Galway medallists on the track

Galway athletes took three golds at the recent Junior and u-23 National Track & Field Championships in Tullamore.

Irene Gorman claimed the 3000m steeple chase easily, winning gold in 11:26, a fantastic time for this event, while Nicola O Ceallaigh won the 5000m in a personal best time, having also run a great race in the 1500m to claim the bronze medal an hour earlier.

The junior men’s 4x400m team also produced a gold-winning performance, and outsprinted the u-23 team that was running in the same race. Shane Fahy ran a solid first leg, easily beating the other juniors, but the u-23 team was a good bit ahead. Evan Maguire ran second to close the gap while Anthony Hebron dug in, running a superb race to hand the baton over to Keith Fallon with both teams neck and neck . Fallon then finished off to bring home the gold.

McGuire and his training partner Anthony Hebron also ran superb times of 55.95 and 57.61 respectively to take silver and bronze in the junior 400m, while Rachel Finnegan of Craughwell AC came third in the 400m hurdles.

Keith Fallon also ran in the junior 800m, finishing fourth in a highly competitive field, while Caoimhe Daniels gained valuable experience in the u-23 800m, finishing sixth.

The previous day the Tailteann Games (u-17 interprovincials) took place at Santry.

Alanna Lally of GCH again claimed gold in a competitive 800m with a fine time of 2m13s and then took silver in the 300m half an hour later. She was joined by Craughwell AC athlete Sinead Gaffney to form half of the Connacht girls 4x300 relay team which was victorious for the first time in the history of the games.

Galway’s other medallists were Laura Ann Costello. who finished third in the 200m, and Maebh Brannigan, who also took bronze in the 1500m in a fine new PB time of 4min 47sec. There were other fine performances from other promising Galway athletes including Nicholas Sheehan (2.05) in the 800m and Jamie Spellman (4.27) in the 1500m.

At the u-9 to u-11 national championships Galway enjoyed more success. Sinead Duggan and Challene Trill of GCH had a great win in the u-10 60m, Riain Kelly and Jonathon McGrath won a bronze in the u-11 boys’ long jump, while Robert McDonnell and Kristan Flaherty won bronze in the u-11 60m.

Craughwell AC’s Ava Finn and Aíne Kelly and Pádraig Martyn and Fionn McArdle also took silver medals, while Rebekah Flynn and Emily Miskella won bronze in the u-9 girls’ long jump. The u-11 GCH boys’ team of Niall Costello, Jonathon McGrath, Kristan Flaherty, Riain Kelly and Robert mcDonnell won the 4x100m relay.