Gowran’s golden boy! Cooper bags national senior title

Andrew Cooper (Gowran) with his coach John Farrelly. Cooper won national senior gold in the shot-put recently. Picture: Perri Williams

placeholder image — Andrew Cooper (Gowran) with his coach John Farrelly. Cooper won national senior gold in the shot-put recently. Picture: Perri Williams

There were great numbers at last weekend’s All-Ireland senior indoors in Abbotstown.

For many the highlight of the indoor domestic season, younger athletes get to race the more established athletes who are aiming for the Olympics or Europeans. Among the talented athletes who produced a top-class environment was Andrew Cooper (Gowran AC) who took the national senior shot-put title. Katie Bergin (Moyne AC) took silver in the under-23 200m.

A record number of 22 athletes from Kilkenny were entered in this year’s indoors, the highest number in many years. With many of these athletes emerging from the junior ranks this is reflective of the emerging talent in the county. One that will hopefully produce the dawn of a new era of senior athletics in the county.

At just 17 years of age Andrew Cooper, competing in his first ever senior All-Ireland competition, did the unthinkable and took the national senior shot-put title. His winning throw of 14.53 came in the fourth round. His victory was ahead of Sam Vines (Cabinteely) and Callum Keating (North Cork).

In January of this year Cooper took the junior title, throwing a shot-put weighing 6kg. The senior competition carries a heavier shot-put, which weighs in at 7.26kg. This is the same weight that Sam Vines threw to win the national under-23 shot putt that same day. For Cooper the senior All-Irelands was the first time he threw the 7.26 shot-put in competition, which makes his achievements all the more remarkable.

The competition last Sunday was not all plain sailing for the Gowran AC athlete. He only managed to secure two legal throws out of the possible six, something that is somewhat concerning for the new national champion, but something that will improve. Cooper has this year adopted the spin technique for shot-put, a technique that offers the individual the advantage of a faster lead to produce a faster put, resulting in a longer distance.

While the spin produces an obvious advantage, it is difficult to master - it can take years for an athlete to perfect it. Cooper is going through the stage of working with this technique. In doing so it is not unusual to foul some throws. This is exactly what happened last Sunday, when he fouled his first throw. Thankfully, there was no drama for the second round as Cooper threw an impressive 14.38 to take the lead.

Another foul in the third round was followed by his winning distance of 14.53 in round four. The final two rounds were also no throws. Vines was in a somewhat similar position fouling three throws and only managing to secure the silver on his final round.

Andrew Cooper came into the sport of athletics two years ago. The Kilkenny College student decided to have a go at shot-put after deciding to drop rugby, which had been his sport of choice up until then. Under the tutelage of history and geography teacher John Farrelly, Cooper mastered the glide technique instantly. Farrelly quickly realised he had a rare talent on his hands.

More practice and more perfection of his initial technique improved Cooper’s throwing distance. Before long he was making the podium at not only shot, but also discus and hammer at the schools track and field.

Success in the schools was followed by success in the Leinster track and field in June 2022 when he won both the shot-put and hammer. By July he had improved his distance by over one metre and took the national under-17 shot-put title. In 2023 not only did Andrew Cooper win every shot putt competition he entered he also qualified for the under-18 Europeans. An injury he had sustained in training hampered his performance. With the world under-20s in Peru this year, people will watch Andrew Cooper’s progression with interest.

Cathal O’Reilly (KCH) competing in the 1,500m

Athletics Ireland have set high qualification standards, the A standard being 18.85 and the B standard being 18.50 with a 6kg shot. The Gowran man has already thrown 17.54 to win the under-20 indoors in January. August 27 is a long way away and his coach John Farrelly knows what to do to get him ready.

Silver for Bergin

There were two Kilkenny participants in the 200m final - Katie Bergin and Molly Daly. Katie Bergin hails from Galmoy but competes with her nearest club Moyne AC, which happens to be a few miles away just across the border in Tipperary. Bergin is the national under-23 indoor champion while Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers - KCH) is the fastest under-20 in Ireland at the moment.

Both athletes have their own unique accolades and accomplishments. For Bergin she has the distinction of being a triple double national indoor champion, having won both the 60m and 200m at under-23 level for the last three years. Daly, an under-17 athlete, stormed to victory in her heats at the All-Ireland under-20s in January to dip under 24.60 and achieve the qualifying standard for the under-18 Europeans to be held in Slovakia in July this year.

Olympian Phil Healy was also down to run as was Wicklow’s Alana Ryan. Healy easily won the first heat in 23.59 to qualify for the final. Competing in heat two, Bergin had no difficulty winning hers in 24.33 – a new indoor personal best. Daly was in heat three and won in 24.63 well ahead of Janie Boyle (Finn Valley).

With the six fastest girls qualifying for the final, the pressure to win their heats and win well was present. Healy pulled out all stops in the final. Starting from lane six, with the advantage of coming off the ramp into the home straight, the Cork athlete was well clear and coasted home to victory in 23.37. Bergin was clear of Alana Ryan to take silver in 24.26, another personal best. Ryan took bronze and Molly Daly finished fourth with a time of 24.94. To finish fourth in her first national senior championships is a huge achievement.

For Bergin this marks her ninth personal best out of 13 races (heats and finals) since January 1 - a considerable achievement in itself.

Personal Bests

Four of the five Kilkenny athletes who competed in middle-distance events achieved personal bests over the weekend. In the women’s 1,500m Sophie Jackman (St Senan’s) ran 4.35 to finish fifth in the heat on Saturday.

Jackman had previously competed in the senior indoors, but only at 800m. Moving up to the longer distance of 1500m, she then had the difficult task of putting two 1500m races back-to-back. With plenty of planned recovery she stepped out onto the track on Sunday, ready to embrace whatever the final would bring.

The race was fairly open in terms of expected medal winners, with Carla Sweeney (Dublin) being the one who would most likely step onto the podium for a medal of some colour. It was Sweeney who led the field after the first 100m. Controlling the front line up and the pace. Jackman, the tallest athlete in the field, found herself locked on the inside of the track. A position which could yield results provided a break comes as the athletes are heading for home. But for a tall athlete like Jackman, she had to be careful not to get clipped. Thankfully the race was without jostling.

In the front line up was Mullingar’s Aimee Wallace, who had on paper a faster personal best than Jackman. As Sweeney applied more speed over the penultimate lap, Wallace dropped back, unable to keep pace. It was Sweeney who crossed the line for gold. Sophie Jackman finished seventh with a new personal best of 4.31, shaving off three seconds in less than three weeks.

Katie Bergin (Moyne) was second in the 200m

Cathal O’Reilly (KCH) - like Jackman - had qualified from the 1,500m heats on Saturday, where he finished second to Nicholas Griggs in a time of 3.57 – easing to the final. A stint of overnight recovery ensured Cathal was prepared for what was to be one of the most thrilling finals of the weekend.

As expected, the athletes bunched well for the first few laps, with Nick Griggs (CNDR), Cormac Dixon (Tallaght) and Phillip Marron (DCH) completing the front line. Tucked in behind was the 2022 National 1,500m champion Cathal Doyle (Clonliffe), who took over the lead at the bell, with Griggs in pursuit.

The final lap was blistering hot with the pace similar to an 800m finish than that of a 1,500m. O’Reilly found himself adrift of the leaders Griggs and Doyle, who were neck and neck all the way up the home straight. Both athletes threw themselves forward in an effort to cross that line first - it is chest first across the line that clinches victory. Doyle, being substantially taller, had the advantage and as both athletes fell to the ground it was Doyle who got the gold, damaging his wrist yet again in the process.

Cathal O’Reilly was watching all of this unfold from behind. He finished 10th in 3.54. Not quite the race he had planned, but certainly a great achievement to get into a competitive 1,500m final and race with the best.

There were three Kilkenny representatives in the 3,000m men’s race. With a record 42 athletes entered, two timed heats were declared. The two times from the two heats being ranked to gather the final position. Heat one featured KCH duo Billy Coogan and Myles Hewlett. This heat was competitive with quite a number of athletes running together for the first eight of the 15-lap race.

Coogan is more suited to the longer track races and had previously run steeplechase, 5,000m and 3,000m outdoors. Doing an indoor race was something he had not done in over two years. Hewlett, on the other hand, liked indoor running and had raced at distances from 800m to 3,000m.

The two Kilkenny boys were out in front going onto lap nine along with Lucan AC’s Dylan Wright. Wright and James Tanner (Nenagh) increased the pace and created a small lead with Coogan, Hewlett and Ieune Hopkins (Bros Pierce) in pursuit.

Gradually over the next two laps Coogan reeled in Tanner and Wright.

Taking over the lead Coogan led lap 11 until Darragh Mulcahy (St Finbarrs) decided to take over. Mulcahy pushed the pace with Coogan trying to keep up. A great race between the two ensued with Coogan passing the Corkman in the home straight to win the heat in 8.34.12, a new personal best. Myles Hewlett finished fifth in 8.35.98, also a new personal best.

Taking part in the next heat, the faster of the two heats, was David Williams (St Senan’s). Williams had never run a 3,000m indoors and had run every few races over 1,500m outdoors on the track. He finished his cross-country season with a third place finish at under-19 to earn himself a place on the under-20 Celtic Cross Country team, where he finished fourth in Scotland.

Sophie Jackman (St Senan’s) in action in the 1,500m

With two new personal best times over the last two weeks over distances of 800m and 1,500m, the intention was to run a good time for 3,000m and lay down some markers for 2024. This was his first ever senior All-Ireland. The early pace was slow, much slower than the first heat. Williams was tucked into the middle of the pack, not knowing what to expect but willing to cling to the group to find out. The final three laps were very fast with the field breaking up considerably. Williams held on very well to finish in ninth place with a time of 8.27, a new personal best based on his outdoor time by a staggering 15 seconds.

The final ranking was ninth for Williams, 12th for Coogan and 17th for Hewlett – great results from young under-20 athletes.

Walking record

Twenty-two women started the 3,000m walk, the highest number ever in a national senior indoors. Kate Veale (West Waterford) was the pre-race favourite. The former world youth champion had won the event seven times previously.

Competing from the county were Lily Ryan, Maggie O’Connor and Tracey Malone (St Joseph’s) and Keelin Duggan (St Senan’s).

From the onset, it was Veale who raced to the front and after the first lap had a clear lead. By the end of the race she had lapped every walker in the field, such is her talent. The Kilkenny walkers gave a very good account of themselves with Ryan and Duggan gaining new personal best times. Ryan finished eighth in a time of 15.56 in her first ever national seniors.

Next home for Kilkenny was Maggie O’Connor (St Joseph’s) who, for a master over-50 athlete, produced a very impressive performance of 16.28 to finish 11th. Keelin Duggan finished 16th with a new personal best of one second.

In the men’s walk a thrilling battle unfurled between Olympian David Kenny (Farranfore) and Oisin Lane (Mullingar), resulting in the Kerryman taking the gold. There was a sterling performance by young Evan Walsh in his first ever senior All-Ireland. He finished eighth in a new indoor personal best of 24.33. Kilkenny has a long tradition in race-walking and the current crop of walkers in the county may be small but they are already making an impact.

Jumping and Throwing Success

Shane Power (St Joseph’s) has become a regular over the last decade on the pole vault scene. A quick look at the results over this period and his name will crop up all the time. Like race-walking, pole vaulting became popular as groups sprang up around the country, creating communities where athletes from various clubs came together to train. There has been a great increase in the heights that the athletes have scaled resulting in greater success and more participation.

Power has accumulated a few national medals in the name of vaulting and has reached the lofty height of 4.70m. However, three clear previous rounds, he was unfortunate to knock the bar at 4.35m, relegating him from third to fourth.

Fellow clubmate Jordan Knight is as prolific in the long jump records as Power is in the vaulting ones. The multiple national champion at ages from under-12 through to under-23 has a lot of experience and has steadily improved since the start of this season. Knight is content to make improvements based on his own ability. His best jump came from the final round where he recorded 6.67, his season’s best. Knight turned 21 last week the same day he competed in the intervarsities. With two more years at under-23, he can look forward to a good summer season.

Emma Fenlon (St Joseph’s) took part in the weight for distance and shot-put. Daughter of Verena Fenlon, who competes at the same disciplines, Fenlon was just 5cm short of the bronze medal in the weight for distance competition on Saturday. Her throw of 6.40 placed her fifth.

On Sunday she took part in the shot-put where she finished sixth with a throw of 10.72. Competing also in the shot was Mary Fitzgerald (Gowran) who was eighth. Fitzgerald will be hoping to make the Paralympics this summer.

The final athlete to compete in the throws was Sean Maher (Brow Rangers). Maher was a podium finisher in the weight for distance last Saturday at the intervarsity indoors. He came into the seniors with some serious credibility.

Maher finished in fifth place, an agonising four centimetres off the bronze medal. His best throw came from round five.