Hehir Wins Tallaght 5 Miler. On a blustery but mild and dry day on Sunday last Rathfarnhams Sean Heir won the inaugural Tallaght 5 Mile Road Race. From the start it was obvious he was intent on winning, as he took the lead on Main Road Tallaght, and as the field of almost 150 runners wound around Castlepark and Tymon North on to the Greenhills Road for the first circuit he established a clear lead which he maintained without any serious challenge from his nearest pursuers before crossing the line in 24.53, setting the standard for 2012.   Gary O’ Hanlon from Clonliffe Harriers finished a good second in 25.32 ahead of Paul Fleming, Rathfarnham (25.51) who finished very strongly over the final half mile to overhaul Kenneth Rogers, St Johns A.C. for the 3rd place. DSD’s Aoife Culhane also ran out a clear winner in the In the senior ladies category after she crossed the line in 28.33 to take the top prize with Lucy Darcy, Sportsworld taking second only 3 seconds ahead of Raheny Shamrocks Annmarie Woods. In the Master men’s categories Peter Matthews, DSD, ran out an easy winner O/40 after he finished 5th overall in 26.10 with Peadar Cathasaigh, Donore Harriers taking the second prize, whilst the O/45 winner was Rathfarnham’s Edwin Keville who finished ahead of Gerry Lawlor. Thomas Bishop secured another catehory win for Rathfarnham when he took top prize in the O/50 category with Tallaght’s Gerry Woods taking 2nd and Eddie Walsh who finished 26th overall went top of the podium in the O/55 category ahead of Donore Harriers Charlie O’ Neill. Dave Brady, Raheny Shamrocks won the O/60 section ahead of Lucan Harriers Jim Dwyer and Sean Lambe was the inaugural O/65 winner. Sportsworld athletes Sandra Armstrong and Anne Sweeney made it a 1-2 for Sportsworld in the O/40 Ladies Masters whilst Audrai O’ Driscoll ran out the winner in the O/45 category with Fiona Kirwan, Raheny Shamrocks claiming the top spot in the O/50 category ahead of Eileen Rowland and Rathfarnhams Helen Ingram was the O/55 winner with Margaret Thornton taking second whist Liz Conroy secured the win in the O/60 category for the host club. Tallaght juniors topped the podium in the U17 junior category after Sean Mc Cabe ran out the winner in the junior men’s ahead of Padraig Lennon, Greystones A.C. and Conor Murray Tallaght, whilst Jade Johnston won the Junior ladies. Sen Mc Cabe and Conor Murray combined with John Dalt to take the team honours. In the U19 juniors there was a 1-2-3 for Rathfarnham after Ian Rankin led home Stephen Gaffney and Sean Hayes who also took the team prize. Raheny Shamrocks Simon Ryan (6th) , Bernard Roe (7th) , Conor O’ Dwyer (10th) and Donal Foley (11th) packed well to win the Senior team prize with Tallaghts Keith Sherlock (12th), Luke Coleman (13th), Eoin Brennan (15th) and Artjom Kutjavin (16th) taking second, whilst Sportsworlds Lucy Darcy, Ruth Kelly, Kathleen Horgan and Ciara Foster took the Senior Ladies honours. Gerry Woods led home Dave Meehan, Niall Coppinger, Niall Coppinger and Irfan Quershi combined finishing positions of 172 were enough to win the Masters team category ahead of Raheny and the Tallaght Ladies Paula Murray, Deirdre Harris and Liz did likewise. Elsewhere, many Tallaght juveniles consolidated their positions in the hunt for the top six league awards in the cross country league series when they again put in some solid performances in two recent cross country league meets in the Phoenix Park. With the last league outing taking place in the Phoenix Park on 23rd October its looking likely that a number of these young athletes will return with league titles and many more with trophies for finishing in the top six in many age groups. Moses Ikpefua looks nailed on to take the U9 title after his recent 2 successes which he added to his 2nd placing in the first league and John Lyons, presently in 6th could with another good run improve his overall standing, whilst in the U9 girls Aimee Kenna, despite missing the second contest is in 5th and is also in the hunt for a trophy. At U10 degree, Faye Dervan is another who looks likely to take a title as she is presently 3 points clear on her nearest rival and although Orla Doyle is in 11th she too could make the top six with a good run, whilst in the boys equivalent age group Yan Aengus Geraghty will at least finish 2nd overall after the final outing. In the U11 age group Kevin Lahiff is 2nd overall, Dylan O’ Brien is 3rd and Karl Gill who missed league 2 can improve on his 10th placing in the final encounter, whilst Eve Keegan and Destiny Ikpefua are presently in joint 5th and they too are well in contention. Christopher Duffy and Seamus Noone are in 1st and 2nd respectively in the U12 series and can’t be caught for the top 2 positions, but with only a few points separating them the final race will undoubtedly be a an exciting ding-dong battle from start to finish between the two club mates. In the girls equivalent age group Grace Dervan and Nadine Johnston Hickey, 4th and 5th overall to date, should if running to form finish in the top six and the likes of Claudia Kavanagh and Alana Walsh can improve on their respective 11th and 19th positions. Cathal Dervan is presently in 2nd at U13 level and is still in contention for top hounours whist Sadiq Aisrs should at least finish in the top 6 and Fionn Carroll also has a chance of moving up from 9th with Paul Lyons capable of moving up from 16th in the overall standings. Rebecca Casey is another who on present form can consolidate her 6th place standing and both Ciara Jordan and Jennifer Mc Guinness can move up the U13 table. Judging by his three clear victories to date, National 800 and 1500m track champion Mustaffe Nasir should reign supreme at U14 degree and Kayleigh Clarke can improve on her 4th place standing in the same age group, whilst Joseph Lyons is in a similar position at U15 degree and he too should finish amongst the trophy winners. Jade Johnston is on target to secure another cross country league title as she is presently 11 points clear of her nearest rival and a top 8 place will see her take the U16 title and although Conor Murray is presently lying in 2nd in the boys equivalent it looks likely he will have to settle for the runner up trophy even with a win, unless a number of other factors come into play in the final outing. Sean Mc Cabe is another on course for a title after he strung together 3 straight wins at U17 degree, however a decision to whether or not to contest the U18 Championships which is on the same day as the final league race will undoubtedly have bearing on the outcome of the league. John Daly is another in this age group who should also finish in the top 6 as he is presently 5th overall and Karen Fagan can consolidate her second place position when she runs in a few weeks time, whilst Philip Murray 3rd overall at U18 degree should do likewise, even if he too contests the U18 Championships.