Tallaght athletes were in top form over the last two weekends at home and abroad, where a number of them topped the podium and achieved personal best results.
On last Saturday week in Tullamore our dual Leinster Schools Junior sprints champion Keith Doherty was in flying form, taking Gold and Silver in the 100m & 200m respectively, after two great performances. He will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in the Dublin Juvenile Track & Field Championships next weekend.
Elsewhere, Sean Connolly proved he is returning to top form after a brilliant performance in a meet in Leiden, Holland where he smashed his own P.B. by 6 seconds after he finished 2nd in the 3,000m contest. This was certainly a brilliant performance, as his time moved him into the top 10 in Europe for the distance.
Anthony Lieghio was another at the top of his game. After running 1.51 in the I.M.C. 800m in Tullamore last Saturday week he travelled to Watford for a BMC meet on Saturday last where he had an outstanding performance, smashing his own personal best time in winning the 800m contest in a time of 1.49.09, just less than a second short of the European qualifying standard. In his present form, it should not be too long before he achieves that standard.
On Sunday last many of our senior athletes travelled to compete for the club in the first round of the National League in Tullamore where their combined performances secured enough points to place the club 3rd overall in Division 1 on the day.
Thomas Fitzpatrick and Eoin Dunne both secured top points in the 5,000m and 3,000m walk respectively, whilst Patrick Curran (400m hurdles), Eddie Healy (200m & long jump), Alan Casey (Hammer), John Dever (Shot putt & 56lb weight) all finished 2nd, and Luke Coleman (3,000m), Brian Connolly (1500m), Sean Bolger (400m), Alan Casey (high Jump) and Patrick Curran (110m hurdles) all finished 3rd. Additional points were secured by
David Somerville (800m), Sean Morris (100m, Discus, & Javelin) and Eddie Healy in the triple jump. Derek Kennedy, Alan Casey, Sean Bolger and Sean Morris combined well to
take 3rd in the 4X100m whilst Sean Bolger, Anthony Lieghio, Eddie Healy and Patrick Curran finished 1st in the 4X400.
Our ladies, Katie Fitzpatrick (400m 2nd, 200m 4th), Sharon Tighe (3,00m 3rd), Paula Murray (Javelin 4th), Rebecca Game (long jump 5th & 100m 5th), Roisin O’ Hanlon (1500m 4th) and Lynsey Healy (Shot Putt 4th & Discus 4th) put in some pleasing performances in both track and field contests on the day, but the absence of some other athletes meant they finished 5th overall in the team rankings on the day.
Whilst the Seniors were in action, our juveniles contested the first 2 days of the Dublin Juvenile T&F Championships last weekend. Our own track hosted the uneven age relays on Friday evening and the team competition for U9, 10 and 11’s, U10 & U12 relay’s and U12 Ball Throw on Saturday. Tallaght juveniles made the podium on no less than 16 occasions in the team & relay contests and in both boys and girls ball throw contests.
In the team competitions Orla Doyle & Faye Dervan took gold in the U9 ball throw contest and Faye also partnered Orla Doyle to win silver in the 60m. Sophia Kourrini & Amy Turley won bronze in the same ball throw, whilst Katie Jordan & Faye Foster combined in the long jump contest to win silver in the same age group. In the boys equivalent age group Luke Murray & Aaron Murray won Gold in the Ball throw and Ross Mulligan & Aaron Murray won silver in the same contest.
At under 10 degree, Jordan Conroy & Carl Graham combined to win silver in the ball throw, whilst combined to take joint bronze in the 60m. Nadine Johnston Hickey & Grace Dervan went top of the podium in the U11 600m with their combined times and they teamed up again to take the bronze medals in the long jump, whilst James Ackerman & Christopher Duffy took silver and Gold in the equivalent age group and contests and Nazim Kouirrini and Seamus Noone’s combined times were enough to secure the bronze medals in the U11 600m.
In the relay contests Christopher Duffy, Seamus Noone, James Ackerman, Carl Graham went top of the podium in the U11 4X100m, whilst the U17 4X100m squad, Killian Morris, Sean Mc Cabe, John Daly, Keith Doherty, Uchenna Uwechue and Phillip Murray took silver and Ronan Mc Eneaney, Sean Flanagan, Cathal Dervan, Thomas Murray and Eamonn Conroy combined to take the Bronze in the U13 4X100m as did the U10 squad Luke Murray, Carl Graham, Jordan Conroy, Shehryar Querishi and Aaron Murray.
Our Juveniles U12 to U19’s will be looking forward to next weekend when they will be seeking to make the podium in the individual Track & Field Championships at Morton Stadium Santry, on Friday/Saturday & Sunday, as will our U10’s and U11’s in the 500m and 600m Championships on Friday evening and some of our seniors on Saturday in the Dublin Senior T&F Championships at the same venue.
