Good start to new year events

2013 has started brightly for Clare athletes. The Munster senior and junior cross-country championships, plus the juvenile inter-county relays for U-10, U-12 and U-14, at Limerick Racecourse in Patrickswell last weekend brought plenty to cheer about.

In the inter-county relays, Clare won four Munster team titles and two bronze awards. The gold was won in the girls’ U-14 race and the boys’ U-10, U-12 and U-14 races, with the bronze medals won in the girls’ U-10 and U-12 events.

In the Munster junior ladies race, the 2011 and 2012 champion Jean Clancy, St John’s, retained her Munster title, with her twin sister, Niamh, taking the silver medal and Clare taking the team gold.

Kevin Mulcaire, Ennis Track, led his club to bronze medals with Clare winning the silver medals.

In the senior men’s 10,000m race, Jason Fahy, BMOH, gave a tremendous display of front running to take the Munster title.

The first race of the day was the girls’ U-10 4 x 250m with Susan Nestor, St Mary’s, leading out the Clare team and Shauna O’Gorman, Sarah Looney, Niamh Cassidy and Ciara Meehan helping to capture the bronze medals.

In the boys’ U-10 4 x 250m, Ennis Track’s Sultan Akinwale went into an early lead and this helped Clare to take the gold medal from Limerick and Kerry.

In the girls’ U-12 4 x 500m, St Cronan’s Emily Cahill had Clare in close contact after the first leg with Amy Sexton and Niamh Conlon both doing very well before Marian’s Chloe Neylon brought Clare into the bronze medal position.

In the boys’ U-12 race, James McGuire, Ennis Track, opened up a few metres for the second man, Ben Whelehan, with Shane Meehan and Lateef Akinwale running very strong to widen the gap and take the Munster title in fine style.

In the girls’ U-14 4 x 500m, Clare were very impressive. St John’s Caoimhe Harvey, in the first leg, was followed by Aisling Kelly, Tara Bradley and Alex O’Neill to easily take the gold medals, while in the boys’ U-14 4 x 500m, Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare’s Eoin Looney had Clare in gold medal position after the first leg with Aidan McCarthy, Jamie Roche and Cathal O’Brien, Ennis Track, producing a strong finish to take the gold medals.

In the junior ladies 4,000m race, Clare was well represented with St John’s, St Cronan’s and Marian making up a very good Clare team.

From the start, Jean and Niamh Clancy, St John’s, raced into an early lead and these two dominated the race with Jean, for the third year in-a-row winning the title in fine style and her twin sister, Niamh, running a fine race to take the silver medal.

Marian’s Muireann O’Shea was fourth, followed in seventh by Nollaigh Blake, St John’s and Paula Loughnane, St Cronan’s, in eighth. Clare took the county title on 14 points.

Clare was also well represented in the junior men’s 6,000m race by St John’s, Shannon, Ennis Track and Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare.

Emerald athlete, Kyle Larkin set a fast pace for the first of the three laps. Domhnaill Rodgers, St John’s, who had settled in well in the top six with Kevin Mulcaire and Stephan Rooney, both Ennis Track, came through the fine field of athletes, along with Karl Fitzmaurice, Shannon.

As they set out on the final lap, Mulcaire was moving well and he produced a strong finish over the final 1,000m to finish fourth, with Fitzmaurice fifth and Rooney sixth. Rodgers finished in seventh place, Sean Collins, Ennis Track, was 15th and Liam Gray, Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare, was in 16th place.
Ennis Track won the bronze medals on 45 points and Clare captured silver on 53 points.

The senior ladies’ race was run over a distance of 5,000m and was a mighty contest between two Irish internationals, Siobhán O Doherty, Borrisokane and Rose Mary Ryan, now running with Dooneen AC.

They set a blistering pace with Ennis Track’s Marie Carey running a very steady race in the top six, along with Patricia O’Brien, Cushla Brid Hehir, Becky Coughlan, all Ennis Track and Claire Madigan, St John’s.

With one lap remaining, O’Doherty had taking control at the front and was well on her way to victory with Ryan a good second and Tracey Roche coming through to take third. Marie Carey, a Clare AAI Sports Star award winner on Friday night, came fifth, with Patricia O’Brien seventh, just ahead of Cushla Brid Hehir in eighth place and Claire Madigan, St John’s, in 11th. Clare won the gold medals and Ennis Track captured the inter-club title.

The senior men’s 10,000m race was run over five laps and all counties were well represented at the starting line.

As the athletes made their way out over the first lap, Clare had seven athletes up with the early leader, East Cork’s James McCarthy.

The big changes started to take place on the third of the five laps when Jason Fahy, the Munster indoor 3,000m champion, upped the tempo and split the field into single file. Over the final two laps, he made the race his own and crossed the finishing line with 400m to spare over Kevin Maunsell, Clonmel with, for the second year in-a-row, Michael Shannon taking the bronze medal.

Clare athletes packed well with Damian Landers, St John’s, coming from 10th position over the final lap to finish fifth, Jake O’Regan in seventh place, Kenneth Rodgers eighth and Dermot Galvin ninth to take the Munster title with six athletes in the top 10.

In the inter-club competition, St John’s, scoring four, were in the top eight with BMOH taking the bronze medals on 103 points.

Results
Girls’ U-10 4 x 250m: 3. Clare (Susan Nestor, Shauna O’Gorman, Sarah O’Looney, Niamh Cassidy and Ciara Meehan).
Boys’ U-10 4 x 250m: 1. Clare (Sultan Akinwale, Conor Meaney, Sean Rynne, Diarmuid Fahy and Brian McNamara).
Girls’ U-12 4 x 500m: 3. Clare (Emily Cahill, Niamh Conlon, Amy Sexton, Chloe Neylon and Gráinne Lynch).
Boys’ U-12 4 x 500m: 1. Clare (James McGuire, Shane Meehan, Ben Whelehan and Lateef Akinwale).
Girls’ U-14 4 x 500m: 1. Clare (Alex O’Neill, Caoimhe Harvey, Tara Bradley and Aisling Kelly).
Boys’ U-14 4 x 500m: 1. Clare (Eoin Looney, Jamie Roche, Cathal O’Brien and Aidan McCarthy).
Junior ladies (4,000m): 1. Jean Clancy (St John’s); 2. Niamh Clancy (St John’s); 4. Muireann O’Shea (Marian); 7. Nollaigh Blake (St John’s); 8. Paula Loughnane (St Cronan’s).
Inter-county: 1. Clare (14 points).
Senior ladies (5,000m): 1. Siobhán O’Doherty (Borrisokane); 2. Rosemary Ryan (Dooneen); 3. Tracey Roche (Dooneen); 5. Marie Carey (Ennis Track); 7. Patricia O’Brien (Ennis Track); 8. Cushla Bríd Hehir (Ennis Track); 11. Claire Madigan (St John’s); 13. Becky Coughlan (Ennis Track); 15. Zelma Power (Ennis Track); 19.    Michelle Timoney Reeves (Ennis Track.
Inter-county: 1. Clare (31 points).
Inter-club: 1. Ennis Track (33 points).
Junior men (6,000m): 1. Kyle Larkin Larkin (Emerald); 4. Kevin Mulcaire (Ennis Track); 5. Karl Fitzmaurice (Shannon); 6. Stephan Rooney (Ennis Track); 7. Domhnaill Rodgers (St John’s); 15. Sean Collins (Ennis Track); 16. Liam Gray (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare); 20. Patrick Chesser (Ennis Track); 21. Noah McMahon (Ennis Track); 23. Padraigh Malone (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare); 24. Oisín Owens (Ennis Track); 25. Paul Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare); 26. Jack Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare).
Inter-club: 3. Ennis Track (45 points); 4. Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (90 points).
Inter-county: 2. Clare (53 points).
Senior men (10,000m): 1. Jason Fahy (BMOH); 2. Kevin Maunsell (Clonmel); 3. Michael Shannon (St John’s); 5. Damian Landers (St John’s); 7. Jake O’Regan (St John’s); 8. Kenneth Rodgers (St John’s); 9. Dermot Galvin (St John’s); 11. Michéal Maher (Ennis Track); 18. Paddy Quinn (Ennis Track); 28. James Liddane (BMOH); 31. Keith Lynch (BMOH); 35. Willie Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare).
Inter-county: 1. Clare (33 points).
Inter-club: 1. St John’s (23 points); 3. BMOH (103 points); 4. Ennis Track (107 points).