Breaking records and taking golds - A great year for Kilkenny Athletics

It is hard to believe that 2024 is waving us goodbye already. Week after week, the athletics accolades kept accumulating. In a blink it’s the end of the year and plans are already being made with athletes for their 2025 indoor, track and cross-country season.

From county championships right up to international representation the athletes young and old have brought an endless amount of delight to all those who support them. The narrative which was reported in the Kilkenny People throughout the year represents only a fraction of what is involved in the world of athletics. But it remains an important narrative to remind the entire public of the achievements of our athletes and will in years to come be historical proof of their superb performances.

The volunteers in the sport - coaches and administrators - give endless hours of their time to athletic development, nurturing future champions. Kilkenny athletics is represented on the international stage too. This year eight athletes across various clubs donned the Irish vest, some for the first time.

International

Kickstarting the year, David Williams and Cathal O’Reilly competed in the Celtic International in Scotland. Williams was fourth in the under-20 event and a scoring member of the winning Irish team. O’Reilly was fourth under-23 and a scoring member of the Irish team that finished second.

In February the European Club Cross-Country Championships were held in Albufeira, Portugal. The Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) women’s team finished in 10th place while the senior men’s team came home in 17th place. March saw Robert Coogan (KCH) make his international debut at the SIAB Cross-Country in Dublin. He finished 16th in the junior boys’ race.

In Paris, Mary Fitzgerald (Gowran) made her second Paralympic appearance following on from her debut in Tokyo in 2021. The Callan native secured eighth place in the T40 shot-put.

There were European debuts for Peter Lynch, Pia Langton and Molly Daly in 2024. In Rome, which proved to be an excellent Europeans for the Irish, Lynch raced in the 10,000m. At the under-18s in Slovakia, Pia Langton recorded a personal best (PB) of 2.07.90 in the semi-final. One day later she finished eighth in the 800m final. Molly Daly (KCH) competed in the 200m.

Three athletes qualified for the SIAB International in Wales - Evan Walsh (St Joseph’s), Kate Maher (KCH) and Matias Quaglia (KCH). Walsh finished second in the walk with a new PB of 14.14 while Maher and Quaglia secured bronze medals as part of their respective relays.

Cathal O’Reilly was a member of the Irish under-23 team that took part in the European Cross-Country in Turkey. Over a flat fast course O’Reilly finished in 37th place. Niamh Richardson was the girls’ under-20 team manager. Finally, Maggie O’Connor (St Joseph’s) was fourth in the over-50 5,000m walk at the European Masters in Poland, in a new PB of 27.49.

Cross-Country

At the All-Ireland Schools in Tallaght the Presentation Secondary School were crowned All-Ireland champions, this team’s third consecutive year. The team was Clodagh O’Callaghan, Katie O’Shea, Amy O’Shea and Eimear Cormack. In the Junior Boys’ race Robert Coogan (CBS) had a phenomenal race to finish sixth, earning his first international vest with selection for the SIAB cross-country.

Also in March at the Irish University Cross-Country, Sophie Jackman finished sixth and was on the Trinity College ladies winning team. Cathal O’Reilly was a member of the DCU team that took silver.

Punctuated by the track season, cross-country resumed in October. At the National Cross-Country relays, Kilkenny City Harriers finished second in the under-14 4x500m mixed relay and third in the under-12 4x500m mixed relay.

November rolled out the National Cross-Country Championships at Castle Irvine where 14 medals were won. Notable performances came from Cathal O’Reilly (KCH) who finished third in the under-23 race, gaining automatic selection for the Irish under-23 team for Euro-cross. Pia Langton (KCH), Charlotte Carpendale and Eve Dunphy (St Senan’s) scored on the Leinster under-18 team that finished second. KCH took third club place in the under-20 race.

There were two individual medals in the girls’ under-12 race: Orla O’Keeffe (Gowran) finished sixth and Kate Kelly (KCH) was 11th. Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s) finished seventh in the boys’ under-12 race while Sinead Cormack (KCH) was on the Leinster team that took silver at under-16.

The National uneven age and Novice was held on Tramore racecourse, Co. Waterford. Six individual, one set of club and county medals and three Leinster team medals were won by Kilkenny athletes - 19 in total. Individual medals came from Daniel Greene (under-13), Pia Langton (under-19), Charlotte Carpendale (under-19), Ruairi McEvoy (under-19), Callum Barron (under-19) and Hannah Kehoe (Novice). St Senan’s took bronze club medals in the under-19 girls’ race with the county taking silver.

Thirteen individual medals were won at the Leinster Even Ages, junior and novice Championships in Dunboyne, two of them gold. Notable performances came from David Williams (KCH) who won the under-20 men’s race. Ruairi McEvoy was second while Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s) won the boys’ under-12 race. At the Leinster uneven ages and senior championships in Tinahely, 27 championship medals were won by the various athletes and clubs throughout the day. Daniel Greene took gold in the boys’ under-13 event, retaining the title he won last year. There was a first Leinster title for Callum Barron (KCH) in the boys’ under-19 race while the under-19 girls took gold in the county category.

Stateside, Shay McEvoy competed at the NCAA Cross-Country Nationals with his Tulsa team. Kilkenny’s Sinead Delahunty (KCH), now assistant coach for Providence, was part of the Providence backroom team that saw their ladies finish third team at the NCAA.

Indoors

In January, the national indoor championships rolled in one after another. Starting with the Masters, Brow Rangers secured two gold medals through Sean Maher and Murty Kelly, three silver and bronze medals. Verena Fenlon (St Joseph’s) was second in the shot and weight for distance over-50 while clubmate John Joe Lawlor took gold in the over 55 walk. Graham Bourne (KCH) finished second in the over-40 walk, his first ever national indoor medal.

Eight medals were won at the national under-20 and under-23 indoors. Cathal O’Reilly pulled out all stops to win the under-23 1,500m title. Katie Bergin (Moyne AC) repeated her double winning performance from 2023 in the 60m and 200m - the third consecutive occasion that Bergin had a double under-23 national indoor victory - while Andrew Cooper (Gowran) took the shot and weight for distance titles. The KCH boys’ under-20 4 x 200m relay team took gold with a massive PB. Molly Daly (KCH) secured the under-18 European 200m standard in the heats of her under-20 race. There was silver for Noah Gilmore (KCH) in the under-20 indoor combined events.

The National Senior indoors was a mesh of wonderful talent morphed together to produce a top-class competitive environment. Andrew Cooper (Gowran AC), at the tender age of 17, took the national senior shot-put title. Katie Bergin (Moyne AC) took under-23 silver. A record number of 22 athletes from county Kilkenny were entered in this year’s indoors, the highest number in many years. This may be an indicator of the upward trend in Kilkenny senior athletics.

April hosted the National Juvenile indoors. Amy Walsh (St Joseph’s), Chloe Lynch (Gowran), Andrew Cooper (Gowran) and Molly Daly (KCH) claimed national titles. Walsh won the under-14 walk, Daly the under-17 200m, Cooper the under-19 shot and Lynch the under-18 pole value. In total 14 medals were won by four clubs across the county. Another notable performance came from Alex Cullen (KCH) who won three under-19 medals. He was second in the hurdles and long jump and third in the 400m.

The National relays produced four gold medals and one silver , all won by KCH. Stars of the show were the girls’ under-15 team of Aisling Phelan, Kara Canavan, Emily Long, Ellen Daly and Mollie Rose Keegan who set a new championship best of 1.45:51.

Some specifics from the Leinster Indoors are worth mentioning. Forty medals were amassed by the county, a haul which included 17 gold medals and championships records for Evan Walsh (St Joseph’s), Molly Daly (KCH), Andrew Cooper (Gowran) and Clodagh O’Callaghan (KCH). Cooper shaved over a metre off the old under-19 shot-put record. At the Masters Graham Bourne (KCH) amassed a haul of five medals, three of them gold. There was further gold for Matt Ryan (Gowran) in the high jump and John Joe Lawlor in the walk. Brow Rangers secured seven medals – three of them gold.

At the Leinster Indoor schools Alex Cullen (CBS) took the top honours in the senior boys and Mia Brennan (Grennan) taking silver in the minor girls. Moving to third level Sophie Jackman, competing for Trinity College, took a bronze in the inter-varsity indoor 800m.

Stateside Peter Lynch (KCH) competed in the Boston University Invitational 5km Indoors and won his heat in a new personal best of 13.31, putting him to fifth on the all-time list. Grace Richardson, competing with Boston University, finished second in the Division III NCAA Indoors in both the 5,000m and 3,000m.

Road Running

On the roads the racewalkers and runners kept the Kilkenny flag flying at all levels. In February five Kilkenny racewalk athletes travelled to Guadix in Spain and competed in the Andalusian championships. Amy Walsh (St Joseph’s) emerged as the winner of the 3km event. Her brother Evan was second in the boys’ 5km. In April, Kilkenny Athletics County Board held their first ever World Athletics approved competition. Hosted by St Joseph’s AC over 90 racewalkers from all over Ireland attended the inaugural grand prix. European qualifications and personal bests were achieved by many of the walkers amid an electric atmosphere.

The World Athletics Tour was held this month in Dublin, where 250 athletes from 30 countries and four continents (including two Olympic medallists) lined out once again to achieve qualifying standards, world ranking points and personal bests.

Kilkenny had 14 athletes in action, with Maggie O’Connor (St Joseph’s) winning the national masters 10km race.

Finishing in 13th place Ger Forde (KCH) was the first Kilkenny man across the line in the National 10km, in a new personal best of 31.01. A few months later he was Kilkenny’s top performer in the National 5km where he finished sixth. At the National 10-mile race in the Phoenix Park, Forde finished second with a time of 51:11. Lauren Dermody (Castlecomer) was the first Kilkenny woman home with a fourth place finish.

At Leinster level Sally Forristal (St Joseph’s) secured a silver medal in the Leinster half marathon when she clocked a time of 1:22.18. In the women’s over-35 section KCH finished third. Megan McCarthy (KCH) won the Leinster women’s novice and Dean Rowe (KCH) finished third in the men’s event. Kilkenny won both county teams. KCH won the women’s club title and finished second in the men’s. Maebh Richardson (KCH) finished third at this year’s mini marathon with her sister Grace in fourth place.

There were no national medals at the national half or full marathon. Lauren Dermody made her debut in the half while Sean Connery (Kings River) and Sally Forristal (St Joseph’s) were the first Kilkenny runners across the line at the Dublin Marathon.

Meanwhile Ger Forde (KCH) blitzed through the streets of Frankfurt and secured a new personal best of 2:21.26, shaving over two minutes off his PB.

Track and Field

As Storm Kathleen raged across Ireland Cathal O’Reilly (DCU) took the IUAA 10,000m title. Sophie Jackman (Trinity) finished third in the 1,500m while Padraig Maher (Trinity) took silver in the weight for distance. Katie Bergin won gold in the 200m, running in the UCC colours.

There was gold for Alex Cullen (KCH and CBS) as he coasted home in the senior 400m hurdles at the Schools All-Ireland. Alex also took silver in the 110m hurdles. Victor Lamph (Clongowes Wood and Thomastown) took gold in the junior boys’ 80m hurdles.

Andrew Cooper (Kilkenny College and Gowran) won the senior shot-put and was third in the discus. The Loreto intermediate girls’ 4x100m took top honours in the 4x100m relay.

In their journey to the All-Ireland schools 34 medals and three records were broken at the Leinster schools while four athletes secured medals at the Munster schools. The Leinster record breakers were Alex Cullen (senior 400m hurdles), Molly Daly (intermediate 300m) and Amy Walsh (junior walk). Daly broke a record which had been in existence for over 28 years.

The 152nd edition of the Irish Senior National Championships, the longest running national championships in the world, saw more local glory. Both Billy Coogan (KCH) and Andrew Cooper (Gowran) won national titles. Coogan won the men’s steeplechase. Cooper took the under-20 weight for height crown.

Twenty-nine individual medals were won by Kilkenny athletes at the juvenile All-Ireland track and field. Held over three separate days in July, the county won 11 gold, 12 silver and five bronze medals. The gold medal performances came from Pia Langton of KCH (under-18 800m), Doireann Haughney from Brow Rangers (under-16 hammer), Matias Quaglia of KCH (under-16 100m and 200m), Gowran’s Chloe Lynch (under-18 pole vault) and Evan Walsh from St Joseph’s (under-17 walk). Gold also went to KCH’s Aisling Phelan (under-15 100m), Gowran’s Andrew Cooper (under-19 shot) and the KCH trio of Alex Cullen (400m hurdles), Molly Daly (under-17 200m) and Ellen Daly (under-15 200m).

At the All-Ireland relays KCH won two gold and one silver. The girls’ under-19 team pulled out all stops, securing gold medals in the 4x400m and silver in the 4x100m. The girls’ under-14 team won their 4x100m, beating the favourites Crookstown-Millview of Kildare.

At the All-Ireland under-20 and under-23 there was further success for Kilkenny. Cathal O’Reilly (KCH) and Andrew Cooper (Gowran) took home gold medals, with other medals for Chloe Lynch (Gowran), Alex Cullen (KCH), Lily Ryan (St Joseph’s) and Jordan Knight (St Joseph’s). Galmoy’s Katie Bergin, competing with Moyne AC, took double gold in the 100m and 200m while Noah Gilmore (KCH) retained his national under-20 decathlon title.

The Masters of Kilkenny won 24 All-Ireland medals, 10 of them gold at the national masters.

The Leinster results were even more impressive with a total haul of 82 medals won by individuals across a range of clubs, age groups and events. Of these 30 were gold, 35 silver and 17 bronze. Some notable performances included KCH’s Pia Langton in the girls’ under-18 800m and Alex Cullen in the under-19 hurdles. Tom Doherty (St Joseph’s) in the under-13 600m, Andrew Cooper in the under-19 shot-put and the KCH duo of Ellen Daly and Aisling Phelan in the under-15 sprints as well as from St Joseph’s in the walks and Brow Rangers in the throwing events.

The Leinster junior, senior and masters track and field championships saw great performances from Alex Cullen (KCH) in the 400m hurdles and Jordan Knight (St Joseph’s) in the senior long jump. Leanne Patterson (Brow Rangers) achieved a championship best performance when she won the new junior weight for height event. Brow Rangers’ masters athletes Ciaran, Joe and Murty Kelly took home a collection of gold medals in their various master’s categories. While Graham Bourne (KCH) competed across five events from the domains of running, jumping and throwing.

In the USA Grace Richardson finished second in the NCAA Division III Track and Field 10,000m, marking the conclusion of her 2024 Collegiate track season on a rather successful note.

The KCH men’s team won the division one national league title. 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.