Fitzsimons and Johnston steal the show at County Finals
(by Ray Fitzsimons)

Tallaght AC athletes Robert Fitzsimons and Aisling Johnston were the toast of Tallaght A.C following their performances on Sunday when they competed in the Dublin Athletic Board Cross Country County Championships for Uneven aged athletes at the Trinity Sports grounds in Santry.

Aisling Johnston made all the running to win the U13 1000M race with Rebecca Game finishing in third place and Ciara O Leary, Fiona Byrne , Catherine Power and Deirdre Comerford close behind as the team combined to win the silver team medal and go forward to the National Finals in Mullingar on Nov 30th.

Robert Fitzsimons led home the U15 team to win the 2000M race by some thirty metres. Fitzsimons led the race from start to finish with Luke Coleman in 3rd, Anthony Leghio in 8th, Peter Fitzsimons in 9th, Brian Gregan in 12th and Sean Bolger in 13th this Tallaght outfit are going to take some stopping at the National Finals having secured the Dublin Team Gold Medal.

Also going to the Nationals will be the Boys U11 1200M team who won the silver team medal. Darryl Mahon ran his best race of the season to finish 6th with Eoghan Hennessy in 9th and Ciaran Dunne, Jason Power, Niall Forrester, Frank Jones and John Bodie combining well to secure their place in Mullingar.

Earlier Alan Hudson qualified for the Nationals with a gutsy performance in the Boys U11 800M while his team mate Sean Fitzsimons just missed out on qualification by one place as did Zara Gaynor who was Tallaghts best performer in the girls U11 race.

Aoibheann Tierney will be well pleased having qualified comfortably for the finals in the Girls U15 1500M as will Bronagh O Hanlon who showed she is approaching her best when finishing strongly to take the Bronze medal in the U17 2000M. Also going to the Nationals will be Tracey Williams who finished 9th in the U19 3500 race.

Meanwhile at the same venue Keith Sherlock led home his team of Danny O Farrell, Garry Moralee, James Crowley, Jimmy Phibbs, Denis Cahill and Vivian O Hanlon to finish in 7th place in the Dublin Cross County Senior Championships.

The Club will compete in the Dublin Juvenile Even Aged County Cross Country Championships at Cabinteely Park next Sunday. At stake are County medals and the opportunity to compete in the National Cross Country finals in Killybegs, County Donegal on December 7th.