Lieghio Delivers whilst Team Tallaght Make National League Final

Anthony Lieghio truly delivered on his promise of the previous week to “wear the Irish vest with pride” in the European U23 T&F Championships in Ostrava last week. Having qualified in 3rd overall in the semi-finals of the 800m with a new P.B and club record of 48.06 he certainly made us all proud in Tallaght and wore the vest with honour and distinction a day later in the final where bravely fought throughout, finishing 6th with a very good time of 48.77. After this excellent International debut there’s no doubt he will be returning on many more occasions in the not too distant future.

A few days later the team of Tallaght Track & Field athletes again excelled at the second round of the Woodies National T&F League in Tullamore last weekend. On the day there were some fine individual performances and team efforts which contributed to an accumulation of points that helped secure 3rd place overall in Division 1 and qualification for the National Finals in Tullamore on 20th August.

In the track events Patrick Curran secured maximum points in the 110m hurdles after he crossed the line in 1st position in 17.08 and added additional points when finishing a good 3rd in the 400m hurdles with a time of 61.92 whilst Eddie Healy ran 54.77 when finishing 2nd in the 400m and Daniel Kilgallon added vital points when finishing 6th in the 100m.

Artjom Kutjavin was another to secure maximum points after he again produced another seasons best when winning the 800m in 1.58.26 whilst Philip Murray did very well to finish 5th in the 1500m (4.37.91) and Luke Coleman, David Somerville and Sean Morris all finished 3rd respectively in the 3,000m steeple chase and 3,000m walk and 200m contests.

In the relay contests the lads combined to win the 4X100m in 47.10 and 2nd in the 4X400m with a time of 4.41.55.

In the field events Michael Glassowski produced some fine throws to win the shot putt with a best effort of 13.87 whilst Killian O’ Donoghue threw the hammer 25.02m to take 4th place points and Eddie Healy finished in a similar position after he spun the discus 24.34m, whilst Sean Morris sent the javelin 36.62m to finish 2nd.
In the high jump contest Killian Morris cleared 1.60m to take valuable points and added some more after he finished 6th in the long jump (4.98m), and Patrick Curran cleared 3.00m in the pole vault.

Overall, despite the less than ideal weather conditions it was a very good outing for the club and a personally pleasing day for a number of athletes who set new club records, three of which were set by Patrick Curran for the 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and Pole Vault with Sean Morris setting a new one in the javelin and Michael Glassowski for the Shot Putt.

Elsewhere, Sean Connolly set another new P.B. and club record of 13.45.5 after he finished 4th in a 5,000m contest in Belgium and on the same day on home soil Eoin Brennan was the first Tallaght athlete to cross the line in 16th place 28.01 in the Irish Runner 5 mile Road race with Niall Coppinger after a lengthy absence from competition finished next for the club in 28.38, followed by Dave Meehan who achieved a P.B crossing the line in 31.47 with Jaqui Boyle’s time of 32.07 securing 3rd place in the o/40 category. Gerry Dore came next in 32.22 followed by Viv O’ Hanlon who picked up yet another prize for 3rd place in the 0/60 category after he crossed the line in 33.44.

Marissa Mc Millan was the second Tallaght lady to finish and she recorded 35.21 and Anna King who was next to finish in 35.34 picked up the prize for second place in the O/50 category and she was followed home by Peig Dunne (37.37). Eddie Coyle also took 2nd prize in the O/65 category after he finished the course in 38.12 whilst Tom and Beth Fitzpatrick finished in 39.58 and 40.52 respectively.

There was another good turn out for the penultimate club league race series on Tuesday and with the final race taking place on 29th there is still all to play for in the various categories.

Good luck to our juveniles who are competing in the 2nd weekend of the National Juvenile T&F Championships in Tullamore this coming weekend where all will be attempting to achieve new P.B’s for their individual events and vying for podium places whilst the 8 relay squads will also be looking to set new times and secure medals.