McGinley takes bronze at nationals

Clare athletes took home several medals from the Athletics Association of Ireland juvenile B cross country U-11 to U-19s plus inter-county relays for U-12s and U-14s, plus intermediate and masters men’s and ladies’ championships, which were held in Alsaa, Dublin, on Sunday.
The heavy rain in the hours leading up to the event resulted in the organisers making slight changes to the course.
Clare athletes made light work of the atrocious conditions in all grades Mark Fennell (St Mary’s) won a bronze medal in the boys’ U-13 and Clare also won a bronze medal, while Jack Carrigg (Shannon) won a bronze medal in the boys’ U-17 with Shannon and Clare taking the inter-club and inter-county awards.
Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare won gold in the boys’ U-11 and silver medals in the boys’ U-13 categories.
Silver medals went to St Mary’s in the boys U-11 and Clare won gold in the boys’ U-11, U-15 and U-17 and bronze medals in the girls’ U-11 and U-13 boys.
In the intermediate men’s 10,000m, Brian McGinley (Ennis Track) won a bronze medal with Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy) fifth, with Clare taking bronze medals in the inter-county awards.
In the masters men’s, with 200 competitors on the starting line, Tommy Madden (Marian) won a bronze medal in the O-60s, with Clare just beaten by five points for bronze medals. In the masters O-50 Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare finished sixth.
The first race of the day was the girls’ U-11 1,500m and Tara Kelly (St Mary’s) along with Áine Keane (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) got away to a great start along with Catriona Callinan (Kilmihil).
Tara Kelly finished ninth, with Áine Keane 10th Catriona Callinan 12th and the Clare athletes packed well, with Mairéad Grogan (22nd) Emily Barry (38th) and Meg Brennan (55th) to win the bronze medals.
In the boys’ U-11 1,500m Clare athletes dominated the race from the start. Thomas Clancy (St John’s), Zack Whelehan, Cian Shannon and Conor Malone (all Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) went out hard and had the field in almost single file with 600m remaining. Over the final 200m Thomas Clancy powered his way up the home straight to finish fourth with Zack Whelehan ninth, Cian Shannon 10th, Conor Malone 11th Gearóid McMahon (Shannon) 13th, Luke Callinan (St Mary’s) 14th, Kevin Hassett (St Mary’s) 15th and Oisín Looney (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) 17th. The national inter-club title went to Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare on 47 points from St Mary’s on 110 points, with Clare taking the inter-county award on 61 points.
In the girls’ U-13 2,500m, there was a fine performance by Anna Courtney (Marian) to finish 26th. In the boys’ U-13 2,500m Clare athletes had dominated this age group in Tullamore and Derry and once again they were to the fore with Mark Fennell (St Mary’s), settling in well for the first 1,000m.
On his final lap he moved very well to get up for the bronze medal, with his clubmate Sean Wallace (St Mary’s) 20th followed home by Conor O’Leary (Fergus) 26th, Alan McGrath (Shannon) 39th, Matthew Keating (Shannon) 40th and Colin McNeilus (Fergus) 48th. Clare won the inter-county bronze medals on 182 points.
In the boys’ U-15s 3,500m, Liam Gray (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) was in the top 10 in the first 1,000m, along with Jacob Loughnane (Marian). They produced a very big last lap with Liam Gray, a novice to the sport, producing one of his finest races to finish seventh, with Jacob Loughnane 10th and Jack Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) 12th.
Clare athletes packed well with Shane McGrath (Shannon) (16th), Pádraig Malone (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) 18th and Eoin Devereaux (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) 24th, to win the inter-county title on 87 points with Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare taking silver medals in the inter-club with 61 points.
In the girls’ U-17 4,500m Eimear Hillery (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) finished 26th, while in the boys’ U-17 4,500m Clare were again well represented with Shannon, led by Jack Carrigg and William Flynn, both running in the top six from the start. Jack Carrigg crossed the finish line third place with William Flynn fourth followed by Pádraig Conway seventh, Karl Fitzmaurice (Shannon) 12th, Cillian Blake (St John’s) 15th, Ryan Rooker (Shannon) 17th and Jack Byrne (Shannon) 18th. The inter-club title went to Shannon on 26 points with the inter-county award going to Clare on 58 points.
Liam Brady (Tullamore Harriers), winner of the U-19 title a few weeks ago, headed a strong Irish U-20 team as part of the Celtic international and Jake O’Regan (St John’s) represented Ireland in the 5,000m, finishing 14th overall. Ireland won the silver medals, with the gold going to Scotland.
In the intermediate men’s 10,000, Brian McGinley went out hard and came home in third spot, Michael Shannon, winner of the Cooraclare 10k on the previous day, finished fifth, followed by Paul Gallagher from Ennis, 17th, Brian Murphy (Ennis Track) 55th, Martin Grealish (Ennis Track) 57th and Kevin Egan (St John’s) 69th with Clare taking the bronze medals with 206 points.

Results
Girls
U-11 1,500m
9 Tara Kelly (St Mary’s); 10 Áine Keane (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 12 Catriona Callinan (Kilmihil); 22 Mairéad Grogan (St Mary’s); 38 Emily Barry (Marian); 55 Meg Brennan (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare).
Inter-county
3 Clare = 146 points.
U-13 2500m
26 Anna Courtney (Marian).
U-17 4,500m
26 Eimear Hillery (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare).
Boys
U-11 1,500m
4 Thomas Clancy (St John’s); 9 Zack Whelehan (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 10 Cian Shannon (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 11 Conor Malone (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 13 Gearóid Mc Mahon (Shannon); 14 Luke Callinan (St Mary’s); 15 Kevin Hassett (St Mary’s); 17 Oisín Looney (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 26 Niall Canavan (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 31 Donnacha Madigan (St Mary’s); 50 Eoin O’Meara (St Mary’s).
Inter-club
1 Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare (9. 10. 11. 17. Oisín Looney = 47 points.
2 St Mary’s (14. Luke Callinan, 15. Kevin Hassett, 31. Donnacha Madigan, 50. Eoin O’Meara) = 110 points.
Inter-county
1 Clare = 61 points.
U-13 2,500m
3 Mark Fennell (St Mary’s); 20 Sean Wallace (St Mary’s); 26 Conor O’Leary Fergus; 39 Alan McGrath (Shannon); 40 Matthew Keating (Shannon); 48 Colin McNeilus (Fergus).
Inter-county
3 Clare = 182 points.
U-15 3,500m
7 Liam Gray (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 10 Jacob Loughnane (Marian); 12 Jack Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 16 Shane McGrath (Shannon); 18 Padraigh Malone (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare); 24 Eoin Devereaux (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare).
Inter-club
2 (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) (7. 12. 18. Padraigh Malone, 24. Eoin Devereaux) = 61 points.
Inter-county
1 Clare (7. 10. 12. 16. Shane McGrath, 18. Padraigh Malone, 24. Eoin Devereaux) = 87 points.
U-17s 4500m
3 Jack Carrigg (Shannon); 4 William Flynn (Shannon); 7 Padraigh Conway (Shannon); 12 Karl Fitzmaurice (Shannon); 15 Cillian Blake (St John’s); 17 Ruan Rooker (Shannon); 18 Jack Byrne (Shannon).
Inter-club
1 Shannon = 26 points.
Inter-county
1 Clare = 58 points.
All-Ireland relays U-12s 4 x 500m
Girls’ U-12
1 Clare (Sharon Egan, Caoimhie Harvey, Katie Taylor, Alex O’Neill, Elaine Shannon .
Boys’ U-12
1 Clare (Jamie Roche, Paul Martin, Cathal O’Brien, Patrick O’Rourke, Eoin Looney).
Masters men 7,000m
O-60s
3 Tom Madden (Marian).
Inter-county team O-50s
4. Clare (54. James Kenny, 83. Tom Mackey, 101. Tom Madden, 118. Michael Fennell, 129. Michael Harvey, 161. James Sexton) = 646 points.
Inter-club team O-50s
6 (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) (Tom Mackey, James Kenny, Michael Harvey, James Sexton).
Intermediate men 10,000m
3 Brian McGinley (Ennis Track); 5 Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy); 17 Paul Gallagher (St Finbarr’s); 55 Brian Murphy (Ennis Track); 57 Martin Grealish (Ennis Track); 69 Kevin Egan (St John’s).
Inter-county
1 Galway = 162 points; 2 Dublin = 180 points; 3 Clare (3. 5. 17. 55. 57. 69.) = 199 points.