The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Kerry athletes honoured at Munster Star awards
FIVE Kerry athletes were honoured at the annual Munster Star Awards banquet in Rathkeale last Saturday. The Kerry Juvenile Track and Field Awards went to Alyce O’Connor (Kenmare AC) and Jordan Kissane (Tralee Harriers). Orla O’Reilly (Tralee Harriers) won the Senior Women’s Track and Field Award and Rossa Foley (Farranfore Maine Valley) was the recipient of the Men’s U-23 Track and Field Award.
The Kerry Juvenile Cross-country Award was won by An Riocht’s Niamh O’Mahony. Sheila O’Donoghue received the award for best overall Masters Club on behalf of Gneeveguilla AC.
Meanwhile, there were three medals won at the Irish Life Health AAI games that took place at the AIT indoor arena last Saturday. Jordan Lee (Killarney Valley) continued his upward trajectory with silver in the senior men’s high jump with a clearance of 1.80m. PJ Galvin (An Riocht) took bronze in the same event.
In the senior men’s triple jump there was bronze for Lios Tuathail’s Michael Tony.
Last Sunday the action moved outdoors to Dundalk IT for the Irish Life Health National Juvenile B, Intermediate and Masters Cross Country Championships.
There were just three juvenile athletes from Kerry competing on the day - Saoirse Tompkins (Gneeveguilla) 7th in U-15 girls, Tommy Arthur (Kenmare) 15th in U-15 boys and Maria Murnane (Kenmare) 33rd in U-13 girls.
In the Intermediate men’s race Conor O’Mahony (An Riocht) finished in 12th position overall and Eddy O’Connor from Lios Tuathail finished in 16th position. Other An Riocht competitors were Niamh O’Sullivan 16th overall and first O-55 and Majella Diskin 4th O-60.
In the Masters Men Tim O’Connor was 3rd O-40 and Kevin Griffin 9th O-55. Anne Mangan (Star of the Laune) was third in the women’s O-60 category.
Congratulations to Grace Lynch from Iveragh AC who won the Dungarvan 10-mile competition last Sunday in a superb time of 58 minutes and David Kenny (Farranfore Maine Valley) who finished in an excellent 7th place in the senior men’s walk at the Indoor International in Bratislava, Slovakia – a great result for this junior athlete.