Sean Rocks Athlone
WITH the Beast from the East having put paid to the first attempt to hold day 4 of the Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships it was an early start on Sunday for the dedicated few from Blackrock AC as they made their way back to Athlone Institute of Technology for another day of top class competition.
The undoubted star of the show for the club was Sean Reilly who produced a flawless display of High Jumping to go one better than last year and top the podium in the Boys U13 event. Coming in at a very comfortable 1.15m Sean popped over jump after jump, first time, until the rest of his competitors had fallen by the wayside, however before he could be called to collect his gold medal, Sean had to put on his track spikes, dig deep and produce a blistering sprint finish to qualify for the 600m final where he ran exceptionally well in a high class field.
As usual Sean was pushed all the way by his club colleague Ethan Doherty who, despite a nervous start, found his confidence to jump to an excellent 6th place in the High Jump competition and produce a gutsy run in his 600m heat. Lauren Reilly competed in the Girls U13 shot put, throwing well to finish in the top twelve of a very large field and was on back on the track in the afternoon where she finished a commendable fourth place in her 60m hurdles heat, a good performance but not quite enough for a place in the final.
Rebecca Baldwin was a very impressive qualifier for the final of the Girls U13 600m, dominating her heat right from the gun and cruising home in first place. Unfortunately, she was rewarded with a very poor inside lane draw in the final, which, coupled with being hampered when she tried to make a move on the first lap, meant that she had to settle for fourth place overall, an excellent result by anybody’s standards however Rebecca has a lot more to give and no doubt her form will be will be rewarded as the season progresses.
In the older age groups, Kirsten Doherty, ran well in her Girls U16 200m semi-final, despite battling illness, and can consider herself unfortunate to be edged out for progression to the final. She also gave the Long Jump her best effort on the day and demonstrated that, with a bit of fine tuning, the potential is there for some impressive distances. Erinn McShane found herself in a very tough heat of U17 200m and, despite a valiant effort, she was run out of a place in the final. Nothing more could be asked of Hannah Reilly who shaved 0.3 seconds off her personal best to qualify for the Girls U17 200m final clocking 27.38s in the process and she came close to this again in the final however it wasn’t quite enough for a place in the top three.
With the Leinster events con- cluded Aoibhín McMahon (Shot Put), Sarah Clarke (Shot Put), Sean Reilly (High Jump) and Hannah Reilly (Long Jump) will carry the clubs hopes to the All-Ireland finals which will take place over the next few weeks.
Inspiration for the athletes concerned can be taken once more from the exploits of club coach Mary Scanlon who again demonstrated her considerable athletic prowess with a clean sweep of Gold Medals at the All-Ireland Indoor Masters held in the National Indoor Arena on Saturday last. Mary’s first gold came after with an excellent 8.63s in the 60m sprint, winning by just three hundredths of a second in a tight race.
The margin of victory was a little more clear-cut in the 200m where she had nearly half a second to spare over the second placed finisher, a result made even more impressive when you consider that she had won her shot put competition in between races. THE rescheduled day four of the Leinster juvenile indoor championships saw Grainne Moran, Meadbh O’Connor, Enya Silkena, Tara O’Connor, Andrew Rosbotham and Patience Jumbo-Gula in action for Dundalk St Gerqard’s AC.
First into action were Enya, Meadbh and Tara in the U12 girls long jump. In a large field of athletes the girls performed brilliantly. Enya put in a superb series of jumps to take gold with a best of 4.28m with Meadbh taking a fine bronze and Tara competing well also.
In the U12 girls 600m Grainne qualified for the final with an impressive performance. In the final she repeated the dose with a dominant display to romp to victory.
In the high jump Tara, Enya and Meadbh were back in action. Tara proved a natural at the event with the tall elegant athlete leaping to a brilliant victory with Meadbh taking another bronze and Enya putting up a bold showing in fourth with all three girls achieving qualification for All Ireland finals.
Meabh concluded her busy day qualifying for the 60m hurdles final where she performed well in fifth place.
In the U13 boys shot putt Andrew Rosbotham had a brilliant debut at provincial level to take a super bronze medal in a strong contest.
Patience Jumbo-Gula qualified for the U18 girls 200m final with a strong run to win her heat. In the decider she put in another excellent performance to take a fine silver medal in a hot contest.
On Saturday Leah Mooney put in another strong run at the All Ireland schools cross country to finish in the top 40 in a large field of athletes in Waterford.