Clare athletes win five gold medals

The Munster Senior and Junior Indoor Championships were held at the Nenagh Indoor Arena at the weekend and Clare athletes gave outstanding performances when taking five gold, two silver and two  bronze medals.
In the junior ladies’ 800m and 1,500m Harriett Flynn (Shannon) produced two outstanding performances when she led from start to finish in the 800m with a time of 2mins.23.40secs and later on in the afternoon again led all the way in the 1,500m and recorded a very good time of 4mins.53.23secs.
Suzanne Kelly (Kilnaboy), who competed in the junior ladies’ long jump, captured a bronze medal with a leap of 4.59m.
In the junior men’s 800m, Darragh Lynch (Ennis Track) had to work hard to hold onto the silver medal spot over the final lap, with a time of 2mins.04.07secs. Cian O’Brien (Marian) made a welcome return to competitive action and was in the bronze medal position 100m from the finish but just faded out to finish fifth in 2mins.15.30secs.
Mark Boland (Marian) gave an impressive performance in the junior men’s 600m and was given the same time (7.64secs) as the third athlete. In the 200m, Mark also had to settle for fourth spot with a time of 24.39secs.
In the senior ladies’ 3,000m walk over 15 laps, Miriam Hamilton (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) was always in contention and with two laps remaining she powered on to take the Munster title in 17mins.37.80secs.
The men’s 3,000m was the best for many years, with over 20 athletes on the starting line including four Clare competitors,  Brian McGinley, Brian Murphy, Liam Markham (all Ennis Track) and Jason Fahy (Olympic Harriers).
Fahy set a blistering pace from the start with a 30-second first lap that had the field in almost single file. Pat McCarthy (West Limerick) took over the controls at the front and he held the lead all the way to the finish with a time of 8.24:20. Jason Fahy ran a fine race to take the bronze medal in 8mins.34.74secs with Liam Markham fourth in 8mins.35.33secs.
Keith King (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) had a very busy day. In his first event, the long jump, he finished in fifth spot with a leap of 5.65m.
Later in the afternoon his high jump went very well as he retained the Munster title with a leap of 1.80m. In the triple jump, he came away with a second-place finish with a leap of 11.17m.
In the pole vault, David Courtney (Ennis Track) won the gold medal with a leap of 2.40m.

Results
Junior ladies
60m: 6 Louise Woods (Marian
200m: 8 Louise Woods (Marian) (28.21secs)
800m: 1 Harriett Flynn (Shannon) (2mins.23.40secs)
1500m: 1 Harriett Flynn (Shannon) (4mins.53.23secs)
Long jump: 3 Suzanne Kelly (Kilnaboy) (4.59m).
Senior ladies
3,000m walk: 1 Miriam Hamilton (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) (17mins.37.80secs)
Junior men
60m: 4 Mark Boland (Marian) (7.64secs)
200m: 4 Mark Boland (Marian) (24.39secs)
800m: 2 Darragh Lynch (Ennis Track) (2mins.07.7secs)
5 Cian O’Brien (Marian) (2mins.15.3secs)
Senior men
3,000m: 1 Pat McCarthy (West Limerick) (8mins.24.20secs); 3 Jason Fahy (8mins.34.74secs); 4 Liam Markham (Ennis Track) (8mins.35.33secs); 7 Brian McGinley (Ennis Track) (9mins.03.06secs); 9 Brian Murphy (9mins.21.20secs)
High jump: 1 Keith King (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) (1.80m)
Long jump: 5 Keith King (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) (5.65m)
Triple jump: 1 Keith King (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) (11.17m)
Pole vault: 1 David Courtney (Ennis Track) (2.40m)

National Novice and Juvenile Cross Country Championships

The Athletics Ireland re-scheduled National Novice Cross Country Championships will take place in Charleville Estate, Tullamore, County Offaly this Sunday, starting at 11.30am, with the uneven ages championships for U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 boys and girls.
The novice ladies will be run over a distance of 3,000m and will commence at 1.15pm and this will be followed by the novice men’s race over 6,00m at 1.35pm.
Clare will have eight county teams taking part, with St John’s; Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare and Ennis Track in the inter-club section.
The first race of the afternoon will be the girls’ U-11, with Emma McMahon, St Mary’s; Alex O’Neill, St Cronan’s and Fidelma Marrinan St John’s the leading contenders for the Clare team.
In the boys’ U-11, Aidan McCarthy (St Cronan’s) and Caoilfhionn O’Dea (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) will be looking to do well along with Thomas Clancy (St John’s).
In the girls’ U-13, Caoimhie Harvey (St John’s), Elaine (Shannon) and Sinead Hogan (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) will lead a very strong Clare team, with St John’s looking to Cliodhna Blake for inter-club medals.
The U-13 boys are strong medal contenders with Patrick O’Rourke and Eoin Looney (both Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare), Jamie Roche and Paul Martin, (both Ennis Track) expected to do well.
The U-15 girls will have to produce a big performance to get into the medals and taking part will be Molly Lynch (Shannon); Laura Power, (Ennis Track); along with Rachel Clancy, (St John’s).
In the boys’ U-15, Ennis Track’s Stephen Rooney, Kevin Mulcaire, and Conaill Ó Hainifein, with Micheal Clancy (St John’s), coming back from injury, will be hoping to do well.
The big medal prospects will be in the girls’ U-17, with Amy O’Donoghue (Emerald) along with Jean and Niamh Clancy both (St John’s) expected to do well.
Ian Slobody (Kilmihil) will compete in the boys’ U-17 with Imogen Cotter, Aishling Darcy (both Ennis Track) and Harriett Flynn (Shannon) taking part in the girls’ U-19.
In the novice ladies 3,000m, Claire Madigan (St John’s) has her sights set on the national title with Kenneth Rodgers (St John’s); Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy), Fergal Smithwick (Marian) and Brian Murphy (Ennis Track) leading out a good Clare challenge in the national novice race.

The following Clare teams have been selected:
Girls’ U-11
Alex O’Neill (St Cronan’s); Emma McMahon (St Mary’s); Fidelma Marrinan (St John’s); Emer Keane (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); Caoimhie Carmody (Marian); Catriona Callinan (Kilmihil); Caoimhie Hogan (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare), Emer Hanrahan (Ennis Track); Tara Kelly (St Mary’s); Áine Keane (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare).
Boys’ U-11
Aidan McCarthy (St Cronan’s); Thomas Clancy (St John’s); Caoilfhionn O’Dea, Cian (Shannon); Zack Whelehan, Conor Malone, Niall Canavan, (all Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare), Sean Dolan (Ennis Track); Kevin Hassett (St Mary’s); Gearóid McMahon (Shannon).
Girls’ U-13
Caoimhie Harvey, Cliodhna Blake, Shauna Melican, Aishling Kelly (St John’s); Elaine Shannon, Sinéad Hogan, Áine Rouine, (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); Sharon Egan (Kilmihil); Deirbhile Brown (St Mary’s); Tara Bradley (St John’s).
Boys’ U-13
Patrick O’Rourke, Eoin Looney, Sean Rouine, Eanna O’Donnacha (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); Paul Martin, Jamie Roche, Cathal O’Brien (Ennis Track); Sean Wallace (St Mary’s); Colin McNeilus, Conor O’Leary (Fergus).
Girls’ U-15
Molly Lynch (Shannon); Laura Power (Ennis Track); Rachel Clancy, Nollaigh Blake, Siobhán Marrinan, Rose Marrinan, (St John’s); Áine Looney (Kilmihil); Siobhán Nestor (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); Aimee Hayes, Ailbhie Hogan, (Ennis Track).
Boys’ U-15
Stephan Rooney, Sean Collins, Conaill O’Hainifin, Micheal Moloney, Conor O’Brien, Colm Devine, Kevin Mulcaire (Ennis Track); Liam Gray, Pádraig Malone (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); Micheal Clancy (St John’s).
Girls’ U-17
Amy O’Donoghue (Emerald); Jean Clancy, Niamh Clancy, Ailish Brew (St John’s); Aishling Darcy, Niamh Markham, Rachel Mulcaire, Maebh Hogan, Amanda Hassett (Ennis Track); Laura Egan (Kilmihil).
Boys’ U-17
Ian Slobody (Kilmihil).
Girls U-19
Harriet Flynn (Shannon); Imogen Cotter (Ennis Track).
Novice ladies’ 3,000m
Claire Madigan (St John’s); Becky Coughlan, Siobhán Lennon, Siobhán Gallagher, Jackie O’Connor, Aoifa Nash, Ita Hanrahan, Aishling Power, Susan Griffin (Ennis Track); Sharon Rynne, Dympna O’Dwyer (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); Marian Burke (St Mary’s)
Novice men 6,000m
Kenneth Rodgers (St John’s); Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy); Brian Murphy, Martin Glynn, Martin Grealish, Micheal Keane, Keith Whyte, Danny Folan, Paddy Quinn, Michael Feeney (Ennis Track); Paul Gallagher (St Finbarr’s); Pakie Enright (Sportsworld); James Liddane (Olympic Harriers); Fergal Smithwick (Marian).