Fine weather makes for cracking second day of county championships

THE second round of the Kerry County Cross Country Championships were held in Firies on Sunday October 9 and once again the weather was fine, making for some great competition.

The juvenile uneven age titles were fiercely contested with some of the county’s youngest athletes competing in cross country for the first time in the U9 age group. Farranfore dominated throughout, obviously enjoying the opportunity to run on home turf.

Covering a course of 750m, the Under 9 girls’ title went to Leanne McCarthy (Farranfore Maine Valley) with Muireann Teahan (Iveragh) second and Grainne Costello (Farranfore Maine Valley) third.

Farranfore took the gold team medals and fine running from Kenmare who had athletes finish 5th, 6th, 7th and 16th saw them take the silver. Bronze team medals were won by Gneeveguilla.

In the boy’s race Seamus O’Donoghue from Kenmare was first across the line, leading his team to gold. Oisin O’Leary (Gneevegilla) won silver and Robbie Guest (Kenmare) took bronze. Silver team medals were awarded to Farranfore Maine Valley.

Farranfore were to the fore again in the Under 11 girls 1,500m race with gold going to Eabha McCarthy. Eabha Lyne (Gneeveguilla) was second and Holly Galvin (Iveragh) third. It was tight to say the least on the team chart, with only three points separating first and third places.

Gold being awarded to Gneeveguilla, Iveragh taking silver and Kenmare bronze. It was a lot more clear cut in the boy’s event with Killarney Valley taking the top three spots with Oisin Lynch crossing the line ahead of Jason O’Reilly and Ted O’Gorman. Liam Hennigan finished in 13th place to make up the gold medal winning team. Kenmare A and B teams won silver and bronze team medals.

We were used to seeing the names McCarthy and Farranfore Maine Valley by the time the Under 13 girls took to the course with Shauna McCarthy winning gold for her club. Aoife Dwyer (Iveragh) won silver and Grace Roberts White (Kenmare) took the bronze.

Top honours in the team went to Kenmare with An Riocht winning the silver medals and Killarney Valley the bronze. Not wanting the girls to take all the glory, Cian Spillane from Farranfore won the Under 13 boys 2,500m race with teammate Conall O’Mahoney in third place just behind Timothy O’Donoghue from Kenmare who finished second. Gold team medals were awarded to Farranfore Maine Valley and silver went to Kenmare.

Running a year out of age, Kerry Eager (Star of the Laune) was the clear winner of the Under 15 girls 3,500m race with Rhona Randles (Kenmare) second and Eimear O’Sullivan (St Brendan’s) in third place. The Under 15 boys title went to Eoghan Lyne from Gneeveguilla. Michael O’Reilly (Kenmare) was second and in third place was Michéal Sweeney (Gneeveguilla).

Shona O’Brien (Gneeveguilla) took gold in the Under 17 girls race with Sasha Brent (Lios Tuathail) in silver medal position and Alyce O’Connor (Kenmare) winning bronze. Cillian Kerins (Farranfore Maine Valley) won the Under 17 boys title, Anthony Buckley (Gneeveguilla) was second and Alex O’Connor (An Riocht) third. Shauna Doellken O’Shea from Kenmare added the Under 19 girls title to the Under 18 title won in Killarney last week.

In the boy’s U19 Killian Tierney (Spa Fenit Barrow) was first, David Kenny (Farranfore Maine Valley) second and, Eamonn Lacey (Lios Tuathail) was third. The first three Intermediate Women to cross the finish line were Niamh de Hora (Farranfore Maine Valley) and Sharon Cahill and Suzanne Neylon from An Riocht.

An Riocht took the top three spots in the Intermediate Men category with Tim O’Connor finishing ahead of Tommy O’Brien and Patrick O’Connor.

In the Masters Women’s race Maria McCarthy (Farranfore Maine Valley) won the O35 title with team mate Catriona Barry in second place and Suzanne Neylon (An Riocht) third.

Sharon Cahill (An Riocht) took the O45 title ahead of Mary O’Connor (An Rioght) and Bernie O’Mahoney (Farranfore Maine Valley). Helena Shanahan (An Rioght) won the O55 title.

The first three men in the O35 age group were Tim O’Connor, Tommy O’Brien and Pat O’Connor from An Riocht.

Rob Purcell (Gneeveguilla) won the O45 title with John Barrett (Gneeveguilla) in second place and Pat Dunworth (An Riocht) third. Mike Mangan (Star of the Laune) won the O55 section with David Kissane (St Brendan’s) in silver medal position.