A number of Tallaght juvenile athletes won the overall trophies in the Dublin Juvenile Track & Field Series which were held in Irishtown, Santry and Tallaght on two occasions during April & May. The leagues which were organised by the Dublin County Athletics Board saw hundreds of young athletes from all Dublin clubs compete in both track and field events, including sprints, middle distance, hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot putt, ball throw, discus and javelin.
Conor Murray was impressive in all events over the course of the four competitions at U15 degree, securing top points in the 80m, 400m, 800m, 1200m, 1500m, hurdles, javelin and high jump and additional points for a number of 2nd and 3rd placed finishes. His point’s total of 88 was almost double that of his nearest rival. Club mate Dylan Kennedy who had held second spot after three competitions was pushed down to 3rd overall during the course of the final competition. This was a really great result for Dylan who put in some great performances in both track and field events, considering this is his first season to compete in athletics.
In the girl’s equivalent age group, Jade Johnston was equally impressive after she notched up wins in the 400, 800m, 80m hurdles, javelin and high jump and her 66 points total was 23 clear of her nearest rival. At U16 degree Keith Doherty was another impressive scorer for Tallaght. Despite missing out completely on the final league meet in Irishtown last Friday his 68 points total, accumulated from wins in the 80m, 100m, 200m, 800m, 1200m, shot putt and a number of seconds and third’s was just enough to stay ahead of fellow club member Killian Morris, who despite his best efforts had to settle for 2nd place overall. Numbered amongst Killian’s wins were the high jump, sprint hurdles and javelin on two occasions coupled with seconds in long jump and discus. John Daly was another to finish amongst the trophy winners in this age category after he finished 6th overall with some great runs in the track events.
Eoin Doherty was in third position after the first three competitions but he secured enough points in league 4 at Irishtown to finish second overall. His point’s total of 40, accumulated from a series of second and thirds in both track and field events gave him a 1 point advantage over Donal Dignam of Templeogue.
At U13 degree Kayleigh Clarke was perhaps the most unlucky bridesmaid. After a ding dong battle over the course of the four competitions with Nadia Power from the Templeogue club, her points total of 54.5 accumulated from a series of wins, runner up spots and thirds in all track & field contests was only one point short of the overall winner. In the boys equivalent age group Sean Flanagan finished sixth overall.
At U11 degree Christopher Duffy was another to take second position after he also put in some fine performances throughout the league series and he was followed in the table toppers by James Ackerman who secured 3rd place overall.
Others who secured points without making the top 6 trophy positions included U10’s Eve Keegan, Faye Dervan, Aaron Murray and Carl Graham. At U11 degree, Nadine Johnston Hickey, Grace Dervan Seamus Noone and Nasim Kourriniall did well, as did U12’s Nicole Fullam and Cathal Dervan, U13’s Erin O’ Connor, Saoirse Harris and Aloisa King, U14 Lauren De Coursey and Heather Meehan at U16 degree.
Keith Doherty followed up on his league title success with two great wins in 100m & 200m at the Leinster Schools Championships at Santry and many of our juveniles were again in action at Chapelizod in an inter clubs contest between Tallaght, Lucan and the host club Donore Harriers.
On a glorious evening Tallaght athletes accumulated more than 40 medals during the course of a very enjoyable and friendly competition which was very well organised by the Donore Harriers club. Amongst the medal winners were Faye Dervan who recorded a win in the U9 60m and second in the ball throw, whilst Sophia Kourrini won the ball throw and finished 3rd in the 60m.
At U11 degree, Grace Dervan won the 300m, followed by Nadine Johnston Hickey in 2nd and Nadine also finished second in the long jump and third in both the 60m & ball throw, whilst in the boys equivalent age group Thomas Murray won the long jump, James Ackerman the ball throw contest in which Luke Murray won bronze and Seamus Noone took silver in the 300m ahead of Thomas Murray and bronze in the 60m.
In the U13 age group, Nicole Fullam won the shot putt and Cathal Dervan won silver in the hurdles, whilst Ciara Jordan finished just behind Nicole in 6th place in the 300m.
Jade Johnston won the U15 60m, 300m, 600m and sprint hurdles and took silver in both the long jump and shot putt, whilst Conor Murray won the 60m, 300m, 600m, sprint hurdles and shot putt contests and finished 3rd in the long jump in the boys equivalent age behind the winner, club mate Dylan Kennedy who also took silver in the shot putt, 60m and 300m and bronze in the hurdles.
Uchenna Uwechue recorded wins in the U17 300m and 600m and added bronze in the 60m, hurdles and shot putt whilst Philip Murray took bronze in the 600m and in the girls equivalent age group Heather Meehan won the 600m and shot putt and added silver in the 60m and 300m, and bronze in the hurdles.
Elsewhere, Sean Connolly in his first competitive race in a few months showed he is coming back to form after he recoded 8.11.99 when finishing 2nd in the 3,000m development race at the Dublin Graded Meet at Santry. At the same meet Peter Fitzsimons was the first Tallaght athlete home in the Grade B mile contest in 7th followed by Luke Coleman whilst Sean Fitzpatrick finished down the field in Grade C and Philip Murray finished second in the Grade D equivalent contest followed by Niall Meehan and Dave Meehan. Roisin O’ Hanlon also did well her 1 mile contest as did Patrick Curran who finished 2nd in the high Jump, 4th in the Javelin and 7th in Grade B 400m.
Whilst our juveniles will be looking forward to the Dublin Championships which start with uneven age relays on the 11th June in Tallaght many of our seniors will be contesting the next Graded Meet in Irishtown on Wednesday 2nd June.
