Updated 3rd March (Aisling Moody 5th in final 800m u/14)

At the Leinster Juvenile Indoor Championships in the Nenagh Indoor Complex on Saturday/Sunday 27th/28th February, Mullingar athletes won 11 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals, with many more jfinishing just out of the medals, which translated means that 27 Club athletes have qualified in 33 events for the All-Ireland indoors in a month’s time, making this the most successful Leinster Indoors ever for the Club and demonstrating that we can translate cross country success to Indoor competition. Among the many highlights was the truly amazing performance by Shane Fitzsimons in the 800m where he smashed through the 2 minute barrier.

Saturday kicked off with the 1,500m events where Mullingar is traditionally very strong. In the girls under 16, Ciara Hewson won gold and Lorraine Daly took silver after a great battle, setting the tone for the morning. Shane Fitzsimons pulled the field along at a fast pace in the boys u/16, winning comfortably, with Thomas Lynn in 3rd and Ryan Blundell in 4th. Stephen Nea was a popular winner of the boys u/17 where he timed his break from the leading group perfectly and finished with a tremendous surge of pace to win his first Leinster title, with Jonathan Daly finishing strongly too in 6th, which is a great finish but unfortunately out of the medals. Robert Yorke cut it fine and made it to Nenagh just in time but despite a minimum warm-up he still managed to finish 2nd, with Adam Daly in 3rd. The medal run continued in the boys u/19 where Vincent Connolly finished 2nd. Moving to the 400m, Rachel Yorke ran a good heat in the girls u/19 but was unlucky not to qualify for the final. No problem for David Moran in the boys u/19 where he stormed around the track and was only narrowly beaten into 2nd place over the final closing stages of the race.

Moving back to middle-distance again, Meabh McNulty and Niamh Quinn qualified comfortably from their 600m u/12 heats and in the final Meabh finished 2nd and Niamh ran well but finished out of the medal places. Hilary Harris found the pace of her 600m u/13 heat too quick for her liking and though she finished strongly didn’t advance to the final. We had a brilliant clean sweep of wins in the heats of the boys 600m u/13 as Cormac Dalton, Patrick Shaw and Kevin Giles put down clear markers that they meant business, but unfortunately Declan Brady got caught up in a very fast heat and didn’t advance to the final with the others. In the final, Cormac took to the front from the start and led all the way to cross the line first and take the Leinster title, with Patrick battling well to finish 3rd and Kevin in 4th, just one place off a medal. Not making the 600m final, gave Declan Brady the opportunity to try his hand at the 60m hurdles where he ran very well but didn’t advance to the final from the very competitive heats, though he was delighted with his experiences in Nenagh.

Of course it wasn’t all about track, and in the field events given her recent form it was no surprise that Ciara Fogarty easily won the u/17 shot, but unlucky for Moya Leydon in the u/13 shot where she put together an excellent series of throws and finished 5th but only a few centimetres off a medal. We also had a number of long jumpers in action and though Adeola Ojomo-Amaka jumped well in the girls u/12, she finished out of the medal places, as did Patrick Leydon in the boys u/12 where he struggled with his mark, and Jane Leydon in the girls u/15 also jumped well. Another shot putter in form was Eoin Sheridan (u/14) when he finished 3rd to win his first individual Leinster medal and earn his place in the National finals.

Mullingar has a good reputation in the very technical race-walk event and Edel Glennon was 3rd in the girls u/15, Oisin Quinn won the boys u/14 by a big margin, and Amie Giles continued her string of race-walk medal successes in Leinster with a silver in the girls u/18 race-walk. It’s been a while since Mullingar fielded 4 sprinters in one competition and in the girls 200m u/16, Aileen Murtagh, Elizabeth Carr and Jane Leydon were involved in very competitive heats and though they ran really well they didn’t advance to the final, but no problem for Mairead Sayeh who qualified comfortably and in the final raced to silver medal place, much to her delight. No joy for Aaron Glynn (200m u/16), Aine O’Reilly (200m u/17) or Eamon Lawlor (200m u/19) in their heats despite valiant efforts, and David Moran was our only other qualifier from the heats and in the final of the 200m u/19 he really put in a great effort but finished 4th, just out of the medals.

We expected more medals when proceeding moved to the 800m, and we weren’t to be disappointed. Aisling Moody comfortably won her heat of the girls u/14 and was unlucky to finish 5th in the final, just outside the medals. Glen Gaffney, Oisin Quinn and Mervyn Harris safely made it through their heats of the boys u/14, but unfortunately James O’Leannachain was not so fortunate in his heat. The final was a cracking race with Glen making the running and in the closing lap successfully fighting off a late challenge to win, with Oisin and Mervyn running extremely well and finishing very strongly but just of the medals in 4th and 6th respectively. In the girls u/15 it was clear that Linda Conroy was suffering the side effects of a nasty bout of overnight illness and really had to dig deep into her reserves of experience and determination to snatch 3rd place on the line. For Caoimhe Shaw (7th) and Lorna Moody (8th), the distance is probably a little too short and fast for their liking but they still finished strongly and enjoyed racing in the final nonetheless. We had three in the final of the boys u/15 too where Padraig Moran ran a powerful race to destroy the field and win with ease. Top marks to Jack Reid who looked to be out of the medals coming into the home straight but with gritty determination hauled himself into 3rd to win a bronze medal and book his place in the National finals. Liam O’Reilly showed great courage in the fast and furious 800m, but still has a way to go to get back to full fitness again and we’ll see a much improved Liam in the outdoor competitions this summer.

Lorraine Daly really showed her new-found confidence with a bold piece of front-running in the girls u/16 and opened a sizable gap early on in the race that proved impossible to close even for Ciara Hewson and Elizabeth Carr who gave chase but had to settle for 2nd and 3rd and give Mullingar a clean sweep of the medals. However, the race of the week-end has to be the boys 800m u/16 where Shane Fitzsimons went hard from the gun and with a brilliant display of power running, lapping other runners in the process which is nearly unheard of in indoor 800m racing, finished a long way ahead of the others in a time of 1:58, which is astonishing running for a 15 year old. Meanwhile Thomas Lynn was also running well and was unlucky to be pushed into 4th place, with Ryan Blundell closing fast but having to settle for 6th place. Anna Ryan and Aine O’Reilly couldn’t emulate Shane’s performance in the girls u/17 where they ran well but finished out of the medals. Stephen Nea finished the boys u/17 with his trademark sprint finish to secure the bronze medal and add to his growing collection of Leinster medals. Amie Giles added to her medal haul with a bronze in the girls u/18, Robert Yorke took silver and Shane Kelleher bronze in the boys u/18, and we finished the 800m events on a high note with a well deserved gold from Rachel Yorke in the girls u/19.

We had a quite a number of athletes in action in the 60m sprints, though qualification from the extremely competitive heats was very difficult and medals were very hard to win. Adeola Ojomo-Amaka and Alanna Bate made it to their final where Adeola was delighted to win bronze, but no medal for Alanna though she was still very pleased to have made the last 8 in Leinster. Patrick Leydon (boys u/12), Hilary Harris (girls u/13), Aisling Moody (girls u/14), Eoin Sheridan and James O’Leannachain (boys u/14) and Jane Leydon (girls u/15) all competed well but didn’t advance from the heats to their finals. Making it to the last 8 in the final okay but finishing out of the medals were Rachel Glennon (girls u/13), Maeve O’Reilly (girls u/14), Philip Doherty (boys u/14) and Aileen Murtagh (girls u/16), though not for lack of effort and all will have learned from the experience. Last medal of the day for Mullingar was won by Mervyn Harris in the 60m boys u/14 where he took bronze in a thrilling and close sprint finish to earn his first individual Leinster medal.

All in all it was a great week-end that was enjoyed by the very large number of parents and others that travelled to Nenagh in support. For all those that have qualified for the Nationals in a month’s time, they need to keep up the pressure and that means putting in the work at training on Tuesdays and Sundays and in Belvedere on Sunday mornings to be in the best possible condition for the National Finals.