Fintan first Louth athlete to win three golds

SEPTEMBER 1988

FINTAN Reilly breaks the tape to take the gold medal in the Community Games U-16 1,500 metres final.

In so doing he emulates none other than Eamonn Coughlan who won the same race 20 years ago.

Fintan completes a notable hat-trick as he also secures gold in 1980 and 1982 at U-8 and U-10 levels respectively.

And he hopes this latest triumph will further his ambition of winning an athletic scholarship to America.

Certainly, the manner of his Mosney win will help the cause as he shows excellent tactical awareness to land the title in a race which provides a fitting finale to the games.

From the start he is involved in a tussle to dominate with Hampson (Sligo), Healy (Limerick) and O’Donnell (Kerry) before it boils down to a duel with the Sligo runner.

In the last 400 metres Hampson goes to the front but with 70 metres left Fintan produces a determined sprint which sweeps him past the leader.

He represents Mountpleasant AC and believes he is the first Louth athlete to win three golds at the Community Games.

He is the NACAI 400 metres record holder in his age group but prefers to concentrate on the 800 and 1,500 with personal best times of 1.59 and 4.12 respectively.

Fintan regularly travels to Belfast for training with his Newry-based coach Oliver Rooney and also trains on his own for around two hours most days.

It is a heavy schedule for a student doing his Leaving Certificate in Dundalk CBS.

‘I would love to get a scholarship to the United States but I don’t know if I would be good enough,’ he says, adding he hopes to study commerce or law.