Galway juveniles come up trumps in cross country

THERE were some fantastic results for Galway juveniles over the two weekends of the Connacht Cross Country. The even ages took place on Saturday week in Sligo Racecourse and the uneven ages took place last weekend in Ballinamore, Co.Leitrim.  

Though no Galway clubs took team golds in the Sligo juvenile events, there were some excellent individual results. Aoife Sheehy of GCH took silver in the Girls U12s, while in the girls U14 race, Dearbhaile Walshe of Craughwell won gold ahead of Shannon Lee of Athenry AC.

Running above his age category, Matthew Barrett of Craughwell was 3rd in the U14 boys race. Craughwell were second in this race by a mere point. Maeve Brannigan of GCH was 3rd in the U16 race with Jamie Spellman of Craughwell 3rd in the boys equivalent.

Michelle Maher of GCH finished second in the U18 girls race and John Mulrooney of GCH was placed 3rd in the boys U18 event. Keith Fallon of GCH was second in a very hotly contested Junior boys race.  

Craughwell AC had a fantastic day in Leitrim, winning five team titles and two individual titles on Sunday. The U11 girls 1500m race was won in splendid form by Athenry AC’s Finola Kelly, while the Craughwell AC girls ran well with Sarah McCartin leading the team home in 6th place.

Next in after Sarah, Ailbhe Miskella stepped up an age to record a fantastic 12th place, with the rest of the team hot on her heels – Roisin Hansbury 18th, Emma Urquhart 21st, Abigail McNally 23rd, Niamh Treacy 31st, Catherine Noonan 38th and Leighla O’Boyle 40th. This gave them a two point advantage over Ballina and Swinford.

Galway City Harriers (Christian Flaherty (8th), Rian Oats (11th), Johnathan McGrath (12th) and Robert McDonnell won the U11 boys race with Brandon Lee of Athenry AC the top Galway finisher in second place. Brandon’s Athenry AC teammates Mark O Brian, Dean Tracey (24th) and Shea Hennessy (39th) did enough to secure the club a bronze medal.

The Craughwell AC U13 girls continued the trend with Dearbhaile Walshe running a fantastic race to take the Connacht 2500m individual title and, in the process, lead her team to the Connacht team title with 51 points ahead of North Sligo on 62 points and Claremorris on 82 points. This means Dearbhaile had both U13 and U14 Connacht titles to her name this season – a great achievement.

The team scoring was completed by strong running from Erin Fitzpatrick in 15th, Grace Whirskey 16th, Aoife Greene 19th, Ciara O’Boyle 22nd and Alice Whirskey 23rd. Shannon Lee of Athenry AC had a fantastic run to finish 3rd in the race.  

Not to be outdone by their female peers, the Craughwell AC U13 boys won their event as well with a superb performance. The race was won by Matthew Barrett, followed by Liam Moran who had the lead for a considerable part of the race. James Cahalane was 4th and Brian Loughnane finished 7th. This total of 14 points was by far the biggest winning margin of the day.

The success story for Craughwell AC continued with the U15 girls claiming the Connacht title in their 3500m race – with a score of 30 points and led home by Ciara Greene in 3rd place, Grainne McDaid 7th, Sinead Treacy 8th and Leanne Freaney 12th.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.