County gold rush as juveniles ‘rain’ at All-Ireland championships
On a day that oscillated between rain of biblical proportions and rising heat straight off the African plains, Kilkenny athletes engaged in some terrific athletics competitions at the All-Ireland juvenile championships.
While the weather was figuring out what to do, five new national records were set as Kilkenny athletes reeled in a haul of five gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Gold medals were won by Andrew Cooper (Gowran), Alex Cullen (Kilkenny City Harriers), Matias Quaglia (KCH), Molly Daly (KCH) and Ellen Daly (KCH).
In what seemed like another season entirely the Kilkenny City Harriers men’s team won the division one national league title in brilliant sunshine. Thirteen athletes took part, covering 19 events between them. The mostly junior team reached out beyond their signature events, to help secure victory over Lagan Valley and Galway City Harriers.
All-Ireland Juveniles
Andrew Cooper (Gowran) completed his final competition as a juvenile. With three broken fingers on his shot-put hand, it was an usual way to bow out of juvenile action.
While that training accident denied the Laois native the chance to take James Kelly’s national record it didn’t prevent him from winning the gold medal. Despite his injury he threw 15.51m, over three and a half metres ahead of his nearest rival Rory McNally (Kilcoole).
Matias Quaglia (Kilkenny City Harriers) is an athlete whose genetic disposition lends itself to Athletics. With his mother Emily (Maher) being a former European Junior silver medalist and his father playing rugby for Argentina, the Kilkenny athlete just can’t ignore his talent.
Quaglia won his under-16 200m heat with ease and faced the final against Ratoath’s Christopher Olatunde. With the rain clearing, the athletes faced better conditions than those of the under-17, 18 and 19 races.
A slippery start for most gave way to solid running, all the athletes managing to stay upright. Quaglia and Olatunde came off the bend level, but Olatunde was no match for the Kilkennyman as Quaglia found another gear crossed the line in a time that surpassed the 22.65 set by David Murphy (Gowran) back in 2015. A wind reading of in excess of 2m/s invalidated the record, leaving for future athletic protégées to challenge.
The Daly sisters Molly and Ellen (KCH) both picked up gold medals. Molly, a little tired from her European under-18 championship racing, won her under-17 200m heat in 24.91, over half a second faster than any other qualifier. The flooded track put paid to all attempts at running a faster final.
Ellen Daly (KCH) wins the girls’ under-15 200m final amid pouring rain in Tullamore
The girls’ under-15 200m was run in reverse circumstances to the 100m a week ago. This time around it was Ellen Daly who took gold with Aisling Phelan taking bronze. It was a very close call between Phelan and Leah Quelly (KCK) with both athletes securing the same finishing time. Quelly was deemed the silver medalist after a photo finish.
Kilkenny City Harriers had two athletes in the under-14 girls’ 200m final. Ella Sorohan was the second fastest to qualify for the final with Keegan qualifying as a fastest loser. Keegan faded slightly over the final 200m but that was not the case with Sorohan, who seemed to gain speed and strength as she chased down Jaden Shaw-Hanlon (Ratoath) all the way to the finish line. Running out of track Sorohan lost the gold medal by just five-hundredths of a second.
Alex Cullen won the final gold medal of the day. The rain had made the hurdles a little dangerous, with several athletes approaching them with caution, causing them to lose their rhythm and stride pattern. Cullen took the bend with care. Despite trailing Eoghan Mac Muiris (DSD) on the final bend, Cullen managed to regain composure and eat up any deficit in the final 100m. He clinched victory by almost a second.
Like Gowran AC’s Andrew Cooper, this too marks the exit for Cullen’s juvenile career. It has been a championship career that has spanned seven years of competition, with Cullen taking on new athletic dimensions. Initially favouring the high jump and long jump, Cullen has now moved away from what was his safe ground to emerge as a strong force in the 400m hurdles and 400m flat. Exciting times lie ahead with lots of possibilities.
There was further success for Kilkenny in the hurdles as Thomastown’s Victor Lamph took his second All-Ireland medal of these championships. Lamph finished second in the heat, securing an automatic qualifying spot. Similar to the 100m hurdles three weeks ago, the finish was a very close affair. Lamph finished third, losing out on silver by just one-tenth of a second.
There was an excellent race from Patrick Wall (KCH) in the boys’ under-15 250m hurdles as he raced his heart out to finish second to a strong Kyle Ward-Byrne of Newbridge. Also in her final year of juvenile competition was Blaithin Holden who finished fourth in the under-19 400m hurdles, some four-tenths of a second off the bronze medal position.
Having competed at national level for the past four years, Sinead Cormack finally secured that much coveted individual medal. Cormack had to contend with the great Renton twins of Westport, Freya and Holly. Freya pushed the pace from the end of the first lap, leaving no doubt as to her intentions to race as fast as she could.
While Freya Renton was out on her own ahead, her sister Holly was battling with Mid-Sutton’s Tara Rose Smith. Some five metres behind them lay McCormack. With 200m to go Holly Renton had started to move into a secure position for the silver medal. Chasing hard in fourth was Cormack. Demonstrating a turn of speed, Cormack passed Smith in the final 60m to take the bronze medal. In the girls’ under-18 Eve Dunphy (St Senan’s) finished fourth, shaving two seconds off her personal best, Charlotte Carpendale finished ninth.
Kate Maher added to the Kilkenny City Harriers success over the sprinting events. Maher won her under-16 200m heat easily.
She came through strongly in the final 50 metres, passing Alicija Doyle to take the silver.
National League
It was back to Tullamore on Sunday for the National League final. Kilkenny City Harriers, along with Lagan Valley, Galway City Harriers, St Abban’s, Enniscorthy and Raheny were battling for top honours in Division One.
Alex Cullen (KCH) taking gold in the boys’ under-19 400m hurdles at the All-Irelands
The Harriers’ Division One victory was hugely supported by eight event wins. Alex Cullen made a quick turnaround from his hurdles victory on Saturday to race again with the club in the league. Cullen was back out again in the 400m hurdles where he clocked 55.74 to take a three second victory over Oisin McCorry (Raheny).
Cullen then turned to his athletic roots, the high jump, to take the gold with a new personal best of 1.83, all first-time clearances. Nicholas Dunphy has made an annual event of the National League and delivered in style, winning the 1,500m race walk. Dean Brennan made light work of the shot-put and the weight for distance. Raheny’s Eric Favors had to miss this year’s league, due to his Olympic qualification. This left the path open for other clubs to gain extra points. Brennan threw over 10 metres on all his throws, to score an easy victory. It was a similar story with the weight for distance, where Brennan had a lead of almost two metres further than his nearest opponent.
Cathal O’Reilly demonstrated class as he took command of the 1,500m race from start to finish, accumulating a lead of over 15 seconds after the three and three-quarter laps. Other notable performances were from Ruairi McEvoy who shaved three seconds off his personal best in the 800m.
The 4x100m and 4x400m teams both took the top spot. The team of Alex Cullen, along with Noah Gilmore, Conor Byrne and Adam Slawinski had impeccable baton changing. Cullen had an outstanding run in the final leg of the 4x400m, when he passed Galway City Harriers in the home run.
There were four second place finishes from Noah Gilmore (pole vault), Conor Byrne (400m), Paddy Kelly (steeplechase) and Callum Barron in the 5,000m. It was good to see Adam Slawinski back on the track again after his Leaving Cert temporarily sidelined him.
Winning return
Four Kilkenny athletes were in action for Tipperary teams in the National League. Urlingford’s Jack Hickey was part of the Nenagh team competing in the Premier Division. Galmoy’s Katie Bergin, along with Kate and Emma Delaney (all Moyne AC), were part of a Tipperary women’s county team. Bergin made an explosive start to 2024 when she won both the 100m and 200m at the national under-23 indoors. Competing in just her second competition since last March, Bergin looks like she is well on her way to her early year form. She won both the 100m and 200m for Tipperary in the league. Emma Delaney competed in the 400m with Kate Delaney doing the 2000m steeplechase. Tipperary won the women’s county title.