County Athletic News

Catherine, Vincent, Madeline and Christopher win titles while Thurles Crokes and Clonmel capture team title.

Ballingarry was the venue for this year’s County Junior and Senior Cross Country Championships. Held on an ideal day for spectators, the athletes had to contend with a tough undulating course where the underfoot was dry. The County Board would like to thank the Fennelly family for the use of their land and well done to the Coolquill Athletic Club who had the whole event well organised. The programme consisted of three races with the Junior Men the early starters. Right from the start Vincent Molumby of Thurles Crokes made his intentions known as he went into the lead. He maintained a strong tempo over the demanding course and came home a worthy Champion. Then we had mark Cummins of Moyne moving clear on the 3^rd lap to go into 2^nd place, apposition he held all the way to the line to win the Silver medal in 26 mins 18 secs. We had a good battle for the bronze medal for the first few laps between Ciaran Purcell of Thurles Crokes and Kevin Moore of Dundrum. As they came back into view before going out on the 5^th lap Kevin had opened a nice lead. Kevin kept this strong tempo going and came home to win the Bronze medal convincingly in 26 mins 49 secs. For the record Ciaran Purcell of Thurles Crokes was 4^th in 27 mins 8 secs, 5^th Matthew Ryan of Moyne in 27 mins 44 secs, 6^th Tom Cullen of Thurles Crokes in 29 misn 36 secs, 7^th Ritchie Fogarty of Moyne with Henry Cummins of Moyne 8^th. In the team event, with three to score Thurles Crokes had a narrow victory over their neighbours Moyne on a score of 11 points to 14 points.

In the Senior Ladies race we had 12 starters, equally the number of starters in the 2003 Championships held in Fethard while just one short of the record entry in the 2004 Championships held in Ballynonty. Right from the start the defending Champion Madeline Loughnane of Thurles Crokes went into the lead followed by the Clonmel duo of Angela McCann and Aine Roche followed by a group of athletes that included Mary Keane and Denise Compton of Dundrum, Mary Moloney of Thurles Crokes and Aisling Hoey of Moycarkey Coolcroo. These athletes tackle the 3 laps with great determination and we saw some great performances. At the front of affairs Madeline made every stride a winning one when coming home a very worthy Champion in 22 mins 2 secs. It is great to see Madeline running so well with the season only starting for her; this was Madeline’s 7^th consecutive County Senior Cross Country Championship. Angela McCann of Clonmel, looking fresh from her brilliant performance at the Dublin City marathon when she was the 9^th lady finisher in her category, kept the strong tempo going despite having to shrug off the late determined effort of her club mate Aine Roche. Angela won the Silver medal in 23 mins 21 secs with Aine running very well to win the Bronze medal in 23 misn 26 secs, great performances. Then we had Denise Compton of Dundrum moving out of the chasing pack on the last lap to finish 4^th in 24 mins 40 secs with Mary Moloney of Thurles Crokes finishing strongly in 5^th place in 25 mins 2 secs. For the record Aisling Hoey of Moycarkey Coolcroo came through to finish 3^rd in 25 mins 39 secs. In the team event Clonmel with their three scorers in the top 8 with Catherine Rice finishing in 26 mins 25 secs won the team event. Dundrum won the Silver medals with their scoring team of Denise, Mary and Mairead O Connor who just got the edge on her club mate Olivia Hayes when finishing in 11^th in 31 mins 25 secs.

In the Junior ladies race ran in conjunction with the Senior Ladies race Catherine Kelly of Dundrum was the convincing winner.

In the Senior Men’s race we once again had a great entry. We had 39 starters, only three short of the 42 competitors at the 2002 Championships held in Powerstown racecourse. Right from the start Shane Mullaney of Thurles Crokes set a strong pace and leading the race for the 1^st 2 laps. Behind him we had the chasing pack led by the Thurles Crokes duo of Christopher Bracken and William Hughes with James and Pat Ryan of Dundrum, Kenny Curran and Danny Smith of Ballynonty in close attention. As the leaders went out on the 3^rd lap Christopher Bracken the defending Champion had moved into the lead and he soon opened up a commanding lead to come home a very worthy winner in capturing his 3^rd successive County Senior Cross Country title in convincing fashion. His winning time was 37 mins 45 secs, a measure of the tough but challenging 10k course that the athletes had to negotiate. While Christopher was leading them all home there were many great performances throughout the field as one place meant one more point for the Club and we had many intriguing battles for the team event. We had Dundrum the defending Champions trying to keep the Thurles Crokes charge at bay while Coolquill and local neighbours Ballynonty were vying hard for the coveted Senior Inter Club Bronze medals and the bragging rights for another twelve months. Back to the race and with Shane Mullaney of Thurles Crokes in 2nd place and the chasing pack of Kenny Curran, Pat Ryan, Danny Smith, James Ryan in close attention and these were closely followed by Stephen Hunter of Clonmel, Tony Fogarty of Thurles Crokes, Ross Alexander of Coolquill and Martin Keane of Dundrum making up the top ten, we witnessed a great race over the final few laps. As the athletes came into view for the final time Shane Mullaney had withstood all the late challenges to finish a very good 2^nd and claim his first Senior Individual Cross Country medal in great style in 39 mins 22 secs. Then we had Pat Ryan of Dundrum holding of the determined challenge of Kenny Curran of Ballynonty to win the Bronze medal in 39 mins 37 secs with Kenny 4^th. Then we had Stephen Hunter of Clonmel who came through strongly over the closing stages to finish a very creditable 5^th in 40 mins 7 secs. Tony Fogarty of Thurles Crokes is another athlete who surprised many with his fine performance when finishing strongly in 6^th place in 40 mins 17 secs. Then we had James Ryan of Dundrum finishing well in 7^th place in 40 mins 37 secs with Danny Smith of Ballynonty 8^th in 41 mins 5 secs. Martin Keane of Dundrum ran well when finishing 9^th in 41 mins 12 secs with Ross Alexander of Coolquill making the top 10 when finishing in 41 mins 52 secs. Dundrum and Thurles Crokes had three in the top ten all eyes were on the rest of the finishers as they came into view for the final time. In 11^th place we had Ruaidhri Devitt of Dundrum finishing strongly in 42 mins 26 secs and what they needed now was to get as many athletes as possible in front of the Thurles Crokes 4^th man and this they did with Padraic Coen finishing 12^th in 42 mins 46 secs, Michael Coen 13^th in 42 mins 49 secs and Donal Keane 14^th in 42 mins 52 secs, to score a total of 30 points. Then into view came the Thurles Crokes duo of Denis Shanahan and Billy Phillips to the delight of the hugh Thurles Crokes following. These two ran very well when finishing 15^th (43 mins 4 secs) and 16^th (43 misn 17 secs) respectively. These were brilliant performances by Denis and Billy to give Thurles Crokes the score of 24 points and in the process finally win the County Senior Cross Country Inter Club title for the first time in the history of Athletic Ireland. As regards history the last time they won the County Senior Cross Country title was 16 years ago and the winning team then was Pat Heffernan, Tommy Moloney, Martin Hassett who was a spectator in Ballingarry and Joe Tobin.

The battle for the Bronze medal s was just as tight in the early stages. In the end Ballynonty won the Bronze medals, on 58 points, with their team of Kenny, Danny, Sean Hanley who ran very well and great to see him back competing, Sean ran well when finishing 21^st in 45 misn 14 secs with Owen fanning finishing 25^th in 45 mins 56 secs. Coolquill were 4^th team on 79 points and their team was Ross, Donal Horgan 22^nd (45 mins 23 secs), Tadhg Vaughan 23^rd (45 mins 32 secs) and Brendan Delaney 24^th (45 mins 48 secs). Carrick on Suir were 5^th and their team was Anthony Grace 18^th (44 mins 24 secs), Tommy Falconer 26^th (46 mins 37 secs), Mark Connolly 28^th (46 mins 44 secs) and James Fox 29^th (46 mins 47 secs). Clonmel were 6^th and their team was Stephen, Mark Boland 33^rd (50 mins 57 secs), Maurice Boland 34^th (51 mins 58 secs) and Ned O Brien 36^th (53 mins 47 secs).

Competition for the B section for Clubs that had a team competing in the A Division was close. Here Dundrum reversed placing with Thurles Crokes while Coolquill finished 3^rd team. Well done to all the Clubs that made such an effort to get all their athletes competing. The whole programme was a great spectacle and well done to the organising Club for having everything in place

Munster Intermediate Cross Country Championships

These Championships takes place this Sunday in Coolaclare, Co Clare. The County Men’s Team is as follows:

Shane Mullaney and Tony Fogarty Thurles Crokes, Martin Keane, Donal Keane, Pat Ryan, Michael Coen and Michael Moore all Dundrum, Stephen Hunter of Clonmel and Danny Smith of Ballynonty.