Niamh stars for Saints
NIAMH Brady was the St Peter’s AC shining light when claiming two podium finishes on day two of the Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships in Athlone at the weekend.
Brady collected bronze medals in both the Under-15 60m hurdles and high jump and her training partner Judith Bell had a brilliant start in the hurdles race and just missed out on qualifying for the National Championships.
Dean Murtagh will take his place at the National Championships after finishing in fourth place in the Under-15 shot.
Dean also had a strong run in the Boys 800m race. Having finished first in his heat he joined his clubmates Mark Litchfield and Cian Gorham - who also had strong runs in their respective heats - and all three were just outside the medals in the final.
Dearbhla Allen won her first-ever race when she left her fellow competitors for dead to race clear to the finish line in the Girls Under-13 600m heat and take her place in the final, while Ava Plunkett made her indoor track debut in the Under-16 Girls 200m and ran well against her more experienced competitors.
Rory McLoughlin had a really good run in the Boys Under-16 800m Race and was well in contention for the first 600m but unfortunately faded on the last lap.
Orla McLoughlin had a great performance in the Under-12 long jump when she leaped to a new PB of 3.69m which earn earned her a sixth-place finish out of 59 competitors.
Ben McKeown ran bravely in what was a very tough heat of the Under-13 Boys 600m and was very unlucky not to get through to the final.
The last St Peter’s athlete in action was Ryan Murtagh who was making his shot putt debut. Judging by his performance it won’t be his last as he finished an excellent fifth.
Meanwhile, last week club stalwart Kathleen McConnell finally got her hands on her spe- cial award which was originally announced at the Leinster Star Awards back in January.
Unfortunately Kathleen wasn’t able to attend the function, at the Louth County Board meeting on Monday night last week she received the award from County chairman Micheàl Mulligan.
The award was in recognition of her many years of service to athletics in her capacity as both a coach and official at competitions.