Tallaght juvenile athletes delivered some great
performances at the National Juvenile Indoor Championships which were
held in Nenagh, Co Tipperary and Magherafelt, Co Derry over the last few
weekends.
Eoin Doherty was the first Tallaght athlete to make the podium after he
took the bronze medal in the U13 60m in Nenagh and at the same venue
Evan Flynn (600m), Conor Murray (60m, high jump), Keith Doherty (60m,
long jump), Jonathan Fleet (high jump), Roisin O’ Hanlon (1500m), Sean
Fitzpatrick (1500m) and Niall Meehan (1500m) all made their finals with
many producing some fine performances, but unfortunately missing out on
the medals.
At Maherfelt on the second two days of these championships the Tallaght
athletes again put in some fine performances. At under 14 degree, Conor
Murray settled in mid field for the first 2 laps of his 800m final and
with 200m remaining he started to gradually move through the field,
picking off tired runners one by one and cutting the deficit on the
leaders until the final 100m where he produced a surge of speed which
brought him from 5th to 3rd to claim a second bronze for the club and a
new p.b. which was only 0.08 off the silver medallist.
Roisin O’ Hanlon and John Daly again put in sterling efforts with both
producing personal best times in their respective U18 and U15 finals.
On the final day, the relay competitions, expectations were high amongst
the supporters and athletes, but with only the winners of the heats and
the three second fastest teams qualifying for the finals, it was always
going to be tough for the U15 4x200m Tallaght squad. In the semi-final,
John Daly ran the lead leg, passing the baton to Keith Doherty in third,
with Jonathan Fleet running the penultimate leg maintaining third
position until he handed the baton to Conor Murray who ran another
blinder over the final 200m to cross the line in second to qualify for
the final with the 3rd fastest combined time overall.
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Keith Doherty, Conor Murray,
Sean Mc Cabe, John Daly & Jonathan Fleet
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In the final, as planned, the team make up was
changed with Sean Mc Cabe substituting for Jonathan Fleet to run the
third leg. John Daly again ran the lead leg and as in the semi’s handed
the baton to Keith Doherty in third place. Midway through his leg Keith
went into second and maintained his place until handing over to Sean Mc
Cabe who retained second until he passed the baton to Connor Murray for
his run over the final 200m. Despite his best efforts he was overtaken
with 40m metres remaining by the runner from St Laurence O’ Toole,
Carlow, who took the title ahead of Derry City A.C. with Tallaght taking
a well deserved bronze. The combined time of the Tallaght team (1.45.86)
was almost two seconds faster than their semi-final time and a new p.b.
for the team.