Juvenile athletes shine in Leinster indoor tests

WEXFORD’S JUVENILE athletes did the county proud at the Leinster Juvenile indoor championships in Athlone last weekend.

The medal rush started with the walks, always a strong event for Wexford. Ciara Mooney (Adamstown) took the Under-16 1,500 title in 8.20.99 minutes.

James Hanlon (Taghmon) won the Under-19 event, same distance, in 6.56.55 minutes. Jack Halpin of Menapians took Under-15 bronze, while Taghmon’s Irene Hanlon placed fifth in the Under-15 girls’ event.

At the other end of the spectrum, the 60m sprint produced plenty of top-notch performances. Aisling Kelly of Taghmon took the Under-18 title in 7.81 seconds.

April Keeling (Menapians) showed a return to form with silver in the Under-19 60m (8.17s). Lea Bolger (Bree) made the Under-12 semi-final.

Jayden Kenny of Bree just missed a medal in Under-12 boys, finishing fourth. Kayla Doyle-Kavanagh, Joshua Sheil and Cara Murphy, all St. Killian’s, competed in the Under-12 600m but were unfortunate not to progress.

In the Under-13 girls’ race, Ciara Laffan (Bree) made the semi-final while clubmate Kiera Wilson, despite placing second in her heat, along with Sarah O’Mahony (D.M.P.) and Gráinne Roche-Kelly (Taghmon), did not progress to the semis.

Cian Donovan (Bree) was fourth in his Under-13 heat. Kara Morrissey (Menapians) ran a P.B. when finishing sixth in her Under-14 semi-final, while Felicja Davis (Enniscorthy) was fourth in her heat.

Harry Devereux (Bree) was fourth in his Under-14 heat and so did not make the final, while the ever-speedy Kevin O’Mahony of D.M.P. had no such difficulties in his heat, going on to win a silver medal in 8.35s, a P.B.

Abbie Doyle (Bree) took a good bronze Under-15 in a time of 8.29s. Orlaith Byrne (S.B.R.) showed impressive pace, winning the Under-16 sprint in 7.88s.

Aisling Kelly followed up on her 60m win with victory in the 200m in a time of 25.48s. Hot on her heels was Elizabeth Gahan (Enniscorthy) who showed no signs of fatigue from her brilliant run in the South Leinster schools cross-country a couple of days earlier. She took the silver in 25.86s.

Orlaith Byrne (S.B.R.) was runner-up in the Under-16 200m (27.16s), while Ailbhe White (Menapians) placed fourth (27.34s). Eimear Halpin (Menapians) was fifth in the Under-17 200m heats.

The indoor 400m race is a tough event, what with having to blast twice around the tight track fighting centrifugal force, floods of lactic acid, and no little amount of argie-bargie. Add qualifying rounds and you can add fatigue into that mix.

Presumably it was for this reason that the meet director announced some of the races would be decided on the basis of a single time trial. The girls’ Under-16 400m, in which Ailbhe White competed, was one such race.

Ailbhe improved on her fourth place in the 200m with a silver medal, running 62.87s, a P.B.

Blanaid Fogarty (Enniscorthy) ran a strong race to take the Under-19 title in 60.00.11s. Conor Brennan (D.M.P.) ran 57.95s to place fourth in Under-19 boys, while Eimear Halpin was fifth in the Under-18 girls’ race (65.52s).

The United Striders camp were expected to dominate the 1,500m in several age groups. This was certainly the case in the boys’ Under-16 race, with Myles Hewlett third in 4.23.94, Eoin Shannon eighth in 4.36.59, William Park ninth in 4.41.18, and Finbarr Kelly tenth 4.52.30, while D.M.P’s Daithí Murphy placed 17th in 5.08.

Darragh Flannelly of Striders was involved in a nail-biter of a finish in the Under-17 race in which he just missed out on taking a bronze (4.24.89).

Danika Gilshinan (St. Paul’s) was third Under-18 with 5.06.90. Ciara Dolan (Menapians) was eighth in the same race (5.32.74).

Adam O’Connor of United Striders was eighth in the boys’ Under-18 (4.29.61), and Gorey girl Corrine Kenny, running for St. Laurence O’Toole, was third Under-19 (4.56.81).

Ruby Gallagher (Croghan) finished eighth in the Under-12 600m, and Lea Bolger was ninth. Neasa Long (Enniscorthy) failed to progress from her heat.

P.J. Breen (Bree) was fourth in his Under-12 heat. Emma McCarthy (St. Killian’s) won her Under-13 heat comfortably and placed fifth in the final (1.52 minutes).

A good number of Wexford athletes lined out in the Under-13 600m but did not progress - Erin Byrne (Croghan), Ava Barry (Kilmore), Rayna Thompson (Kilmore), Stephanie O’Connor (Enniscorthy), Ava Wolohan (Croghan) and Doireann Byrne (Croghan). Max Murphy (United Striders) placed twelfth in the final of the Under-13 boys’ race.

In the Under-14 girls’ 800m, Sarah Phylan (Enniscorthy) won her heat and placed ninth in the final in 2.35 minutes.

Joseph O’Flaherty (Croghan) placed ninth in the Under-14 800m final. Freya Thompson (Kilmore), Orla Roche-Kelly (Taghmon) and Abbey Wolohan (Croghan) ran the Under-15 race but did not progress.

In the boys’ Under-15, Tommaso Hickey and Luca O’Connor, both United Striders, lined out in the heats, with Tommaso going on to place tenth in the final.

Aine Byrne (Croghan), Kate O’Flaherty (Kilmore) and Arwyn Thompson (Kilmore) all competed in the girls’ Under-16 qualifiers.

Aidan Kehoe (U.S.) placed fifth in the Under-16 800m in 2.16 minutes, a race in which there was really nothing between third, fourth and fifth.

Darragh Flannelly will be wondering what he has to do to medal. He finished fourth in his Under-17 800m with 2.05.72, fractions of a second off third. Danika Gilshinan (St. Paul’s) finished third in the girls’ Under-18 (2.27.81 minutes).

In the Under-13 shot putt, Louise

Hanlon (Taghmon) was sixth with 7.32 metres while Ava Barry (Kilmore) placed 16th. Shannon Codd of D.M.P. was third in Under-14 with 10.50m, and Felicja Davis (Enniscorthy) was twelfth in the same event.

In the Under-14 high jump, Michael Kent (D.M.P.) looked impressive, winning with a best of 1.50m. Orlaith Deegan (S.B.R.) took the Under-16 title with 1.56m, and Dannan Long (Enniscorthy) won the boys’ Under-16 with 1.65m.

Neasa Long (Enniscorthy) was second Under-12 with 1.20m. Orla Roche-Kelly (Taghmon) was joint 15th in the girls’ Under-15.

Neasa, a jumps specialist, added a bronze to her collection with a best of 3.29m in the long jump. In the Under-12 long jump there was also bronze for Jayden Kenny of Bree (4.12m), while clubmate P.J. Breen placed eighth.

Dannan Long, another dual jumps medal winner, was third in the Under-16 long jump, with 5.36m his best. Kevin O’Mahony took Under-14 bronze, jumping 4.48m.

In the Under-17 girls’ event there was also bronze for his clubmate Rachel Gregg (4.84m). Triini Jurisoo (Menapians) was fifth in the same event with a P.B. of 4.67m.

No one was too surprised to see the St. Paul’s multi-eventer Maeve Hayes taking the Under-19 title (5.22m). Well done also to Ciara Wilson, Ciara Laffan, Sarah O’Mahony and Jack Browne.

Kara Morrissey (Menapians) was fifth in the Under-14 girls (4.47m), while Sarah Phelan (Enniscorthy) was seventh (4.18m).

P.J. Breen (Bree) was very unlucky not to make the Under-12 hurdles final, as were Sarah O’Mahony (D.M.P.) and Gráinne Roche-Kelly (Taghmon) in Under-13 girls.

Lea Bolger, Jayden Kenny, Kiera Wilson, Stephanie O’Connor, Ciara Laffan, Katie Doyle, Jack O’Shea, Michael Kent, Abbie Doyle and Ruby Reynolds all made it safely through the heats. In the finals, Lea placed sixth in the Under-12 race. Jayden was second in the boys’ Under-13, running 10.50s.

In the girls’ Under-13 race it took a photo-finish to split the top two, with the judges giving it to Ciara Laffan of Bree. Clubmate Kiera Wilson took the bronze and Stephanie O’Connor (Enniscorthy) was eighth.

In the girls’ Under-14, Katie Doyle (Bree) took the silver medal, running 9.68s. There was also silver for Michael Kent (D.M.P.) in the Under-14 boys’ race (10.54s), while Jack O’Shea (Adamstown) was fifth.

Bree picked up another hurdles medal when Abbie Doyle was runner-up in the Under-15 race, running 9.54s. Ruby Reynolds (Menapians) placed fourth.

Orlaith Byrne rounded off a good weekend when she finished third in the Under-16 race. In the Under-17 race, Jane Sinnott (D.M.P.) was fourth and Saidhbhe Byrne (Enniscorthy) fifth. Maeve Hayes picked up another medal when placing second in the Under-19 event.