Olympic Selection for Greene and McDonnell
There was double delight for Galway City Harriers’ athletes Cillin Greene and Robert McDonnell this week, with the news that both athletes will represent Ireland on the Mixed 4 by 400m Relay team at the Tokyo Olympics at the end of this month.
Both athletes have had stellar Juvenile and Junior careers across the sprints disciplines and have previously been capped by Ireland. Their selection at Olympic level is the ultimate accolade and testament to their talent, hard work and dedication to their sport over the past decade.
Greene is the current National Senior 400m champion , and competed for Ireland at the European Indoors in Glasgow in 2019. He is now coached by Jeremy Lyons in Dublin, having had great success with his previous coaches in Galway.
McDonnell has won multiple Juvenile National titles and has excelled this season at Senior level, winning bronze behind Greene at the Nationals. Prior to the Olympics he will compete for Ireland at the European Under 20 Championships in Tallinn, Estonia from July 15th to 18th. He is coached by Brendan Glynn who is building quite a reputation as a sprints coach at club and National level.
The selection of the sprint duo is testament to the strength of coaching and structures at city club Galway City Harriers and congratulations go to those at GCH who mentored the two talents over recent years, with such coaches as PJ Coyle, Frank Maguire, Noel Dempsey, and Pauline Harrington all contributing to the clubs sprint success.
Galway City Harriers' Brian Bruton chatted to Galway Bay FM's John Mulligan about their selection.
Galway U16 to U19 competition
A third day of Galway Juvenile competition was held last Sunday in Dangan, with a full programme of events for the U16 to U19 ages in a busy afternoon session.
Notable highlights triple gold for Margaret Nnadi of GCH in the U16 girls 100/200m and Shot Putt.
Eoin Higgins of Clare River Harriers also secured triple gold in the U16 Boys, winning the 100m, Shot Putt, and the Long Jump by just one centimetre.
At u17 level, Caitlin Griffin of Loughrea won three golds in the Shot, Discus, and Javelin. Sophie Farrell of South Galway AC doubled up to win both sprints, as did Isabella Burke of GCH who won the 800 and 1500 m races, and Ava McKeon in the short and long hurdles,again for GCH. There was a superb 400m win for Alix Joyce of Tuam AC who clocked 59.01.
There were multiple medals winning performances at U17 Boys level via South Galway’s Stephen Mannion at 200m and 400m and Torin Maguire also South Galway in the middle distances, while Mathieu Madden of GCH also struck double gold.
Nicole Quirke of GCH impressed winning both 100 and 200m events in the U18 Girls section. William McDonnell also of GCH ran two strong distance races winning the 800 and 1500m, while Daniel Ukaga won double gold for Loughrea in the field events.
At U19 level, double winners included Helena O Keeffe of Loughrea in the distance races, and Alisha Larkin of Craughwell AC and Andrew Egan of GCH in the sprints.
Connacht Children’s Games
The Connacht Children’s Games events were held Saturday last July 10th at Athlone IT. The events featured competition on a paired basis in teams of two for U9 to U11 ages over sprints, middle distance, turbo javelin, Long Jump and Relays.
The top 3 in each event qualify for the National Children’s Games events to be held next month.
Among the Galway winners were double champions, Jack Hibbitt and Conor Mannion of Craughwell AC in the U9 Boys 60m and 300m in a great display of team success.
Ruby Maher and Reiltin Ward also Craughwell struck gold in the U10 Girls 60m, while in the 11 Girls 60m, GCH duo Aisling Tauchen and Lucy O'Connor combined to take gold.
Sally Fahey and Cait McLaughlin South Galway won the U11 Girls 600m distance gold.
In the Long Jump, Caoife Keane and Mila Carty won the U9 Girls event for South Galway, while Castlegar duo Matiss Ozolins and Dylan Madden won the U9 team Boy’s gold. At U 10 Boys level, Louis Jean Hounkponou and Darcy Noel took gold for GCH, as did clubmates Aisling Tauchen and Natalia Jaime-Stapleton in the U11 category.
There were Relay wins for GCH in the U9 Boys and Craughwell in the U10 Girls event
