a complete reversal of the firsthalf, Gorey were now beginning to edge the exchanges, but within two minutes, Ashbourne restored their lead to 22-18 when David Aaron finished a good move in the corner.
There was still a sting in the Gorey tail, and from the re-start they went through the phases. A long pass by Garret Bater found Robbie Brooks and from inside his own half he took off, weaving his way past some wouldbe tacklers.
He made his way to the Ashbourne ‘22 but still had work to do. He stepped his winger and crossed for what could arguably be described as the try of the season, to put Gorey in front again.
A minute later Cian Hadden added a penalty as Gorey closed out a famous victory.
This game had everything and was played in the true spirit of the Towns Cup.
Gorey had some fine individual performances, from David O’Neill, Garret Bater and Robbie Brooks in the backs, while the forwards of Michael Wafer, Ben Mason and man of the match Eoin Walsh were outstanding.
Gorey advance to the quarter-final where they will meet Kilkenny in Clonattin on March 25.
Gorey: W. Rothwell, E. Walsh, C. Allen, M. Whelan, L. Kinsella, M. Wafer, S. Hadden, B. Mason, G. Bater, C. Hadden, R. Harrington, C. Power, D. O’Neill, T. Cleary, J. Willoughby, K. Rothwell, R. Deering, R. Jones, P. O’Connor, R. Brooks.