Some of Craughwell AC’s U13 athletes chilling out at the Galway Indoors in AIT

Craughwell AC’s juveniles and parents relocated en masse to Athlone IT’s fantastic indoor arena last Saturday for the Galway Indoor Championships. The club had an amazing 204 athletes take part across 458 events and feature on the medals podium 119 times throughout the day!

I’ve covered some exceptional senior and junior performances in a separate article and so will focus on U17s downwards here. Michelle Duggan had a great day on the track with a blistering 8.25s sprint to take the 60m title and followed it up with 27.52 to take the 200m title. Tara McNally took silver in both events with 8.36 in the 60m and 27.64 in the 200m. Dearbhaile Walsh swapped her cross country spikes for a rare sprint appearance and placed 5th in the 200m in good time of 30.31. Dearbhaile added silver in the 800m in a time of 2.39.5 with Grainne McDaid taking bronze in 2.56.1.

Lorraine Delaney and Ciana Reidy
Joint Galway U15 High Jump Champions 2014

In the field events, Aoife Greene took gold in the shot putt with a throw of 6.02m. Aisling Keady made a superb return to competition after a long layoff due to injury with a 1.50m winning jump to take the gold medal in the high jump, with Aoife in 3rd place with 1.35m and Tammy Klynsmith 4th in 1.30m. Tammy followed this up with silver in the long jump with 3.71m, an event won by Mary Dunphy with a leap of 4.01m. Aoife placed 4th with 3.58m with Laura Keane 5th with 3.46m. Michelle, Tara, Mary and Aisling combined to take the 4x200m relay title in 1.51.7 while Dearbhaile combined with Aoife, Laura and Lorraine to take bronze in the 4x200m in 2.02.9.

In the U17 boys 800m, Liam Moran ran strongly to take silver in 2.14.6 with Ben Garrard 4th in 2.19.7. Matthew McKiernan and Sean Garman both excelled in the long jump where Matthew set a new PB of 5.42m take the gold medal and Sean leaped a PB of 4.72m to take bronze.

In the U15 events, Craughwell’s athletes dominated many of the events. Cian Waters, Jerry Keary and Peter Martin took 1-2-3 in the hurdles in times of 10.38, 10.58 and 13.23. The triple was repeated in the high jump with Jerry first with 1.50m, Sean Delaney 2nd with 1.50m and Peter third with 1.30m. Daniel Callanan-Forde took silver in the sprint in 8.38. Oisin Lyons stormed to victory in the 800m winning in a time of 2.17.5 with Sean Delaney taking bronze in 2.33.3 and Luke Finn 5th in 2.38.9. The club also dominated the long jump with Daniel leading the way with victory in 4.67m, Cian Waters 3rd with 4.28, Jerry Keary 4th with 4.19 and Gavin Forde completing the top 5 with a 4.10. The boys took gold and silver in the relay in times of 1.53.2 (Daniel, Sean, Oisin, Cian) and 2.05.2 (Jerry, Peter, Gavin, Luke E).

The U15 girls were not going to be outdone by the boys in this regard and were equally impressive with Laura and Lorraine medalling in the long jump with silver and bronze and jumps of 4.34 and 4.21. The club had an amazing 12 athletes take part in the U15 girls long jump and are proud of the fact that it has so many good athletes sticking at the sport as they get older.

In the high jump, the girls took triple honours with Ciana Reidy and Lorraine Delaney tying for the gold with jumps of 1.35m and Aoife Walsh having to withdraw with illness after clearing 1.30m and having to settle for bronze. In the shot putt, the club had 7 competitors with Laura Cunningham taking silver with 7.11m, Caoilin Milton bronze with 6.90m and Shauna Tobin placing 5th with 6.39m. Caoilin followed up her shot putt success with bronze in the hurdles with 10.58s with Laura in 4th place with 10.58 and Ciana 5th with 12.15. Amy Touhy placed 5th in the 800m in a time of 2.58.9. The girls wrapped up their day with 4th and 5th place finishes in the 4x200m in times of 2.02.2 (Aoife, Lorraine, Caoilin, Laura) and 2.03.9 (Ciara, Maeve, Shauna, Ciana).

Craughwell U11 Girls 4x100m
Bronze Medalists at the Galway Indoor Track & Field in AIT

The U14 grade saw some further fantastic performances. Oisin Shannon took bronze in the hurdles in 11.83 and 5th place in the long jump with 3.82m. Conor Hughes was unlucky to take 4th place in both the hurdles (12.59) and long jump (3.89). Luke Roberts took 5th place in the hurdles (12.70). Cathal Walsh had a great day in his debut on the indoor track, taking bronze in the 800m in 2.43.8. Another athlete on his indoor debut, William Fitzgerald was just onsite the medals in the 800m with a time of 2.44.9. Michael Hand took double gold with 9.73m in the shot putt and 1.35m in the high jump. The U14 boys went on to place 3rd in the 4x200m relay in a time of 2.04.9.

A very strong group performance saw the U14 girls take 11 of the 18 individual medals available in their age group. Siona Lawless led the way with victory in the long jump with a fine leap of 4.41m and silver in the sprint in a time of 8.91. Anna Farrelly took silver in the hurdles in 11.36 followed by Roisin Hansbury in 3rd (11.52). Eabha Leech was unlucky to place 4th in both the hurdles (11.59) and sprint (9.22). It was a good day overall for Eabha however with silver in the high jump with a 1.25m leap. Tara Slattery won the high jump (1.30m) and followed it up with 5th in the long jump (3.45). Niamh Treacy took bronze in the high jump (1.25). Rachael Hughes took a splendid silver in the 800m in 2.48.4 and added a bronze in the long jump with 3.71m. Finola Kelly took 5th in the hurdles in 12.04 and excelled in the 800m to take bronze in 2.48.9. Sarah Callanan took silver in the shot putt with a throw of 7.89m, followed by Emma Urquhart in 5th with a throw of 5.77m. The girls took 1st place in their 4x200m relay in a time of 2.04.2.

In the U13s, the girls repeated the feat of the U14s with 11 out of 18 individual medals. Mia Waters took silver in the hurdles in a time of 11.92 with Caoimhe Gilligan missing out on a podium position by the tiny fraction of 5 thousandths of a second when placing 4th. Jane Trehy demonstrated her incredible talent for sprinting with a fine victory in the 60m in a time of 9.12. Niamh Niland raced to victory in the 600m in a time of 1.59.7 with Jennifer Hughes 3rd in 2.01.7 and Ailbhe Miskella 5th in 2.03.8. In the shot putt, the girls took 4 of the top 5 places with Eva Kelly taking silver with a fine throw of 8.13m, Zoe Gilligan bronze (6.64), Sarah McCartin 4th (6.56) and Amber Whelton 5th (5.88). Leanagh Gilligan jumped exceptionally well in both high jump and long jump to take double gold home with a 1.35m leap in the high jump and 4.18m in the long jump. Amber Whelton placed 3rd in the high jump wirh 1.20m while Eva Kelly and Caoimhe Gilligan made it a Craughwell clean sweep in the long jump with leaps of 3.75m and 3.53m. Zoe Gilligan took 5th place with 3.41. This fine group of athletes demonstrated their strength when taking both silver and bronze in the 4x100m relay in times of 1.01.4 and 1.02.8.

In the boys event, the club had 3 in the top 5 of the U13 hurdles with Ryan Gallagher taking silver (11.34), Sean Cannon 4th (11.75) and Cian Garman 5th (11.77). Ryan had a good run in the 60m also with a 5th place finish in a time of 9.16 and added silver in the high jump with a leap of 1.20. Kyle Moorhead had one of his best days on the track with victory in his 600m heat in a time of 1.52.3 which was good enough to take bronze overall, just behind Finbar McFadden who placed 2nd in the other heat in a time of 1.50.6. Sean Cannon took 5th place overall in a time of 1.56.7. Conor Roberts took gold in the shot putt with 6.08m followed by Garvin Surlis in silver position with 5.93 and Cian Garman in 4th with 5.68. Garvin, Ryan and Sean made it a 1-2-3 in the high jumps with leaps of 1.25m, 1.20m and 1.20m. Alex Evans took silver in the long jump with 3.94m. And just for good measure and not to let the girls get 1 up on them, the U13 boys took silver and bronze in their 4x100m relay in times of 1.00.2 and 1.01.7.

The Craughwell AC Mo-Bolt!

In the U12 grade, Shaun Gilligan and Sam O’Neill 2nd and 3rd in the 600m in times of 1.58.6 and 2.00.2 and almost repeated that performance in the sprint where Shaun took silver and Sam placed 4th in times of 9.08 and 9.44. In fact the 600m saw almost a complete whitewash of the top 5 by Craughwell AC with Liam Leen placing 4th in 2.00.5 and Gavin Kelly and Sean Cotter sharing 5th place in a time of 2.05.2. Dara Sheeran and Conor Trehy heaved the shot out to 5.97m and 5.58m to take 4th and 5th place. Padraig Martyn and Ludhaigh Morgan took 1st and 2nd in the high jump with leaps of 1.10 and 0.95m while Padraig added silver in the long jump with a leap of 3.59m. The boys wrapped up a very successful day with domination of the relays when placing 1st (1.00.53), 3rd (1.03.72) and 4th (1.06.39) in their 4x100m.

In the girls events, Lauren McNally took silver in the shot putt with 4.80m while Aoife O’Connor was unlucky to miss the podium when placing 4th with 4.42m. Aine Kelly took gold in the high jump with a 1.10m clearance while Leanne Lynskey took 4th with 1.00. Aine added silver in the long jump with 3.63 while Kate Reilly placed 4th with 3.34m. The girls completed their day with a strong run to take bronze medals in their 4x100m in a time of 1.04.44.

The U11s saw further exceptional performances with Rebecca Lynch taking the Galway title in the long jump with a leap of 3m, winning on count-back from Emily Miskella who also had a 3m jump. Caoimhe Connolly just missed out on the medals when placing 4th with 2.86, as did Molly Sullivan when placing 5th with 2.80m. Emily added a further silver in the 600m in a time of 2.08.7 while Caoimhe was unlucky again with a 4th place finish in 2.14.3. The girls took bronze in the 4x100m relay in a time of 1.08.06. The U11 boys had some great performances also with Oisin Keane taking silver in the long jump with 3.23m followed by Liam McDonagh in 4th with 3.13. Conor Hoade took 5th place in the sprint with 9.63 while in the relays the boys placed 3rd and 4th in times of 1.04.47 and 1.05.31.

Last but not least, our youngest age group in action was the U10s who were not in the least overawed by their first journey to AIT. Fiachra Bond ran a good time of 10.11 in the sprint to take 5th place. Sarah Byrne and Josie Fallon did even better in the large field of sprinters with Sarah winning silver in a time of 10.46 and Josie narrowly behind to take 4th place in 10.64. Jade Moorhead took 4th place in the 400m in a time of 1.25.4 while both girls and boys relay teams took the Galway titles in their 4x100m and the girls 2nd team also taking the bronze medals and the boys 2nd team taking 4th place.

Laura Cunningham and Lorraine Delaney
2nd and 3rd in the U15 Girls Long Jump

I’m leaving the best wine till last here and that was the amazing U10 long jumpers from Craughwell, legendary long jumpers some might say! Firstly the boys who took 4 of the top 5 places in the long jump with Evan Hallinan leading the way with a huge leap of 3.31m. Evan was followed by Fiacha Bond and Odhran Gilligan to complete a clean sweep of the silverware when taking silver and bronze with keaps of 2.98 and 2.97. Cian Lavan completed a strong performance when placing 5th with 2.88. The legend grow some more in the girls event with 8 of the top 9 from Craughwell 6 of those 7 separated by the slenderest of margins of 5cm.

Round 1 saw Jade Moorhead go into a short-lived lead with a 2.57m leap that was immediately equalled by Ava Carr who was jumping next and equalled Jade’s jump. Josie Fallon relegated them to third place when leaping what would prove to be the competition winning jump on her first attempt. Round 2 saw Sarah Byrne leapfrog both Jade and Ava when leaping 2.57m but with a better secondary jump from the first round. Alana Grogan joined the group with yet another 2.57m to make it 4 tied for the bronze medal but a fine 2.53m on her final jump copper-fastened Ava Carr’s hold on the medal with Sarah 4th, Alana 5th and Jade 6th. Maireád Tucker took 7th place with a 2.55m leap from round 2 while Grace Leen and Jade Whelton both leaped 2.52m in the final round to place 8th and 9th. It’s incredible to have 7 athletes all within 5cm of the bronze slot and even more incredible that they are all from the same club. So well done girls!

That wrapped up a busy busy day for the club where we excelled at all levels from participation to success to enjoyment to officiating. A particular thanks is due to the large number of parents and coaches from the club who helped out on the day. Without them, the day would have been much longer. I’m sure not everyone enjoyed helping out but unfortunately it has to be done and the day went smoothly as a result and everyone got home at a reasonable hour.

“What have you got for 4 Down and 8 Across?”

 “shhhhh”