Updated 15 Feb - Mervyn Harris 4th in 60m
Updated 20 Feb - 1,500m CBP for Lorraine Daly
Updated 28 April - Lucy Langley upgraded to Silver u/14 Walk
We were up before the crows on Saturday & Sunday 12th/13th February to make the long trip to Nenagh for the Leinster Juvenile Indoors. A few weeks ago we had the relays but this time it was the individual events, with everyone hoping to qualify for the National Indoor Finals in Magherafelt on 19th/20th March and Nenagh on 2nd April.

SUMMARY RESULTS

·     10 gold medals; 8 silver medals; 6 bronze medals

·     21 athletes qualified as of right to compete in 24 events at National Finals

·     12 others finished so close - 6 in 4th and 6 in 5th

SATURDAY

1,500m
First into action on Saturday were the older 1,500m athletes and Mullingar certainly showed why it dominates in cross country with some fantastic performances. Linda Conroy cruised to victory in the u/16 girls with Lorna Moody running strongly too but very unlucky to finish just out of the medals in 5th place. Another gold made look easy came courtesy of our latest International athlete, Padraig Moran, in the u/16 boys with a very convincing victory. Lorraine Daly led from the start in the girls u/17 with a very relaxed fluid piece of running and had plenty in reserve to see off a late challenge in the finishing straight to take gold in a new Championship Best Performance time of 5:27.44. Ryan Blundell worked hard in the boys u/17 and on the last lap moved into a well earned bronze medal winning position to keep Mullingar’s medal winning streak going. Anna Ryan also worked hard in the girls u/18 but the distance is a little short for her liking and the pace was very quick and despite a good effort she finished out of the medals. In the boys u/18, Stephen Nea kept right on the shoulder of the leader throughout and with 150m to go used his trademark sprint to hit the front and move away to a spectacular victory.

600m
Moving on to the 600m, Alisha Martin qualified comfortably from her heat of the girls u/12 and in the final later in the day despite a great run, particularly a very fast finish, crossed the finish line just out of the medals in 5th place but will have learned a lot from her first indoor final. In the boys u/12, Conor McHugh won his heat easily but John Whitelaw was unlucky not to qualify for the final from the extremely competitive heats. In the final, Conor finished out of the medals despite running a very good race. We had a Mullingar girl in each of the 4 heats of the girls u/13, where Niamh Quinn, Meabh McNulty and Alanna Bate all finished in 2nd place to book their places in the final, but Ellen Cronin was very unlucky in her heat to just miss out on qualifying for the final by the narrowest of margins. The final was run at a ferocious pace right from the start, with Niamh Quinn right in the mix up to 400m. Meabh McNulty was blocked at the start and lost a lot of ground, which took time to make up. Alanna Bate also had problems with the start on the tight Nenagh track and took time to settle into her running. Meabh finally got back in touch by the last lap but despite a great sprint effort that took her past Niamh she was unlucky to finish in 4th, just out of the medals, with Niamh finishing 6th and Alanna close behind. Jonah Kelly was delighted to win his heat in the boys u/13 and in the final, which was run at a very fast pace right from the off, he ran very well but finished out of the medal places.

60m Hurdles
Between the 600m heats and finals we had the 60m hurdle sprints where Dorothy Bane didn’t qualify from her heat of the girls u/14, and in the final of the boys u/14, Declan Brady finished just out of the medals in 5th and Niall Brady close behind.

Shot Putt
Meanwhile, in the field events Eoin Sheridan was in action in the boys u/15 shot putt and with this being the first competition of the year, it was great to see that all the winter work he had put in was showing its just rewards and his throw of 10.88m was good enough to see him take silver. Next up was Niamh Fogarty in the girls u/13 shot putt and this being the first indoor competition for Niamh, she really did not know what to expect. Like Eoin the winter programme had paid off with Niamh throwing a strong 9.10m, which was good enough to see her take silver too. Both Niamh and Eoin were up against strong competition on the day but are now well positioned for the Nationals in a few weeks.

Long Jump
Kevin Giles made the last eight in the boys u/14 long jump but despite jumoing well, medals proved elusive. Kevin was joined by Declan and Niall Brady but they too finished out of the medal places. Similarly for John Whitelaw and Conor McHugh in the boys u/12 long jump where they thoroughly enjoyed the experience but also finished out of the medals.

So ended Saturday with 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal and a lot of excellent performances and close finishes to look back on.

SUNDAY

Race-walking
On Sunday, it was the turn of our race-walkers to display their talents, beginning with Lucy Langley in the 1,000m u/14 race-walk where despite being very new to the event, showed great talent and only narrowly missed the silver medal, finishing 3rd, but the result was changed later and Lucy was awarded the silver and was delighted to have qualified for the National Finals. In the 1,000m for girls u/15 Faye Walsh also competed really well in a new event for her and finished 4th, just outside the medals places. Oisin Quinn is no stranger to race-walking and in a thrilling 1,000m u/15 finished 2nd to book his place in the National Finals. Edel Glennon was in excellent form in the 1,500m for girls u/16 and led from the start to win yet another Leinster race-walk title.

Shot Putt
Over at the shot putt circle, Ciara Fogarty (u/18), Moya Leydon (u/14) and Sarah Sheridan (u/12) were in action. First up was Ciara, and despite an early start to the competition, it did not deter her from throwing a personal best. Ciara was delighted to have thrown over 11m for the first time in competition this year with a throw of 11.06m, which was good enough to win the silver medal. Next up was Moya and with over 20 girls in the competition, Moya was delighted to finish 5th, showing some great technique and some great back to back throwing, with her furthest being 8.66m. Last up for the Harriers in the shot circle for the day was newcomer Sarah Sheridan. This was Sarah’s first competitive outing in shot putt, and what a way to start out. Sarah was well placed amongst the more than 20 competitors in the first set of three throws, and was placed 5th going into the final 3 rounds. With a slight adjustment to her technique, Sarah managed to outclass some of her competitors and threw a massive 6.10m, placing her 3rd in the final round, which she held on to and won the bronze medal. Over the two days, we had 5 shot putters in action, ranging from u/12 to u/18 and had a most successful weekend with an excellent tally of 3 silver medals, 1 bronze medal and one 5th place finish reflecting the hard work put in by our shot putters under the expert eye of Richard Fogarty.

Long Jump
Staying with the field events, Maeve O’Reilly was very pleased to make the last eight in the girls u/15 long jump and though she finished out of the medals was still very satisfied with her performance.

200m
In the 200m, Victoria Harris dominated her u/16 heat and won comfortably to qualify for the final in which, from the outside lane, she stormed around the tight bends in a very closely contested race where she showed great strength and determination to finish in 2nd place and qualify for the National Finals. Liam O’Reilly was very unlucky in his 200m u/16 heat where despite finishing 2nd he just missed out on a place in the final by a very small margin. No problem for Tommy Gallagher in his 200m u/18 heat where his 2nd place finish was enough to qualify for the final. Drawing lane 2 in the final, which is very tight for someone as tall as Tommy, didn’t faze him at all and with a superb display of sprinting talent he absolutely tore around the track and took silver in an exciting finish to win his first individual medal running in the Mullingar colours and secured his place at the National Finals.

800m
Not surprisingly, Mullingar was very well represented in the 800m races. Laura Whitelaw finished 5th in her 800m u/14 heat, just missing out on qualification for the final by one place. Claire Fagan made it safely through her heat and in the final was terribly unlucky to finish 5th, just outside the medal places despite giving it her very best. We had four athletes in the 800m for boys u/14 where Patrick Shaw, Declan Brady, Cormac Dalton and Senan Lynam all qualified easily from their heats and it was great to see all four Mullingar boys line up on the start line for the final. Away very quickly from the start, Cormac Dalton set the early pace, followed closely by Patrick Shaw, with Declan Brady and Senan Lynam also running well. As the laps unfolded it became a straight battle between Cormac and Patrick and with 150m to go, Patrick surged ahead of Cormac and the two sprinted hard to the finish, with Patrick holding on to take gold and Cormac on his heels to take silver. Declan and Senan finished strongly behind, but despite finishing out of the medal place were pleased to have been part of a Leinster final.

Aisling Moody and Faye Walsh ran really well in the 800m for girls u/15 but finished out of the medals. Glen Gaffney, newcomer Adam Kelly and Mervyn Harris made it safely through their 800m u/15 heats. In the final, Glen Gaffney simply dominated the field with a fabulous piece of front running to win well clear. For a newcomer, Adam Kelly’s performance was an eye-opener as he finished 4th in a very tight finish leaving everyone wonder how good he will be with more training and racing experience under his belt? Adam is someone to watch out for in the future. Mervyn Harris also ran well and finished close behind in 5th.

Linda Conroy added to her medal haul for the week-end with a dominant display in the 800m for girls u/16, leading from start to finish and winning in a new Championship Best Performance time of 2:24.57 to make it an 800m/1,500m double gold for Linda. Caoimhe Shaw turned in a great performance too and despite a tremendous effort on the last lap that saw close hard on the leaders, finished an agonizing 4th, just outside the medal places.

In the 800m for boys u/16, Jack Reid was simply in another class and was never troubled throughout the race to win by a large margin and take a very well deserved gold. Liam O’Reilly looked extremely good throughout but in the final sprint to the finish was possibly still feeling the after effects of his splendid efforts in the 200m and finished a very close 4th, just outside the medals.

The 800m for girls u/17 saw Lorraine Claffey look completely at home in her first individual Leinster indoor final and after a close race in which she stayed right with the pace throughout was delighted to finish 3rd and win a Leinster bronze medal.

The final 800m of the day with a Mullingar interest was the 800m for boys u/19 in which Adam Daly really threw down the gauntlet from the start and set a blistering pace over the opening two laps. However, Adam couldn’t sustain such a pace and was passed by Robert Yorke who thanks to the fierce early pace set by Adam went on to win with a terrific time on the clock. Adam suffered a little in the closing stages but had done enough damage to the opposition to guarantee him 3rd and he was delighted with his bronze medal.

60m Sprints
Mullingar had a very large number of athletes in action in the 60m sprints where the heats were extremely competitive and qualification for the finals was very keenly contested with up to 6 heats in some age groups. Alisha Martin (u/12) found the pace of the very short 60m too fast for her liking and didn’t qualify for the final. Nicole Gorry and Niamh Fogarty (u/13) were unlucky not to advance to the final, as was Adeola Ojomo-Amaka (u/13) who stumbled slightly coming out of the blocks and the small distance lost was enough to ruin her chance of advancing to the final. Patrick Leydon (u/13) qualified comfortably for the final but was unlucky to finish out of the medals. We had five girls in the 60m u/14, but though Dorothy Bane, Hilary Harris, Rachel Glennon, Lucy Langley and Emma-Jude Lyons competed well, they didn’t advance to the final from the hugely competitive heats. A similar fate for Niall Brady and Neill Carthy (u/14), Maeve O’Reilly (u/15) and Eoin Sheridan (u/15) but Mervyn Harris (u/15) ended the drought by qualifying easily from his heat but the final was too soon after his 800m final, which robbed him of his best, though he still turned in a strong performance to finish 4th, just outside the medals.

It took Victoria Harris (u/16) to finally put Mullingar on the 60m medal board with a very comfortable win in her heat to qualify for the final where she absolutely blasted from the blocks and took bronze in a very tight photo finish to add another sprint medal to her tally for the day. Tommy Gallagher (u/18) also made it look easy in his 60m heat and in the final had a terrific start to join the small group that pulled away to take the medals, Tommy taking bronze in a typical very tight 60m sprint finish to add 60m bronze to his 200m silver medal.

Mullingar finished Sunday with 6 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals to add to the 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal won on Saturday, and with 21 athletes automatically qualified to compete in 24 events at the National Finals, marks this Leinster Indoors out as one of the best ever by the Club. Many thanks to the many parents who traveled to Nenagh to lend support and encouragement and our juvenile athletes certainly gave them plenty to cheer about.