Europe beckons as Kilkenny athlete Molly Daly bags qualifying time

Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers) has joined clubmate Alex Cullen in reaching the European qualifying times after she ran a superb 200m sprint race at the EYOF Gala in Wetzlar, Germany over the weekend.

Running a new personal best in the race, Molly ran a time of 23.67 seconds to take first place on the day. She has now secured the qualifying standard for both the EYOF (Euro under-18) and the under-20 European Championships that will be held later in the summer.

Medals galore in Leinster

SETU Carlow was once again the venue for another action-packed weekend of athletics with numerous clubs from Kilkenny represented across various disciplines in both track and field over the two days.

Two new combined events introduced this year to the schedule, James Kelsey of Gowran competed in the under-18 decathlon with 10 events spread out across the two days. James won gold overall and the weekend was great preparation for next week’s under-19 Leinster championships.

Kieran Kelly, Joe Kelly and Murty Kelly, all from Brow Rangers, were taking part in the new senior and master throwing heptathlon. The throwers medalled in individual events with scores counting towards overall places. Kieran was fourth overall in the men’s over-40, Joe was first in the men’s over-55, while Murty also secured first for the gold in the men’s over-75 category.

Tom Murphy (Kilkenny City Harriers) won double gold in the 1,500m and 3,000m.

Kate Maher continued her winning ways from the schools All-Ireland and ran in third place in the under-20 200m sprint.

Clodagh O’Callaghan (KCH) was first in the under-20 800m, while Kyrell Mtinsi (KCH) was third in the under-20 800m.

Shane Power (St Joseph’s) retained his Leinster senior pole vault title from last year, as he took home gold once again this year in the Leinsters on day one. St Joseph’s walkers Maggie Helen O’Connor and John Joe Lawlor both took home gold medals in their respective races on day two. Daire Casey Power had a super afternoon on Saturday, throwing 39.69m in the under-20 javelin for first place.

Sophie Jackman (St Senan’s) had a great race in the senior 1,500 to win gold, while her clubmate Abigail O’Regan won silver in the under-20 1,500m. St Senan’s had a women’s over-40 team in the new master 3,000m team event, placing third overall.

Andrew Cooper and Rachel Gardiner Gowran both performed well to take silverware in the shot put and WFD.

Therese Kelly Brow Rangers had strong results from her senior throwing competitions, winning various medals over the weekend.

Alexandria Donnellan (Gowran) was in superb form winning three bronze medals from the seated throws competition on Saturday, which involved the javelin, shot put and discus. The throwing events were hugely popular over the course of the weekend with lots of medals to show from all the clubs.