Trio on Ireland duty
Hewlett top performer at nationals
WEXFORD HAD three athletes on the Irish team competing at the schools track and field meet in Glasgow last weekend: the Loreto Wexford duo of Aisling Kelly and Róisín O’Reilly, and Gergely Pap of Wexford C.B.S.
The event brings together top under-age athletes from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The sense of giddy excitement at Dublin Airport before the team departed on Friday indicated how much the trip meant to the athletes. Indeed, for many it is their first time to compete at an international level.
Aisling was a member of the silver medal-winning 4 x 100m relay team. She also won the non-scoring 100m in 12.33s.
Gergely won bronze in the shot putt. Róisín was cruising along in second place in the 1,500m steeplechase when she clipped a barrier and hit the deck. She ended up finishing fourth, none the worse for her tumble, just behind her colleague Róisín Treacy.
All three Wexford athletes were totally taken with the experience and cannot wait to head off on international duty for their country again! Ireland finished second overall behind a very strong English team.
The national Juvenile track and field championships came to an end on Sunday with the third and final day of action in Tullamore. Wexford has enjoyed its best year ever at the championships with (including relays) 18 gold, ten silver and nine bronze medals.
Take a bow athletes, coaches and parents - it’s great to see all the hard work paying off.
There were heroic efforts all over the place, both by those making the podium and those who missed out. One of the latter was Eimear Halpin of Menapians who, despite having a badly swollen foot as a result of being stung by bees, lined out in the Under-15 250m hurdles.
Then there was Conor Brennan (D.M.P.) who, in the Under-17 200m, gave it everything, hurling himself across the line, but he just missed out on making the final by 0.02s.
Wexford’s top performer on the track was unquestionably the United Striders Under-14 dynamo, Myles Hewlett. With a silver medal already in his pocket from the 800m the previous weekend, he was determined to go one better in the 1,500m.
From the start Myles was the ring-master, controlling the race from the front and holding the inside line. He slowed the pace and nobody passed.
Then with two laps to go he took off and built up a margin on his pursuers which they were never going to close. Myles crossed the line to take the gold in a massive new best of 4.31.86 minutes.
In the boys’ Under-15 1,500m, Ben Wall (Adamstown) and Darragh Flannelly (United Striders) must have been inspired by his victory as they got themselves into the mix from early on.
Ben came through for a wellearned silver (4.31.95 minutes) while Darragh pulled out all the stops in the latter stages to haul himself into the top three for the bronze (4.33.85).
Darragh will, one suspects, cherish this medal as he was very unfortunate not to make the podium the previous weekend in the 800m.
One other middle distance performance of note was Nathan Murphy’s fourth place finish in the Under-16 1,500m in a P.B. of 4.19.63 minutes. The Menapians athlete, who is a newcomer to the event, has obviously been doing all the right training as he has improved in leaps and bounds in a short space of time.
The county’s top field events performer was Pádraig Hore (Taghmon). It has been a great year for the affable strongman as, earlier in the summer, he won multiple medals at Leinster level (under-age and Junior), and at the first weekend of the nationals he picked up an All-Ireland shot putt bronze (Under-19).
Last weekend, in Under-19 discus, he achieved a distance of 43.56m on his sixth and final throw to take the gold.
The only other gold for Wexford went to Maeve Hayes of St. Paul’s in the Under-17 high jump. She won, on countback, with a jump of 1.60m.
The bulk of the county’s medals came in field events, with our female athletes leading the way. Bronagh O’Hanlon (Taghmon) was second in the Under-18 hammer (36.23m). Sonia Mooney (Adamstown) was second in the Under-18 javelin (29.42m).
Amy Forde (St. Killian’s) won a bronze in the girls’ Under-19 hammer to go with the one she already got in discus. Saidhbhe Byrne (Enniscorthy) was third in the Under-15 javelin, getting a distance of 38.43m on her final throw, just 28cms behind the winner.
Kate Jackman (Adamstown) was third in the Under-17 javelin (29.93m), while clubmate Rachel Power was fourth (25.96m).
Tara Doyle (Adamstown) was fifth in the Under-18 triple jump (10.48m). Aoife Muldoon (United Striders) was sixth in the Under-19 triple jump (9.20m).
In the boys’ Under-17 hammer, Milan Mihaly Kovacs (St. Paul’s) placed seventh with 30.22m.
Aisling Kelly (Taghmon), just back from a successful trip to the S.I.A.B’s in Scotland, won a silver in the Under-16 200m, running a P.B. of 25.75s. Blanaid Fogarty (Enniscorthy) was fifth in the Under-17 200m (26.97s).
Sammy Delaney (St. Paul’s) was sixth in the Under-19 200m in 23.60s. Róisín O’Reilly (Menapians), weary from her exploits in Scotland the previous day, still managed to place a close fourth in the Under-17 1,500m in a P.B. of 4.47.89 minutes.
In the boys’ Under-19 1,500m, Aedan Rogers (United Striders) placed eighth in a time of 4.11.19 minutes.
While some athletes will be hoping to make the team for the Celtic Games, everyone else can take a break and enjoy what’s left of the summer.
Correction to county track and field Senior men’s long jump results: 1, James Fortune (Enniscorthy), 6.22m; 2, Peter O’Connor (Enniscorthy), 6.21m; 3, Sammy Delaney (St. Paul’s), 6.05m.
The domestic athletics calendar is dominated next weekend by the Irish Life Health national Senior track and field championships in Santry.
On Friday, August 3 (7 p.m.), the Co. Wexford Intermediate road race championships take place in Enniscorthy.