Tailteann medals for Walsh, Maher and Delahunty

The recent good performances of the Irish team in Rome has spurred on a nation of athletes. At home, the increased motivation and confidence has been reflected in the higher standards of performance.

Take the Tailteann Games last Saturday for instance. Prior to this year’s competition, only one championship record had been broken since 2020. On Saturday, nine records fell.

Kilkenny’s athletes are also experiencing such a rise in standards. Cathal O’Reilly has had two personal best performances within four days, while younger athletes from Thomastown, Nuenna, St Joseph’s and Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) had personal bests all around at the All-Ireland pairs and under-12 championships in Tullamore on Sunday. Meanwhile in Mannheim, Molly Daly produced a season’s best performance in the 200m.

Tailteann Games

This year’s Tailteann Games broke all records when it came to excitement. Prior to last weekend’s games only one championship record had been broken since 2020, marking a relatively normal period in Tailteann participation.

From the offset, the 2024 games proved pulsating. The programme began with the boys’ hammer, where Thomas Williams not only broke the 1977 hammer record but did so in all of his five throws, finally settling on a new championship record of 77.31, propelling the Cavan athlete to number one in the world on the under-18 ranking list.

Six Kilkenny athletes represented Leinster at this interprovincial competition. Taking part in the walks were Lily Ryan (St Joseph’s and Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School) and Evan Walsh (St Joseph’s and CBS Kilkenny).

Walsh gave a good account of himself and finished in third place. It is almost four weeks since he had his appendix removed and the hardy Kilkenny teenager was back on the track racing for medals and places on that Irish team.

The race was won by Matthew Newell (Tuam) who knocked two seconds off his own record that he set the previous year. As Newell is competing in the European under-18 championships and it clashes with the timing of the SIAB schools internationals, this means that more than likely Walsh will be selected as part of the Irish team. Lily Ryan finished fourth in a high-quality girls’ field.

Three KCH athletes raced in the sprinting events. Kate Maher had an incredible race in the 200m where she worked hard through the latter half of the race to finish second in a time of 26.11. She will now be rewarded with a place on the SIAB team for the schools international. If selected, this will be the Loreto student’s first international vest. In the same race, Grace Delahunty (Loreto) finished fifth. There was more medal joy at the end of the day, when the two girls were part of the Leinster team that won the 4x100m relay.

Evan Walsh (St Joseph’s) won bronze in the walk at the Tailteann Games.  Picture: Perri Williams

While Thomas Williams may have been causing a stir in the hammer arena, Meabh O’Donovan (Brow Rangers and Kilkenny College) was one of nine girls taking part in their hammer. Meave finished fourth with a distance of 39.24, just 20cm short of a bronze medal.

All-Ireland Pairs

The children’s games (formerly known as the All-Ireland pairs) were held in Tullamore on Sunday with athletes from St Joseph’s, Kilkenny City Harriers, Thomastown and Nuenna taking part. Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s) and Isabella Quaglia (KCH) both took bronze in their respective events. In the pairs there were no medals, but there were a lot of personal bests with some pairs just missing out on medals by a hundredth of a second.

Nuenna AC had their first ever representative at the All-Ireland track and field. Joey Nolan created history for the club when taking part in the under-12 high jump. Nolan jumped 1.30m, which was the same as the bronze medal winning height. He was a little unfortunate as there were six athletes who had cleared 1.30m, three of them were awarded the bronze medal as their jumping pattern was the same - they had all cleared every height on their first attempt and all failed all attempts at 1.35m.

The Nuenna athlete had scraped the bar at 1.25m and knocked it on his first attempt but cleared it on the second. It is a height that he would normally soar with ease. He was subsequently awarded sixth place. Such are the rules of high jumping!

There was better fortune for Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s). From the moment he took part in his first championship event, the county championships in Kilkenny, Doherty was impressive. He was streets ahead of the rest of his age group. At Leinster he was equally impressive. On Sunday in Tullamore he finished third in the under-12 600m with a time of 1.41 - quite fast for an 11-year-old.

Tom was with the leaders from the onset. Making sure to stay out of trouble and away from the risk of being tripped up, as the leaders pulled away with 300m to go, Tom remained there with them, chasing them all the way. He was well aware of Limerick’s Tom Keogh chasing him down. A little injection of speed 50m from the line, took care of that. Tom cruised to the line, in third place in his first ever All-Ireland Track and Field.

Kate Kelly (KCH) finished second in the All-Ireland cross-country. She has already made an impact on the track and, like Doherty, qualified for her first All-Ireland track and field. Kelly works hard during races and she kept in contention with the leaders all the way. The leader Katelyn Woods from Dundalk was a class apart and won the girls’ under-12 600m over a second clear of the second placed athlete Grace Foley (Sligo AC). Kelly can be happy with her seventh place finish.

Another athlete to take part in their first All-Ireland Championship was Caelan Brambrick. Bambrick had already taken part in the indoors and knew what the big moment felt like. He finished ninth in the under-12 shot-put.

There was better news for the Kilkenny City Harriers pair of Isabella Quaglia and Teagin Mtinsi in the girls’ shot-put. Quaglia threw 8.46 in the fifth round to take the bronze medal. She was just 2cm off the silver medal position. Mtinsi threw 8.03 on her final throw and finished fourth.

Molly Daly (left) recorded a season’s best in the Mannheim Junior International at the weekend

Kyle Dunne and Alfie Challoner paired up for the under-11 60m. Dunne finished third in his heat. Challoner finished fourth in his. The under-11 boys’ relay team of Luke Hanlon. Alfie Challoner, Niall Connelly and Kyle Dunne were sixth in their heat. The KCH team of Daniel McIntyre, Quinn, James Healy and Conor Lawrence Delaney finished fifth in their heat. In addition to the under-11 boys’ relay team KCH had teams in the under-11 girls, under-nine girls, under-nine boys and under-10 girls. While none came away with medals, it is evident that they have the makings of future great things.

There were two KCH athletes in the boys’ under-nine long jump: Cian McIntyre and Johnah Cleere. McIntyre jumped 3.26 with Cleere 3.23. It was a very tightly contested long jump final with most of the athletes within touching distance of the top three places.

Mannheim Gala

There was more good news for Molly Daly at the Mannheim Junioren Gala meet. Competing in the 200m Molly ran 24.61 which is her fourth fastest time this year and her best outdoor performance over 200m. As one of the youngest competitors in the field she did very well to win her heat and take 12th place overall. The Mannheim junior international is one of the most prestigious international competitions for Juniors and is excellent preparation for the European Championships, which she has already qualified for.

UCD Track and Field

There was an excellent night of racing at the UCD track meet last week. High participation and good quality field made a significant impact on the reputation of the meet, where three athletes from the county were in action.

In the 800m, Cathal O’Reilly (KCH) won the 800m race in a time of 1:50, which was a new personal best. This is Cathal’s second personal best time in four days, coming on the back of his first ever four-minute mile.

Jordan Knight (St Joseph’s AC) is edging closer to his personal best in the long jump. On his final jump he cleared 6.53m for a new season’s best performance. With the senior championships this coming weekend, this presents another opportunity for Knight to target a longer jump.

David Williams (St Senan’s AC) competed in the 1,500m and was within a few hundredths of a second of his personal best time that he set in March of this year. Williams is starting to come into form again after a few interruptions to his training.