Tallaght Juveniles Athletes in Fine Form

Tallaght juvenile athletes were in fine form at the first cross country meet of the season in Newbridge House Park, Donabate on Sunday last where more than 40 competed with many securing valuable points in the hunt for league honours.
The U9 girls were first to compete over a distance of 400m and the young debutantes did very well with Aimee Kenna the first to cross the line for the club in 3rd followed by Niamh Doyle (18th), Emily Bradshaw (19th), Eric Doyle (21st), Maoilsa Farrell (22nd) with Leah Arnold O’ Reilly next.
 

Moses Ikepfua was the first Tallaght boy to cross the line after he finished 2nd in the same age group, and John Lyons secured valuable points after he finished 6th with Luke Groome doing very well to finish 11th . Faye Dervan went top of the U10 division after she convincingly won the 600m contest and she was followed across the line by Orla Doyle (10th), Sophia Kourrini (11th), and Lauren Mc Dermott (16th) whilst Yan Aengus Geraghty finished 2nd in the boys contest.

Eve Keegan was another to run extremely well at U11 degree where she battled hard over the 800m course to take an excellent 2nd with Destiny Ikepfua following her home in 8th in her first ever cross country race, whilst Kevin Lahiff also took the 2nd spot in the boys equivalent with Jack Gill and Dylan O’ Brien not too far behind in 6th and 7th place respectively.

At U12 degree, Grace Dervan finished 3rd after she negotiated the 1,000m course and she was followed next by Nadine Johnston Hickey (9th), Claudia Kavanag (20th), Alana Walsh (23rd) and Megan Doyle (32nd), whilst Seamus Noone and Christopher Duffy had a ding dong battle all the way in the boys equivalent to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Rebecca Casey finished a creditable 12th in the U13 girls 1,000m and in the boys race over the same distance Cathal Dervan just narrowly failed to peg back the winner, but was more than satisfied with his 2nd placing, with debutante Sadik Aisrs finishing 10th and Paul Lyons 17th.

National U14 800m and 1500m track champion Mustaffe Nasir ran out a clear winner in his cross country debut over 1200m whilst in the girls contest at U14 degree Kayleigh Clarke finished a good 7th and Aloisa King, more renowned for her walking finished very well in 10th.

Joseph Lyons was another to secure valuable points after he finished 6th in the U15 1500m contest whilst Conor Murray and Jade Johnston both took the runner up spots after they completed the U16 2000m contests with Moussa Fahy taking 6th in his first cross country race.

There was a 1-2 for the club after John Daly followed Sean Mc Cabe across the line in the U17 2,500m contest and they were followed home by another debutante Liam Cahill who finished 4th whilst Karen Fagan went 2nd in the girls division after she completed the same course. Philip Murray was the final athlete to compete on the day and he also ran very well to finish 3rd over 3000m at U18 degree.

The second race in the league series will take place in the Phoenix Park next Sunday where all of these young athletes and others will be running to secure points and consolidate their league standings.

Elsewhere, Sean Connolly yet again produced another new club record for the half marathon after he finished 14th in the Great North Run Half Marathon, in Newcastle, England in a time of 1.04.12, whilst the previous day in the National Lottery Half Marathon in the Phoenix Park, Davy Byrne was the first Tallaght athlete across the line in 1.13.19, followed by Eoin Brennan 1.14.29, Paddy Lyons 122.49, Colm Barcoe 1.24.59, Dessie Shorten 1.28.22, Gerry O’ Brien 1.28.30, Dave Meehan 1.30.31, Gerry Dore 1.32.12, Viv O’ Hanlon 1.32.49 (1st O/60)), Irfan Quershi 1.33.10, Jaqui Boyle 1.33.24, Tara Woods 1.43.31 and and Grainne Coogan 1.50.49.