Clare finish fifth in national league final

A YOUNG team of Clare athletes pitted themselves against the best in the country at the Woodies DIY National League Final in Tullamore last weekend. The Clare athletes competed against representatives from Donore Harriers, Ríocht, Bandon, Kilkenny City Harriers, SLOTAC, Slí Chulainn and Sligo.
Fergal Conlon, Tulla AC, showed true guile and class when finishing second in the 3,000m walk in 16.16 to get Clare off to a fantastic start. Cormac Lynch, Marian AC, enhanced his growing reputation when finishing third in the 100m in a time of 11:14 and he had a fourth-place finish in the 200m in 22:80.
William Flynn, Shannon AC, demonstrated his great talent by finishing second in the 400m in 51:82 and fifth in the 400m hurdles in 59:79. Micheál Keane, Ennis Track, battled all the way in the 800m to finish fifth in 2.02:98.
Brian McGinley rounded off a superb individual season by finishing fourth in the 1,500m in 4.11:87 with Fergal Smithwick, Marian AC, running a superb race in the 3,000m steeplechase to finish fifth in 10.23:53.
The race of the day came from young athlete Jake O’Regan, St John’s, in the 5,000m when he ran in 15.37:24 to finish third.
As always, the field events provided their fair share of drama and Colm Griffin, Marian AC, showed nerves of steel to finish third in the hammer, throwing 35.19m. He secured second in the 56lbs for distance in 5.85m.
Eamon Cleary, Shannon AC, had reason to celebrate his birthday in style by finishing third in the shot with a throw of 10.11m and a very good fourth in the discus with a throw of 29.50m.
Lunga Bulman, Marian AC, proved once again he is the man for the big occasion, throwing 45.35m to secure second in the javelin and a fine leap of 12.36m to finish fourth in the triple jump.
The youngest member of the team, Jack Carraig from Shannon AC, showed great potential in the long jump when finishing seventh in 5.39m, while Cormac Lynch, Marian AC, competed in the high jump and finished seventh, clearing 1.60m.
The final events saw the 4 x 100m team of Cormac Lynch, Adam Bleutt (Marian AC), Conor Foley Ellis (Kilmihil AC) and Jack Carraig finish fourth in 45:99.
In the 4 x 400m team of William Flynn, Brian McGinley, Micheál Keane and Ian Slobody (Kilmihil AC) rounded off a superb day in fifth spot in 3.34:25.
Despite some heroic performances, Clare had to settle for fifth spot on 85 points. The gold went to SLOTAC on 102 points, followed by Kilkenny City Harriers on 98, Donore Harriers on 95 and Sligo on 87 points.
On this form, the future for Clare athletics is bright and this Clare team will assemble next year aiming to win promotion.