Top marks as St Kieran’s College claim Leinster schools crown

Athletes from St Kieran’s College were on a high after they were crowned the best overall school at the Leinster Schools Cross-Country in Santry.

While the city school is well known throughout Ireland for its hurling abilities it has also, for many years, been very successful at cross-country. This is not the first time that Kieran’s have been awarded the best overall school in Leinster. In the past decade, they have won the cup more than any other school in the province.

Success on the cross-country scene continued through to the weekend, when the B All-Ireland cross-country championships were held in Kilkenny, with the county securing county team medals in seven out of the eight juvenile races.

Leinster Schools

While St Kieran’s College were named the best school in the Leinster for cross-country they were by no means the only Kilkenny school that had success on the day.

Three individual medals were won by county athletes - Kyrell Mtinsi (St Kieran’s) won gold in the minor boys’ race, Hannah Kehoe (Loreto) gold in the senior girls’ race while Billy Coogan (CBS) took bronze in the senior boys’ race.

The minor boys’ race produced a very exciting finish as a ding-dong battle between St Kieran’s College athlete Kyrell Mtinsi and Charlie O’Neill (Belvedere College). Mtinsi proved the stronger as he crossed the line in first place, leading his St Kieran’s team to victory.

Kieran’s have been one of the most successful boys’ schools in the history of Leinster schools cross-country running. Formerly under the watchful eye of Mr O’Keeffe, since his retirement Mr Dermody and Mr Walsh have kept up the strong tradition. Paul Millea finished in ninth and also qualified as an individual.

The Presentation Secondary School team, minor girls silver medal winners at the Leinster Schools Cross-Country Championships

The Presentation girls packed well to take the minor girls’ title in a race that was won by Rachel Kneavey of Newbridge. Kneavey, incidentally, is a niece of former Irish superhero miler, Ray Flynn. The Presentation girls were led home by Sally Power who finished 14th and qualified individually. The future looks bright for these girls.

In the junior races both St Kieran’s and the Presentation made another trip to the team podium. Kieran’s finished in second place in the boys’ race. The Presentation, led by Clodagh O’Callaghan who finished fifth, were also second team. Where once Loreto dominated the girls races, it now seems the Presentation have taken up the mantle.

There were no team successes in the intermediate races, however there were two individual qualifications. Ruairi McEvoy finished 14th in the intermediate boys’ race and Christina Crampton was 10th in the girls’ race.

The senior girls’ 3,000m race saw Loreto take second team spoils on the back of an individual win for Hannah Kehoe.

Throughout the 3,000m race, Kehoe bided her time as she tucked in behind a group of girls led by Aimee Wallace (Mullingar).

While no one in the leading pack of six runners was prepared to take the race to a faster pace Kehoe certainly looked very comfortable as she sat behind, confident in her ability to turn in the speed when the moment mattered.

The pace quickened over the final kilometre. With 600 metres to go Kehoe made her move - a move that was unchallenged.

She powered through the final few hundred metres, producing a commanding lead to win by a margin of 14 seconds over Aimee Wallace.

The senior boys’ race was a very exciting affair. The 6,000m race saw a group of eight boys gather in the leading pack for 4,500m of the race, with no one making a move to the front.

With 1,500m to go, this already fast-paced race began to get even faster. Cormac Dixon and Jonas Stafford made a little space between themselves and the group. While the race for first and second places was nail-biting, back in third and fourth there was a Kilkenny duel as Billy Coogan (CBS) and David Williams (St Kieran’s) battled it out for the final podium place.

After coming back from a 30 metres deficit over the final 600m, rounding into the final 60 metres it was Williams who was marginally ahead. A slight stumble by the St Kieran’s man 40 metres from home saw Coogan seize his opportunity and he headed straight for the line with Williams gaining again. In the end it was Coogan who took the bronze with Williams less than a second behind. The race for first and second places saw Cormac Dixon beat pre-race favourite Jonas Stafford in an incredible turn-up for the books.

Kilkenny will have five school teams and nine individuals racing in the All-Ireland cross-country championships in Waterford on March 11. Four schools will be in the mix - St Kieran’s College, CBS, Presentation and Loreto.

All Ireland B

The All-Ireland B cross-country and Masters and Intermediate championships were held in Kilkenny on Sunday. Hosted by Gowran AC, the event was staged next to the racecourse on a course that has previously held Leinster and All-Ireland events.

The host club had prepared the location well and, with dry underfoot conditions, the races were fast.

The county had great success overall, claiming county medals in seven out of the eight juvenile races. There were also individual placings in seven out of the eight races.

Kate Kelly (Kilkenny City Harriers - KCH) got the day off to a good start when she took silver in the girls’ under-11 1,000m race. She led the county to third place with the six girls taking home bronze All-Ireland medals. The boys’ under-11 athletes matched the girls when they too took the bronze medal for the county.

Katie Byrne had a great run for the Barrow Harriers at the All-Ireland B cross-country championships in Gowran at the weekend, finishing 12th in the girls’ under-13 race

The girls’ under-13 runners were represented on the podium by individuals, club and county. Three athletes were awarded individual medals for their efforts. In fourth place Amy Walsh (St Joseph’s) had the race of her life and was not far off the bronze medal either. She was followed home by Emma Kelly (KCH) in 10th place, while Katie Byrne (Barrow Harriers) was not far behind in 12th. KCH were overjoyed when they secured third club, with the county being awarded silver medals.

Lewis Morgan (St Senan’s) made light work of the course as he kept right up with the leading bunch for the full 1,500m of the boys’ under-13 race. Morgan finished fifth with Gowran’s MJ Carroll finishing 11th. Once more the boys were not going to be outdone by the girls as they matched their silver county medals with ones of their own.

The girls’ under-15 race was dominated by Thomastown who packed well to secure third club. They were led home by Katie O’Shea in sixth place, a position she had settled into for much of the race. The county packed well to finish in second place with four out of the six athletes being from Thomastown. Kyle Bolger (St Joseph’s) had yet another good run as he secured individual honours with his 10th place finish. The county finished third.

The girls’ under-17 race was dominated by St Senan’s. They won the club section, while four out of six runners were on the county team that won silver.

There was some great running from Eabha Mullally who came nicely through the field to take seventh place ahead of Caoimhe Phelan (St Senan’s) in 10th. The boys’ under-17 race had two individual medallists - Callum Bolger (Barrow Harriers) and Eoin Aylward (St Senan’s). Barron came through the field, moving from 14th to sixth over the course of the two laps, getting his first ever individual medal at this level. Aylward finished in 11th place.

There were no Kilkenny medals in the Masters or Intermediate races, but plenty of good running by the athletes who took part. The Masters race was one of the biggest fields ever, with 292 athletes taking part.

Athletes abroad

In Chicago at the Windy City Invitational Shay McEvoy (Tulsa and KCH) was in action over 3,000m indoors. Shay finished fourth in the invitational event in a time of 8.01. He will have one more invitational race before the conference meets begin.