DSD and Clonliffe duly lived up to expectations when they retained their titles at the Glo Health All ireland Track and Field League final in a blustery and chilly Tullamore.
Grace O’Rourke (DSD)
For the Dundrum South Dublin women, it was a sixth consecutive title and a tenth overall. Despite missing some of their big names, DSD still had a comfortable win over St Abban’s, with vital contributions from Sinead Denny winner of the 400m, Kate Doherty winner 100m hurdles and team captain Fiona Clinton who won the 3000m and was third in the 1500m.
Grace O’Rourke won her specialist high jump and was then drafted in for the 800m, where she caused the shock of the day by coming home first. With talent like Rachel Dunne 2nd 400m hurdles and Mollie O’Reilly 3rd 200m to call on, DSD also won the 4 x 100m and was second behind Raheny in the 4 x 400m.
For St Abban’s, Saragh Buggy won the long jump as well as her specialist triple jump and was second in the 100m hurdles. Nessa Millet won the 400m hurdles, Nicole Kehoe Dowling was second in both the discus and shot and Emma Daly second in the javelin.
Consistency won the day for Clonliffe Harriers in the men’s competition. Crusaders had brought out their heavy hitters in Adam McMullen, winner of the long jump, Jason Harvey 1st 400m hurdles and Matt Behan winner of the 110m hurdles. The Irishtown club also won both the 4 x 100m and the 4 x 400m relays, but lost serious points in the middle distance races.
Brian Gregan
By contrast, Clonliffe picked up points across the board. Brian Gregan is back in imperious form and won both the 400m and 200m. Simon Galligan flung the hammer out to 57.68m for a solid victory over Killian Barry of Crusaders, while Andrew Heney won the high jump and Rory Gunning the javelin.There were also second places for the likes of Chris Sibanda 100m, Luke Mangan shot, Timmy Crowe 400m hurdles and Marcin Klinzov discus.
Other good performances in the premier division came from John Travers of Donore who won a thrilling 800m, Sean Breathnach of Galway City Harriers winner of both the shot and the 56 lb for distance, Sean Roth of DSD who won the pole vault with 4.70m, Eamonn Fahey of Donore winner of the triple jump.
Then there was Freddy Sittuk of Raheny who started his afternoon in the steeplechase, where he held off the challenge of Emmett Jennings from DSD despite a trip late in the race. He then lined out in the 5000m, where he held out for another victory, this time against John Eves of DSD. A club man through and through.
Closest result of the day came in women’s division 1 which Kilkenny City Harriers only took on count-back from Antrim Combined. Kilkenny had wins in the 100m hurdles, 100m, 200m, 4 x 400, shot and discus. Antrim won the javelin, high jump and pole vault. In third place was Donore with Kerry fourth – and Shona Heaslip’s runaway victory in the 3000m one of the outstanding performances of the day.
Antrim Combined had better luck in the men’s division 1 which they won, beating Finn Valley by just two points. Pics at www.lindie.zenfolio.com
IN THE PHOENIX PARK, Laura Graham of Mourne Runners and Clonliffe mountain running international Brian MacMahon were the winners of the national half marathon titles. The race was held in conjunction with the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon franchise; there were 9,881 finishers.
SERGIU CIOBANU OF Clonliffe and Borrisokane’s Siobhan O’Doherty were the winners of the Streets of Galway 8km on Saturday night, with 2,506 finishing the race.
IRELAND FINISHED top of the table at the Celtic games hosted by Welsh Athletics in Swansea. Winners for Ireland included sprinter Aaron Sexton in the 200m with a time of 22.21 secs, while there was an under 18 double for Ireland with Robert Crowley winning the boys’ race and Emma O’Brien best of the girls. In the M18 long jump, Shane Keane’s 6.96m leap, helped by a +2.1 wind, equalled the games’ record.
Other Irish winners included Anna McAuley 100m, Miriam Daly W16 80m hurdles, Fintan Stewart M18 3000m, Niamh Fogarty W18 discus, Fodhla McFadden W18 triple jump, Brendan O’Donnell M18 hammer, Ruby Millet W18 long jump, Ryan Carthy Walshe M18 high jump, James Kelly M18 shot, Davicia Patterson W18 400m, Hannah Kelly W16 shot, Gareth Crawford M16 javelin, and both W18 4x100m and 4 x 400m teams as well as the M18 4 x 100m team.
Glo Health National T-F League Team results:
Women – Premier: 1 DSD 101, 2 St Abban’s 94, 3 Kildare Athletics 90, 4 Bandon AC 82.5, 5 Clonliffe 79, 6 Raheny Shamrock 77.7 , 7 Wexford County 63, 8 Galway County 58.5.
Div 1: KCH 99 (6 wins), 2 Antrim Combined 99 (3 wins), 3 Donore Harriers 87, 4 Kerry Athletics 87, 5 Slu Cualann 76, 6 Athletics Louth 71, 7 Sligo County 72, 8 Lagan Valley 42.
Men – Premier: 1 Clonliffe 120, 2 Crusaders 110.5, 3 GCH 96, 4 Donore Harriers 93, 5 Raheny Shamrock 82, 6 County Tipperary 74, 7 Kildare Athletics 71, 8 DSD 69.5.
Div 1: 1 Antrim Combined 108, 2 Finn Valley 106, 3 Bandon Striders 99, 4 Wexford County 81, 5 Meath Athletics 80, 6 St L O’Toole AC 80, 7 An Riocht 71, 8 Athletrics Louth 64.
National Half Marathon Championships, Phoenix Park, Dublin
Men: 1 Brian MacMahon (Clonliffe Hrs) 71:09, 2. Gary Thornton (GCH, M35) 71:49, 3. Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe Hrs, M40) 72:04. Teams – 1 Clonliffe Harriers, 2 Rathfarnham WSAF, 3 Thurles Crokes.
Women: 1 Laura Graham (Mourne Runners) 78:56, 2. Catherine Whoriskey (City of Derry Spartans) 80:29, 3 Norah Newcombe-Pieterse (Mayo AC) 81:57. Teams – 1 Mayo AC, 2 Sportsworld, 3 North Sligo.
Saturday August 6
Streets of Galway 8k (2,506 finishers; www.redtagtiming.com)
Men: 1 Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe) 24.25, 2 Jake O’Regan 24.36, 3 Seamus Lynch 25.27. Women: 1 Siobhan O’Doherty (Borrisokane) 27.19, 2 Caroline Crowley (Crusaders) 27.24, 3 Laura Shaughnessy (DSD) 27.38.
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