Saluting our young athletes
Medals were hard earned given the very high standards
UNIVERSITY OF Limerick was the venue for the 2018 National Community Games Festival of Sport recently.
Over the two-day festival, thousands of young people from all over Ireland came together to take part, have fun, make friends and generally create a festival atmosphere.
Joining up with them were many youngsters from around Areas in Wexford, who earned the right to be there, having won their respective events at the county finals held in June.
Standards were extremely high in most events and medals were hard earned. Wexford children competed with the best and, although the county did not take home as many medals as in previous years, they still had a fair amount of silverware going home. We salute them all.
Over the two-day festival, the county focused mainly on the athletics and just one team from Wexford was in action, the girls’ Under-13 rounders side from the Piercestown-Murrintown Area.
Connacht went on to win their match against Munster so the competition was tied at one win for each team. The result was calculated by the round robin system and Wexford were placed second behind Connacht, whom they had beaten earlier.
The girls from Piercestown-Murrintown gave it their all and their commitment and dedication resulted in silver national medals going home to the parish - a fantastic achievement.
Well done to Róisín Alouf, Ellen Coleman, Sinéad Cullen, Rachel Dempsey, Orla Griffin, Leagh Maddock, Grace O’Connor, Ellie O’Mahony, Aoibhe Ormonde, Mia Quirke, Kate Stafford, Lily Murray, and to all their coaches and managers
.
Track athletics got under way on Saturday, with our boys and girls and managers heading off in glorious weather for the start. These events are hotly contested and places earned in semi-finals and finals are well earned.
Nevertheless, our youngsters showed their true mettle and, with determination and grit, a large proportion of them came through their heats, and on to the semi-finals and finals.
In the Under-10 hurdles, Lea Bolger (Glynn-Barntown) and Jayden Kenny (Bree/Davidstown) were competing, with Lea making it all the way to the final where she placed outside of the medals. Jayden too made it to the finals and won a bronze medal for third place.
In the Under-14 hurdles, Danielle Stone and Seán Rowley were our competitors. Danielle, from Rathangan, found the going tough but Seán, from the Castlebridge/ Crossabeg Area, qualified in second place in the heat and semi and won the fourth-placed medallion.
In the 60m and 80m Under-8 events, those competing for Wexford were Hazel Breen, Ethan Jarvis, Sarah O`Brien and Aidan Laffan.
Hazel, from Bree/Davidstown, qualified for the ‘B’ final of the 60m where she made it all the way to the final but outside of the medals.
Ethan, from Castlebridge/ Crossabeg, came through the heats in second place, was first in the semi-final, and earned himself the fourth place medallion.
In the 80m, Sarah from Rathgarogue-Cushinstown went all the way to the semi-finals and Aidan qualified for the ‘B’ group where he made it all the way to the final.
Our 100m and 200m Under-10 boys and girls - Niamh O`Connor (Castlebridge/Crossabeg), Jamie Stafford-Doyle (Piercestown-Murrintown), Ruby Gallagher-O’Reilly (Kilanerin) and Jamie Wall (Bree/ Davidstown) - all found the going tough, with Niamh the only one to make her way to the semi-finals.
In the Under-12 events, Abbie Doyle from Bree/Davidstown earned a medallion in the final of the 100m, while Kevin O’Mahony from Piercestown-Murrintown qualified for the final of his 100m.
Eoin Hannon from Rathgarogue-Cushinstown competed in the 600m, with Gracie Kehoe from Bree/Davidstown also in the 600m.
Shane Doran from Castlebridge/Crossabeg made it to the final of the 100m Under-14 but was outside of the medal placings, while Mary Roe from Piercestown-Murrintown and Tim Ivers from Kilanerin competed in the 800m.
Sabia Doyle from Piercestown-Murrintown was in great form in her 100m Under-16, qualifying in first place in her heat, finishing second in the semi, and earning the silver medal in the final.
Aisling Kelly from Taghmon was also in good form, qualifying in first place in her heat and semi and taking home the 200m gold medal in fine style. This is her last year competing for Area and county and she now has the full collection of national medals, finishing on a high with the gold. Way to go Aisling.
Evan O’Grady from Clongeen found the competition too strong in the 1,500m and he didn’t qualify for the final.
In the grass cycling events, Fionn Daly (Clongeen), Conor Sidney (Rathangan) and Muireann Hynes (Rathangan) competed but finished outside of the medal placings.
Not always our strongest events, but this year the first medal won for Wexford early on Saturday morning was a gold in the Under-14 javelin. The winner was Saidhbhe Byrne from the Kilanerin Area who threw 34.82 to take the title.
Luke Lynham from the BBBCR Area competed in the boys’ javelin.
In the Under-12 ball throw, Jane Duggan from Glynn-Barntown made it to the last eight where she finished in a creditable fifth place. Craig Doyle from Taghmon competed in the boys’ event.
Yet another gold medal was won by Wexford, with Aoibhinn Mernagh (Piercestown-Murrintown) taking the national title in the Under-14 long puck competition, while a silver medal went to Paddy Keavy from BBBCR in the boys’ event.
Eva Casey (BBBCR) and Bobby-Jo Pitt from Taghmon competed in the Under-14 shot putt events but finished outside of the medals, as did Ruby Murphy (Ring of Hook) and Malachy Cathcart (Kilanerin) in the long jump Under-14 finals.
In the Under-16 high jump events, Rachel Gregg from Piercerstown-Murrintown and Jack Forde (Castlebridge/Crossabeg) were in action.
Rachel finished outside of the medals while Jack was nip and tuck with the Mayo competitor for the top placings. He had to settle for the silver medal and cleared 1.85 in his final jump.
Billy Reck from the Castlebridge/Crossabeg Area made to the last eight in the Under-16 discus but finished outside of the medals.
The weekend got under way with the heats of the relays early on Saturday morning. Blink and they were over.
What fantastic racing by the children of all ages. Fiercely contested every time, teams were lucky to make it to the semi-finals and finals.
It was probably not our best results in relays for many a year, nevertheless, the teams gave one hundred per cent commitment and we commend them for their achievements.
The Under-10 mixed team from the Glynn-Barntown Area and the Under-13 mixed team from Rathangan found the going too strong for them and they did not make it to the semis.
The Under-15 mixed team from Kilanerin came through their heat and semi-finals but had to withdraw from the final.
The Under-12 boys’ and girls’ teams were from Bree/Davidstown, with the boys not going through to the semis, while the girls went all the way to the final, where they really powered off from the gun and fought tooth and nail for that gold medal but had to settle for silver.
Well done to Abbie Doyle, Ella Doyle, Maura Doyle, Gracie Kehoe, Leah Sinnott and Kiera Whelan.
In the Under-14 relays, the girls came from Bree/Davidstown and they did not proceed to the semis, while the boys’ team from the Castlebridge/Crossabeg Area came through from heat to the final, where they finished in a creditable sixth position.
They were represented by Seán Milbourne, Conor Wycherley, Shane Doran and Seán Rowley.
The Under-16 girls’ relay team was from Piercestown/Murrintown were in fine form, coming through heat and semi and battling all the way round, before taking the silver medals in the final.
Well done to Sabia Doyle, Rachel Gregg, Claragh Keane, Aoife O’Connor and Jane Sinnott.
With the national finals concluded, the youngsters from Wexford made their way home, many of them very happy, others a bit disappointed, but on the whole most were well satisfied with their results.
To us you are all winners and national finalists and were a credit to family, Area and county. It was great to see the purple and gold-clad youngsters enjoying themselves around the excellent facilities in Limerick.
All of you can now turn your attention to the 2019 season, and maybe once again we will all meet up in University of Limerick.