Green and Coogan find gold at Cross-Country masterpiece

Mountain View was the venue for last Saturday’s Leinster even ages, junior and novice championships. Hosted for the third successive year by St Senan’s, the venue has been hailed as a cross-country masterpiece.

The county claimed 106 medals in total as Kilkenny athletes appeared in the results of every age group right up to novice. Daniel Green took gold in the boys’ under-12 race for Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) - he won the under-11 title in 2022 - while Billy Coogan (KCH) won the junior men’s. Elsewhere there were three gold-winning county teams. The girls’ under-12 and under-18 took their titles, as did the junior men. Three club teams - St Senan’s under-18 girls, KCH girls’ under-12 and under-14 - also took gold.

A cross-country masterpiece

Every good conversation in Ireland begins with the weather. And a conversation about the weather ultimately leads to an analysis of the ground conditions.

Following a week of non-stop rain courtesy of Storm Babet, the marvels of the excellent ground conditions at Mountain View was at the forefront of all athletics conversations. Greg Duggan, cross-country secretary of Leinster Athletics, declared that not only was Mountain View aesthetically superb, but the course itself was a ‘cross-country masterpiece’.

Duggan thanked Bea O’Grady and her team at Mountain View for accommodating the event. The day, he said, from start to finish was an experience that most in the athletics fraternity will remember. He also thanked the host club St Senan’s for the work they put into getting the course ready on the day.

The first championship event of the day saw 143 girls aged 10 and 11 move to the start line. Amongst them were a county Kilkenny team and three club teams - KCH, Gowran and St Senan’s. For many of these young athletes, this would have been their first foray into a competition of this calibre.

Kilkenny has a good track record at cross-country and the under-12 girls from the county certainly did not disappoint. Kate Kelly (KCH) finished third, crossing the line with a smile despite competing over tough hills for 2,000m. Behind her there were three more individual medalists; Abigail Hunt and Orla O’Keeffe (Gowran) and Ava Hogan (St Senan’s).

With four athletes in the top 12, things were looking good for the county team. When Ella O’Flaherty finished 16th and Eva Arslan 24th the coaches knew a county team medal was a certainty. Moments later Kilkenny were announced as the winners of the county team. There was more gold to come when KCH added the club title to their names.

In the boys’ under-12 race Daniel Green looked so fresh he appeared as if he could have run another lap. Sprinting down the home straight to the finish the KCH athlete had no problem repeating his title win of last year and looked every bit the champion as he finished over 10 metres clear of Patrick Duffy of Louth. Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s) who has been having a stormer of a season finished sixth, almost clinching fifth place from Noah Keane (Wexford). Both Green and Doherty were further rewarded when the county finished third. Ten young Kilkenny boys from KCH, Gowran, St Joseph’s, St Senan’s, Barrow Harriers and Castlecomer will now head off to the All-Ireland next month.

Gold for Harriers

Having already clinched the club under-12 title the KCH girls’ under-14 took more gold when they clinched the team title with six points to spare over St Abban’s. The Harriers were led home by Sinead Cormack, who had a ding-dong battle with Lydia Jordan (Ratoath) all the way down the straight to the finish, Jordan just holding on to take fourth spot.

Katie Byrne (KCH) finished ninth while Ellen Cormack and Ellen Kelly completed the winning quartet for the city club. With two medals already draped around Sinead Cormack’s neck she was handed another when the county finished third. Laois won the county title from Meath, with Kilkenny just four points adrift of Meath and that silver medal.

Billy Coogan (Kilkenny City Harriers) sprints to victory in the Leinster men’s junior race

Last year at Mountain View, the boys’ under-13 team had a battle with Kildare for the county title - even the Kilkenny and Kildare clubs were pitted against each other in the battle for the clubs. Senan’s won the club title in 2022 but this year, despite three of their athletes doing much better individually, they could not field a team. This paved the way for Kildare to win the county title and Newbridge to snatch the gold club title. Gowran did manage to retain the bronze medal position they claimed last year when the team of Aaron Carrigan, Darragh Carroll, Michael O’Keeffe and Evan Ryan grouped well to take third in the club standings.

Individually it was the St Senan’s pair of Zak Fenton and Lewis Morgan who had outstanding runs and earned their place on the Leinster under-14 team with their sixth and seventh place finishes. Fenton led out the race, challenging national indoor 800m record holder Robert Gleeson as they climbed the first hill. He remained in the top three for about 1 km before dropping to sixth, a position he retained until the end. Behind him Lewis Morgan was having the race of his life. Seeing Fenton ahead of him spurred him on to finish just half a second behind his training partner.

O’Callaghan impresses

Clodagh O’Callaghan won her county championships and came into the Leinsters knowing she was in good form. An athlete who performs in all kinds of terrain and weather conditions, from the early stages O’Callaghan was quite content to sit behind the leading group which consisted of the brilliant Sholah Lawrence of Louth and her clubmate Chloe Cooney. O’Callaghan was happy to coast from sixth to eighth places while others set out too fast and slowly tired.

Both Cooney and Wexford’s Eabha Keane paid the price of the early pace and as O’Callaghan passed them with 1km to go, they had faded badly. A quick turn of speed on the final downhill before turning into the home straight saw O’Callaghan move into fourth place, a position she held as she crossed the line. The county team finished in third place, allowing Katie and Amy O’Shea (Thomastown), Kate Hayden (Gowran), Eimear Cormack (KCH) and Lily Ryan (St Joseph’s) passage to the All-Irelands.

Numbers for the boys’ under-16 event were poor at the county championships this year and it came as no surprise that, at the Leinster Championships, Kilkenny did not feature in the hunt for county medals. The weakened county team inhibits some athletes who are hovering on the periphery of the top 12 from qualifying for the All-Irelands - Conor Carroll, for example, finished 18th on Saturday. With no strong county team his cross-country journey unfortunately is over, as is that of Kyle Bolger, Finn O’Neill, Conor Ryan and Evan Walsh.

However, one person who will advance to the All-Irelands is Kyrell Mtinsi (KCH), who finished seventh overall. Mtinsi is an all-round athlete who performs equally as well on the track as he does at cross-country. In Mountain View last Saturday there were plenty of challenges. From tough hills to superb opposition, this was a big test for Mtinsi. Racing against athletes such as Lorcan Ford-Dunne of Louth or James Foot (Bray) will help prepare Mtinsi for next month’s All-Irelands.

Golden Girls

Senan’s are one of the few clubs that have managed to maintain a large contingent of girls at the under-18 age group With eight athletes competing in the counties, they accounted for the majority taking part in the race. Between them Abigail O’Regan and Eve Dunphy won the under-17 and under-18 county championships, with St Senan’s winning both club team titles.

Pia Langton (KCH) is another athlete who has been at the forefront of cross-country running this year. As an accomplished track runner who has realised the benefits that it brings in terms of strength for her summer season, Langton has knuckled down to competing this season and has done very well.

The girls’ under-18 and junior races were run as a combined race with the under-18s dominating in terms of performance. Under-18 athletes Dearbhal Allen and Eimear Cooney, along with junior athlete Maeve Deakin, made it a clean sweep for Louth. Behind them Eve Dunphy (St Senan’s) looked strong as she easily navigated the hilly terrain. Pia Langton finished one place behind having clawed back ground over the final lap.

The St Senan’s team of Michelle McDonald, Aine Kinsella, Sophie Jackman, Tara Ramasawmy and Aoife Allen who were third in the women’s novice category

With Abigail O’Regan (St Senan’s) in ninth place and Charlotte Carpendale (St Senan’s) 12th the signs were good that both St Senan’s and Kilkenny would take medals. St Senan’s Caoimhe Phelan made up the quartet that did in fact snatch the gold medal while Kilkenny won the county title. There was further joy as Kilkenny also took silver medals in the junior section with St Senan’s taking silver in the club and KCH bronze. Eve Dunphy and Abigail O’Regan managed to take home five medals each from just one race!

In contrast the county did not manage any team for the boys’ under-18 race with Callum Barron (Barrow Harriers), Ruairi McEvoy (KCH) and Eoin Aylward (St Senan’s) Kilkenny’s only participants. The trio gave an excellent account of themselves with Barron finishing second and McEvoy 12th. This is a great boost to Barrow Harriers who will see Barron as a good mentor for their younger athletes.

This year’s junior boys have always been a strong group of athletes in Kilkenny having taken many titles over the years. Billy Coogan (KCH) is one who has been in superb form. He finished second in the autumn open and came to Mountain View with just one intention – to win.

Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s) was sixth in the under-12 race

Despite Jack Fenlon (Laois) being hailed as the favourite, all in Kilkenny knew of Coogan’s strength over tough courses. For the first mile it was Coogan, Fenlon and St Senan’s David Williams who broke away from the field. Williams has been coming into form again but misjudged the stage of his return to fitness and went off too hard. Coogan looked at ease and a lot more comfortable than Fenlon.

Going out onto the third and final lap it was Fenlon who was fading and Diarmuid Fagan of Mullingar who was chasing down Coogan fast. However, he had left the challenge too late and Coogan was well clear, finishing nine seconds clear to take a convincing win. Kilkenny won the team title.

Novice medals

While it is fantastic to see so many women come through to the later juvenile years it is even more satisfying to see them go on into the senior ranks. Five St Senan’s athletes competed in the women’s novice race and were rewarded with club bronze medals.

Sophie Jackman led the team home with an outstanding run that saw her claim fifth place. Better known as an 800m runner, Jackman is slowly gaining fitness having taken three months off this summer. Gowran’s Kate O’Brien ran very well to take 16th with Aine Kinsella (St Senan’s) and Tara Ramasawmy (St Senan’s) just behind her. The county took silver team medals, with Jackman, O’Brien, Kinsella and Ramasawmy making up the team.

Not be outdone by the women, the men’s novice team also took home medals. They finished third and were led home by Jamie Gahan who finished fourth, having held the same position for most of the race.