Mulcaire’s golden run at Munster schools championships

THE Munster Schools Cross Country Championships were held in wet and heavy underfoot conditions at the Waterford IT grounds. Clare schools were well represented in all eight races.
Kevin Mulcaire (St Flannan’s) won the intermediate boys’ 5,000m and St Flannan’s won bronze medals.
Caoimhie Carmody (St Flannan’s) finished 11th in the minor girls’ 2,000m, while Coláiste Muire Ennis produced a great performance to win the team gold.

In the minor boys’ 2,500m, Sean Cahill (St Joseph’s Tulla) won the silver medal and led his school to bronze medals.

Aisling Kelly (St Joseph’s Spanish Point) won a silver medal in the junior girls’ 2,500m with Eoin Looney (St Joseph’s Spanish Point) finishing sixth.

Róisín Considine (Vocational School Ennistymon) produced another big race to take a bronze medal in the senior girls, while and in the senior boys, Stephen Rooney (Gael Choláiste an Chláir) finished in fifth position.

The first race of the day was the minor girls’ 2,000m and there was a fine performance from Caoimhe Carmody (St Flannan’s) in very tough conditions to finish 11th. She was followed home in 13th by Katie Power, in 14th by Katie Taylor and in 15th by Clara Neylon (all Coláiste Muire) and they captured the inter-schools’ club title on 42 points and will now go forward to represent their school in the All-Ireland Schools Cross Country Championships in Jordanstown Belfast on March 9.

In the minor boys’ 2,500m, Sean Cahill (St Joseph’s Tulla), the North Munster schools champion, once again produced a big race. Over the final 500m, he made up very good ground to finish in second place with Paul Martin (Rice College) seventh followed by Patrick O’Rourke (Lisdoonvarna) 13th and Sean Rouine (Ennistymon CBS) 14th. The top 15 athletes go to the All-Ireland.

St Joseph’s Tulla packed well to win bronze medals with 19th David Meehan, 38th Cian Keogh, and 40th Sean Murphy for a total of 99 points.

In the junior girls 2,500m, Aisling Kelly (St Joseph’s Spanish Point) went with the leaders and she produced a great performance to take the silver medal. Caoimhe Harvey (Kilkee) finished fifth along with Elaine Shannon (Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon) ninth and Mia Hanrahan (St Flannan’s) 13th and they will go to the All-Ireland’s. Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon finished fourth overall on 90 points.

In the junior boys’ 3,500m, the big performer was Eoin Loone sixth with Stephen Maher (St Flannan’s) 12th.
In the intermediate boys’ 5,000m, St Flannan’s were well represented and Kevin Mulcaire went with the early leaders along with Sean Collins (St Flannan’s) and Conail Ó h-Ainifein (Gael Choláiste an Chláir).

Mulcaire pulled away to take this title in fine style with Sean Collins 13th and Conal Ó h-Ainifein 18th.  St Flannan’s won the bronze medals with 101 points.

In the senior girls’ 2,500m, Róisín Considine (Ennistymon Vocational School) set out very hard with the leaders Jessica Coyne (Limerick) and Aedin O’Keeffe (Waterford) and after the first lap, these three had got away from this big field.

Emer Hillery, Kayleigh McCormack and Siobhán Nestor (all Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon) were in the chasing group. Over the final lap, Jessica Coyne made a decisive break and held a slender lead to take this title ahead of Róisín Considine who finished third with Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon finishing fourth overall.

The final race, the senior boys’ 6,000m, had a fine representation of Clare schools. Stephen Rooney (Gael Choláiste an Chláir) ran the best race this season to hold onto fifth place and Karl Fitzmaurice (St Pat’s Shannon) came from 12th position on the final lap to finish seventh overall with another Clare athlete Patrick Chesser (Rice College) 13th.

Results
Minor girls 2,000m: 11. Caoimhe Carmody (St Flannan’s); 13. Katie Power (Coláiste Muire Ennis); 14. Katie Taylor (Coláiste Muire Ennis).
Teams: 1. Coláiste Muire Ennis = 42 points.
Junior girls’ 2,500m: 2. Aisling Kelly (St Joseph’s Spanish Point); 5. Caoimhe Harvey (Kilkee); 9. Elaine Shannon (Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon).
Teams: 4. Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon = 90 points; 8. St Michael’s Kilmihil = 125 points.
Intermediate girls’ 3,500m: 18. Clare Hehir (Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon); 20. Laura Power (Coláiste Muire Ennis); 27. Nollaig Blake (St Michael’s Kilmihil).
Teams: 5. Coláiste Muire Ennis  = 81 points; 6. Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon = 84 points.
Senior girls’ 2,500m: 3. Róisín Considine (Ennistymon Vocational School); 10. Muireann O’Shea (Coláiste Muire Ennis); 12. Kayleigh McCormack (Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon).
Teams: 4. Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon  = 52 points.
Minor boys’ 2,500m: 2. Sean Cahill (St Joseph’s Tulla); 7. Paul Martin (St Flannan’s); 13. Patrick O’Rourke (Lisdoonvarna).
Teams: 3. St Joseph’s Tulla = 99 points.   
Junior boys’ 3,500m: 6. Eoin Looney (St Joseph’s Spanish Point); 12. Stephen Maher (St Flannan’s); 20. Colin McNeilis (St Flannan’s).
Teams: 5. St Flannan’s = 128 points; 8. Kilkee = 197 points.
Intermediate boys’ 5,000m: 1. Kevin Mulcaire (St Flannan’s); 13. Sean Collins (St Flannan’s); 18. Conail Ó Hainefein (Gael Choláiste an Chláir).
Teams: 3. St Flannan’s = 101 points.
Senior boys’ 6,000m: 5. Stephen Rooney (Gael Choláiste an Chláir); 7. Karl Fitzmaurice (St Pat’s Shannon); 15. Patrick Chesser (Rice College).
Teams: 4. Ennistymon CBS = 135 points.