Boyne team ethic reaps reward at the Leinsters
PROVINCIAL medals were up for grabs last week as Boyne AC made two trips to Tullamore to compete in the Leinster Team competition and then the Leinster Pairs and U-12/U-13 Championships.
The superb Tullamore Harriers Stadium was basking in glorious sunshine on bank holiday Monday when there was an unprecedented seven teams form Boyne in action.
With four athletes per team, each member must compete in two events and the relay, with the combined results added together to give an overall score.
In their first time competing in a Leinster event, Boyne’s Girls Under-9 quartet got things off to a great start and fine performances from Wannita McCabe, Lauren Faulkner, Sadhbh O’Donoghue and Kate O’Donnell saw them just miss out on a medal.
However, the U-10 Girls did claim a podium place, with the combined efforts of Shruti Prasad, Chloe Cooney, Caoimhe Martin and Allie Fennell earning them silver medals. The U-10 Boys just missed out on the podium despite excellent performances from Calum Byrne, Cormac McEvoy, Luca McLoughlin and Tadgh Forde Dunne.
The U-11 Boys retained their Leinster titles as they took home the gold for the second year in a row, thanks to great efforts from Alex Robertson, Oliver Carolan, Ledley King Abor and Lorcan Forde Dunne. The U-11 Girls were unlucky not to reach the podium, but Chloe Hanley, Sholah Lawrence, Juliette Hurley and Kate Culhane all competed well.
It was the same story for the U-12 Boys team of Shea O’Donnell, Sean Cummins, Diarmuid Devine and Emmet McEvoy whose medal push came up just short, but the U-13 Boys were crowned Leinster champions thanks to fine performances from Aaron Fennell, Paddy Price, Amitesh Bala and Alex Devine.
With just four days to rest, these athletes were back to Tullamore for the Leinster Pairs and day one of the individual championships. This time, competing in teams of two, the U-9 to U-11 athletes could enter up to two events with a partner, and the two placings combined to give an overall result.
Another glorious day saw the Girls U-9 pair Wannita Mc Cabe and Kate O’Donnell compete well in the 300m and finish sixth in the turbo javelin. It was bronze for U-10 Girls Allie Fennell and Chloe Cooney in the 500m race, while Allie and Shruti Prasad just missed out on a medal in the 60m sprint. Caoimhe Martin and Shruti did well in their long jump, while it was a silver medal for Allie and Caoimhe in their turbo javelin.
The U-10 Boys were unlucky not to medal despite great performances from Cormac McEvoy and Calum Byrne in the 60m sprint, and Calum and Tadgh Forde Dunne in the long jump. Luca McLoughlin and Tadgh ran well in the 500m.
The U-11 Girls pair of Sholah Lawrence and Kate Culhane competed well in the sprint and 600m and were unlucky not to medal, but it was a superb day for the U-11 Boys as Alex Robertson and Lorcan Forde Dunne scooped silver in their 600m and Lorcan paired with Oliver Carolan to top the podium in the long jump. Oliver and Alex also ran well in the 60m sprint.
The individual events were next, with Isabella Garcia running well in her 60m and Eimear Cooney finishing second in her heat to qualify for the 600m final, where she ran well to finish seventh overall.
In the boys events, Shea O’Donnell won his heat of the 600m and finished just outside the medals in the final, in fourth place, while Sean Cummins competed well in the 60m sprint and 600m races.
In the field events, Aaron Fennell saved the best for last as he threw 10.54m in the final round of the U-12 shot putt, taking the silver medal. Paddy Price finished fourth in his heat of the U-13 600m, and despite running three seconds faster in the final he missed out on a podium place.
In the sprints, Alex Devine had the fastest qualifying time of all the heats, but a knee injury saw him run his final just a fraction slower, finishing in third. Caelan Quinn also ran well in his 80m sprint.
In the Girls U-13 600m Ella McLoughlin ran a great race to finish sixth overall in her heat, while Allie Garcia also ran well in her tough 600m heat.
All top-three finishers now qualify for the Nationals on July 1st.
The day ended with the InterRelay Championships, where relay teams selected by their counties battled it out for coveted Leinster titles.
Shruti Prasad and Sholah Lawrence made up half of Louth’s U-11 Girls team who were unlucky not to medal, while Oliver Carolan and Calum Byrne represented the Wee County with pride as their U-11 team took home the bronze medal in a thrilling photo finish. Bronze also went to the U-13 Boys team, with Aaron Fennell part of that successful quartet.