Tallaght Athletes Qualify for Nationals
By Cecil Johnston

No less than ten Tallaght athletes qualified for the National Finals after some fine performances in the Dublin even age Cross Country Championships in Corkagh Park, Clondalkin, last Sunday.

The U10 girls 600m was the first event of the day in which both Jade Johnston and Emma Reid represented Tallaght. After securing her place on the Dublin U11 squad a few weeks ago with a fine 5th placing, Jade was favourite to lift this title, but after a faulty start by some of the competitors who didn’t return on the recall, she was left to make up too much ground, and although closing well in the finishing straight she had to settle for the Silver medal. Emma Reid followed her home with a gutsy performance to take the final individual medal in twelfth.

In the U12 boys contest both Cian Delaney and Dylan Murphy were contesting their first Championships and the latter, despite conceding a more than a year to most of the other competitors took the fifth place individual medal in the 1000m event, and secured his place on the Dublin team for the Nationals. In the girls equivalent Ciara Henry, after an absence finished a good 16th with Ciara Morris and Alanna Hutchinson next home for the club.

The U14 girls 1200m event hosted the largest field of competitors on the day, including Tallaght athletes, Ciara O’ Leary, Roisin O’ Hanlon, Jade Corcoran, Annmarie Mc Clean, Emma Prior and Robyn Reece. 

From the off Jade Corcoran, Roisin O Hanlon and Ciara O’ Leary positioned themselves in the leading half dozen with the other three girls, who were all conceding a year, not too far behind. As the race progressed the field became strung out with Jade Corcoran gallantly leading until the last few hundred metres when she was overtaken by Niamh Denny from DSD, but winning the second Silver of the day for Tallaght and her place on the Dublin team was a great achievement. Roisin O’ Hanlon also secured her place and an individual medal with another fine performance in 8th. She was followed home by Annmarie Mc Clean (24th), Emma Prior (28th), Ciara O’ Leary (32nd) and Robyn Reece (34th). The girls were very unlucky in the team category, missing out by one placing for the bronze team medals and National qualification.

Whilst there were no medals for the club in the boys U14 1500m event, our five representatives all ran as well as could be expected, with Paul Byrne, stepping up a year, the first runner to cross the finish line for the club in 26th, followed by Rhys Coleman, William Oliver, Phillip Kelly and Christopher Delaney. 

The U16 girls 2,000m was the next event to take place on the day with Aoibheann Tierney, Carla Fullam, Rebecca Game and Aisling Johnston contesting for Tallaght. With the latter two conceding a year and with some quality athletes, including the 2004 U16 National Champion, Suzanne Huet and Bronze medalist Charlotte French O’ Carroll to contend with, this was never going to be an easy task for our girls. 

In the early exchanges things didn’t seem to be going well for our girls, with Aisling seemingly struggling at the 1200 metre mark where she fell back to 7th but she gradually worked her way back into contention over the last four hundred metres, recovering strongly with a sprint finish in the last 100m to take the 4th medal placing, adding to her recent Gold in the U15 championship. 

Aoibheann Tierney, after missing out by just one place in the U17 championships, was next home for the club, taking a well deserved medal in 10th and securing her place alongside Aisling on the Dublin team. Rebecca Game wasn’t far off the chase in 16th with Carla Fullam completing the Tallaght quartet in a good 21st. Their combined placings secured the team bronze medals and a place for the club team in that category at the Nationals. 

The boys U16 had 3K to cover and with underfoot conditions becoming a bit more testing after the other contests, and with the latter four also giving a years age advantage to most of the other competitors, it was going to bit tougher for the five Tallaght contestants, Peter Fitzsimons, Brian Connolly, Niall Forrester, Stewart Kelly and Eoghan Hennessey. Despite these factors against them, they all gave a hundred percent with Peter Fitzsimons taking the final automatic place on the Dublin team when he crossed the line in 12th. Eoghan Hennessey was next home for the club, followed by Brian Connolly, Niall Forrester and Stewart Kelly. 

Peter

Eoghan & Brian

More medals were secured in the U18 competitions. In the girls 3k event Bronagh O’ Hanlon fought extremely hard throughout her race to gradually overhaul a number of athletes in the final 600m and take the 12th medal and qualifying position on the Dublin County and Regional team.

In the boys 5k event our four representatives included three athletes who had won individual medals and team gold in the U17 championships and together with David Somerville they produced a solid combined effort to win team silver medals and a place for the club team at Nationals. Robert Fitzsimons contributed immensely to this achievement with another gallant performance, when he added individual bronze to his U16 gold, with Anthony Lieghio also adding an individual medal to his U16 bronze when he crossed the line in 8th. Luke Coleman like Bronagh O’ Hanlon and Peter Fitzsimons earlier in the day, took the final medal position in 12th and David Somerville, although finishing back in the field did enough as the fourth runner to count for team medals.

This was another good outing for the club, with our athletes winning 12 individual championship medals, and with 10 individuals securing their places on the Dublin Regional & County teams (no U10 National championships), and with two of our teams also making the cut in the team category, we will be well represented at the National Finals in Athlone on December 11th where our young athletes will give their all on the day.

Next up for our juveniles is the 3rd cross country league competition in Santry Woods, beside Morton Stadium, where some of our Seniors will also take part in the Dublin Senior Championships.

Pictures – Courtesy of John Denny