Kerry minors set-up semi-final with Cork

IHAD the privilege of being invited to the Kerry Athletics Awards Night in the Listowel Arms Hotel two weeks ago.

It was a superb event as athletes young and old, boys and girls, men and women were honoured. Meeting the Kerry Ladies Senior Team silver medal winners in the inter-county cross country was special. They took second place behind Dublin in the finals in Dundalk last November.

Niamh Clifford (Star of the Laune), Grace Lynch (Iveragh), Ann Maria Costello (Gneeveguilla), Maria McCarthy (Farranfore / Mainw Valley), Karina Teahan (St Finbarrs), Caitriona Barry (Farranfore / Mainw Valley), Shone Heaslip (An Riocht), Laura Crowe (An Riocht) and Niamh O’Sullivan (An Riocht).

Cross country running has a huge history in Kerry and some great names, men and women have brought honour and glory to the county down through the decades. And by sheer coincidence, just as I intended to remind readers of this great sport, a brand new publication arrived in my post just last week.

Written by Cork man Liam Fleming and titled Irish Champions Past and Present 1879-2014, it is absolutely fascinating to thumb through is near four hundred pages and read the names of legendary figures in the world of cross country, but especially when the word Kerry appears after a name then you will really sit up and appreciate this massive body of work.

Liam has endeavoured to cover all championships from the first All Ireland cross country at Dunboyne on April 9, 1881 right up to March 21, 2014 at Dundalk. He delves deeply into the fragmented political history of the sport informing us among other things that from 1937 to 1967 NACAI athletes were ineligible for international competition; the Irish government presented an Irish singlet to the first ten homes in the senior championship but the athletes never got to wear them.

Women’s cross country was first introduced in 1966, Peggy Horgan was the first Irish winner followed by great names such as Sonia O’Sullivan, Ann O’Brien, Fionnuala Brittan, Ann Kennan Buckley, Rosie Lamb.

Eleven counties have produced individual ladies cross country winners and there among these elite eleven is our own star of stars Maureen Harrington. Maureen’s name jumps out at you from the pages and any Kerry heart would swell with pride when you trace the achievements of this magnificent athlete.

Maureen is in my opinion one of the most unacknowledged sporting greats this county has seen. A remarkable successful athlete she has had a wonderful career. Her achievements are amazing and really speaks for themselves.

Indeed, her greatest admirers have been known to refer to her as Kerry’s answer to Sonia O’Sullivan and whether you agree or not with this high praise few people will argue that she is one of the most exciting female athletes to emerge from the Kingdom. Maureen is from Tousist, the very same parish from were the great winning Kerry captain of the twenties Phil O’Sullivan came from.

She wrote herself into the annals of Kerry legends when she was a member of the Irish women’s team which won the county’s first bronze medals at the world cross country championships in 1997 and again in 2002.

A magnificent achievement by this very unassuming and private lady and team mates on those teams includes Sonia O’Sullivan, Catherina McKiernan, Valeria Vaughan, Una English and Pauline Curley, all legends in ladies athletics.

So how talented was this amazing lady. During the nineties she won seven Kerry senior cross country championships, five Munster senior Cross country championships. At All Ireland inter counties, her record is two wins, (1994-95 and 1995-96) and five second placing. In the All Ireland inter club championships her record stands at two wins, third three times, a fourth, fifth and sixth. Amazing statistics.

In her stunning career, the Kenmare lady represented Ireland on eight occasions in the European Cross country championships and in ten world championships. She ran in the world relay marathon race in Seoul and completed in numerous international grand prix races all around the world.

Maureen Harrington is a legend, who can argue that she must rank as one of Kerry’s greatest female athletes.

And then on the male side the one big name that dominated the sixties was the magnificent Tom O’Riordan. What an athlete. Tom won five memorable Irish senior cross country titles running for Donore Harriers, 1963-65-66-68-70.

Jerry Kiernan won the title in 1984 and other Kerry names that appear on the medal lists in the various grades include Breeda and John Barrett, Kieran Lamb, Freda Davern, John Kissane, Pat King, Paddy O’Donoghue, Catherine Kerrisk, Brian Conway, John Egan, Dan Murphy, Sonny Fennel, Tadgh O’Donoghue and Laura Crowe (An Riocht), who won the ladies novice All Ireland title in 2012 and this brilliant young lady ranked no 1 in Ireland for the 1,500m is shown in beautiful colour breasting the tape to win that race.

The people behind athletics in this county are doing a magnificent job and the evidence presented in this book is the proof.