National Novice, Junior, and Juvenile Uneven Age Cross Country Championships at Gowran Park in Kilkenny
Galway athletes tasted great success at the final day of the National Cross-Country season in wintry sunshine on a true and testing cross country course in Gowran Sunday last.
At Juvenile level Luke Walsh of South Galway AC won an historic gold medal in the U13 Boys All Ireland Cross Country and in the process led his South Galway AC U13 Boys squad to win a well-deserved team gold
Walsh led the race from early on and broke free from the pack on the hilly circuit in the second half of the race to take a fantastic victory, and was followed home by clubmates Liam Bailey who finished 16th, Brendan McGuane in 45th, Ciaran Considine 63rd, and Brian King and Devlin Burke.
Stephen Joyce won a fantastic individual bronze in the same race for Craughwell AC to cap a great season for the up-and-coming star, and Galway U13s won team county silvers with Alan Corcoran of Castlegar AC and Eanna McGrath of Tuam AC also scoring.
Aaron Byrne of East Galway AC was another who had a great day out, placing a fine fourth overall in the U11 Boys race.
At senior level the story of the day were undoubtedly the epic performances by Craughwell and Galway athletes in the National Men’s Novice race over 6km. The double team silver medals won by Craughwell AC Men’s Novice club team and Galway Men’s County team, and a superb individual second place by Jamie Fallon of Craughwell AC, were just reward for a tremendous display of brave cross country running.
The Craughwell AC squad, under the expert guidance of coach Mark Davis, fielded an exceptionally strong eightman team, with their talisman Jamie Fallon starting the race withclear intent, closely tracked by clubmate William Fitzgerald. Fallon was always up at the front of affairs and executed a perfectly run race to win a superb silver medal, finishing just 10 seconds off winner Liam Harris of Togher AC, and well clear of Daniel Stone of Raheny in third. William Fitzgerald ran a well-paced race –working his way from about 25th position midway through to a remarkable top-5 finish.
Next home for Craughwell was Patrick Noonan in what many felt was the run of the day, as he finished an exceptional 19th. Fourth home for Craughwell and final scorer was Jack Miskella in 27th. These four were ably backed up by Kevin Mooney with a fantastic comeback run to come 47th, closely followed by Kyle Moorhead in 57th place, Mark Davis (77th) and Paul Joyce (87th).
Four of the Craughwell team were also among the top 6 scorers on a silver medal winning Galway County team, along with Abaas Edris Adam of Castlegarwho had a great 17th place finish and David Carter of GCH in 34th.
GCH placed 14th team overall despite some late withdrawals, led home by the aforementioned David Carter, with Aaron Brennan in36th place and Conor Byrne and David Mannion high up the order also.
Galway and GCH ladies also acquitted themselves very well, just outside team medals, with some great all-round performances from an up-and-coming squad
Ellen Moran of GCH was a superb 4th in the Women's race, cementing her stellar 2022 in real style. Moran ran aggressively from the gun and was always towards the front of affairs, and will no doubt feature on the podium in years ahead.
Barbara Dunne, Maebh Brannigan and Aine O'Farrell completed the team scorers in 26th, 53rd and 62nd respectively for a brilliant 5th club placing for GCH.
Galway Ladies’ squad were sixth County overall, with Aisling Moyles of Castlegar running a stormer to place as fourth scorer on the County team
In a great show of the Junior level strength in the club at the moment, Craughwell ACs’ U19 Men’s team won a fantastic bronze team medal with a superb two finishers in the top 10. Sean Cotter gave his all to challenge for individual medal and was right at the business end of the race all the way through, finishing 6th, with Oisín Davis next home in 9th spot. Ross McGuinness ran a very smart race to come 35th overall while Anthony Boyle finished 64th as fourth scorer, ably backed up by Luke Burke who was fifth home for the team.
At under 17 level, Isabella Burke of GCH can be well-pleased with a great 29th place, with Anna Cotter 57th for Craughwell, while Helena O Keeffe ran well in the U19 Girls race in 28th spot for Loughrea.
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European Cross-Country Championships
This weekend sees many of Europe’s top athletes descend on Abbottstown in Dublin for the European Cross-Country Championships. The event will be held on the purpose-built course at the National Sports Campus on Sunday next with seven races on the programme, at Junior, U23 and Senior level and a Mixed Relay. International stars such as Jakob Ingebritsen of Norway and Ireland’s Ciara Mageaan and Fionnuala McCormack are among the standout names who will compete for glory.
Thomas McStay of Galway City Harriers will earn his second Euro Cross cap, as he toes the U23 Men’s start line with his Irish team mates, alongside NUIG team mate Donal Devane of Ennis Track and two fellow Connacht athletes Keelan Kilreehill (Moy Valley) and Thomas Devaney (Castlebar).
Athletics Ireland National Endurance Co-Ordinator, Matt Lockett, also of Galway City Harriers,is currently leading squad preparationsand his charges will be aiming for team medals on home turf.
