Week ending Saturday 22nd March
Plenty to cheer about at the Leinster Juvenile Indoors
The Leinster Juvenile Indoors were held over two action-packed days last week-end in TUS Athlone, where the big Mullingar squad certainly left their mark across a variety of events. Saturday morning started with the walks, where Mullingar was represented by three Glennon brothers. Gareth Glennon competed in the u/14 boys 1,000m walk and after a thrilling race that came right down to the wire, Gareth finished second in a photo finish, missing the gold by just three hundredths of a second. Such was the pace of the race, the two boys were nearly 9 seconds inside the Championship Record that has held since 1998, a terrific achievement and Gareth will be looking forward to locking horn with the winner again at the National Finals in two weeks. The records continued to tumble as Daniel Glennon cruised to victory in the u/17 boys 1,500m walk in the 6:42.05, smashing the Championship record set only last year by a whopping 15 seconds. John Glennon made it 3 medals for the Glennon brothers when he comfortably won the u/19 boys 1,500m walk to take the gold medal.
Moving to the 400m, it was great to see two Mullingar athletes trying out a new event. Daniel Horohoe competed in the u/16 boys 400m where he ran very well to place fourth in his time trial heat, out of the medal places but a great effort. There were three heats of the u/17 girls 400m, so qualification for the final was always going to be very difficult. Yves McCague put in a great effort to place fourth in her heat, not enough to advance to the final but like Daniel, this was all about trying a new event and both will have learned much from the experience.
The cross country season came to a close last week, so some of the Mullingar athletes threw their hat in the ring to compete in the 1,500m. First up was Morgan Isdell in the u/16 boys 1,500m where he competed well but found the pace and tight indoor bends not to his liking but he never let up and finished strongly over the last lap to finish in seventh place. Eleanor Kiernan put a slightly disappointing run at the All-Ireland Schools cross country finals firmly behind her when she competed strongly in the u/17 girls 1,500m to finish fifth in a blanket finish for third place, just missing out on bronze by only three tenths of a second. Conor Walsh ran a very smart race in the u/17 boys 1,500m as he sat just off the leading pack for most of the race in fourth place but when the time came to make his move on the final lap he accelerated hard to close on the leading group and with a terrific fast finish raced into third place and the bronze medal. The u/18 boys 1,500m had two Mullingar athletes toe the line and Luke Greene and Mathew Molly set out to make the race a true test of stamina. Luke took the early lead, closely followed by Mathew. Sensing the pace was starting to drop, Matthew took over the lead followed by Luke but coming into the finish straight, after sharing the work load up front for so long, both had to give way to the eventual winner, with Mathew taking and Luke third. Ailbhe O’Farrell contested the u/19 girls 1,500m, which was run at a blistering pace from the start, but Ailbhe wisely sat off the pace, eventually coming home in fifth place. As a measure of the pace, the winner set a new Championship Record, lowering the previous by 5 seconds, in fact all three medal winners were inside the old record, so it really was a very fast race. We finished the 1,500m races with the u/19 boys 1,500m where Mullingar was represented by Jamie Wallace and Donagh Carey. Jamie went straight to the front and keeping a steady pace he kept the race moving along, with Donagh happy to sit in fifth. The race order didn’t change until the last 200m when Jamie had to surrender the lead but had enough left to come home in second, followed by Donagh in fifth.
In all, there were 133 track races on Saturday, with a whopping 101 alone in the 60m, so the 60m programme took several hours to complete. Mullingar had an impressive squad of seventeen sprinters spread across ages u/12 to u/17. There were nine heats of the u/12 girls 60m heats. Lyla Lennon Currill and Lucy O’Connor comfortably won their heats to advance to the semi-finals, but no luck for Roisin Keane who didn’t qualify for the semi-finals despite a good effort in her heat. The semi-finals were obviously even quicker and Lyla and Lucy finished an excellent fourth place in their races, but not fast enough unfortunately to advance to the final, though Lucy came agonisingly close, running quicker than in her heat to match the time of the third place girl who qualified for the final, Lucy missing out by mere thousandths of a second in a photo finish. Mullingar had four in the u/12 boys 60m where Mel Bohan, Donagh Bourke and Luke Wallace ran very well in their heats but didn’t advance to the semi-finals to join Killian Hardman. Despite running even faster in his semi-final, Killian finished out of the qualification places for the final, but top marks for effort. On to the u/13 boys 60m where Conor Gavin finished third in his heat but his time wasn’t enough to advance to the semi-final, Cillian Gavin placed fourth in his heat, missing a place in the semi-finals by just a tenth of a second, but fourth in his heat in a quick time saw Daniel Cummins qualify for the semi-final where he raced extremely well but missed out on a place in the final. Negotiating the eight heats of the u/14 girl 60m, Liadan Gavin placed third in her heat and Clodagh Keane fourth in hers in fast enough times to qualify for the semi-finals. The girls raced extremely well in the semi-finals but were unlucky not to advance to the final. Also competing but not advancing from the very competitive 60m heats was John McManus (u/14 boys 60m), Clodagh Doran, Aoibhe Martyn and Eden McCague (u/15 girls 60m), and Aaron Conroy (u/17 boys 60m).
Over in the field events, enjoying their competitions but finishing out of the medal places were Cillian Gavin and Conor Gavin (u/13 boys long jump), Aoibhe Martyn and Clodagh Doran (setting personal bests in the u/15 girls long jump), Yves McCague (u/17 girls long jump), Gearoid Doyle (u/12 boys high jump), and Donnacha Doyle (u/14 boys high jump) who leapt to fifth on count-back, very unlucky to just miss fourth place and an automatic place in the National finals.
With seven medals won on Saturday, Mullingar was already ahead of the medal haul of five won in 2024 and early on Sunday morning, Kyle Faherty powered to third place in the u/19 boys 200m with an excellent race to add another medal to the Mullingar haul. Moving to the 600m, Roisin Keane, Kate Horohoe and Lyla Lennon Currill contested the heats of the u/12 girls 600m but didn’t advance to the final. We had a huge group of ten boys in the u/12 boys 600m where Mel Bohan won his heat and Killian Hardman was third in his heat, to give us two in the final. Unfortunately, they weren’t to be joined by Ethan Byrne, Olly Wright, Donagh Bourke, Noah Morgan, Senan Clinton, John Geelon, John Healy and Luke Wallace. Mullingar also had a very big number competing in the 800m. Aoife Dunne ran in the heats of the u/13 girls 600m but didn’t advance for the final. No problem for Daniel Cummins who won his heat of the u/13 boys 600m to qualify for the final, but though they raced well, Cillian Gavin and Conor Gavin didn’t advance to the final with Daniel. Winning her heat of the u/14 girls 800m saw Chloe Bell qualify for the final, joined by Amelie G Kelly who was second in her heat, but unfortunately Liadan Gavin and Mina Sheridan didn’t qualify with them. In the u/14 boys 800m, Gareth Glennon and Harry Flanagan easily won their heats to qualify for the final, but unfortunately weren’t to be joined by Rian Gavin who ran well in his heat but finished out of the qualification places. Emily Tully, Muirin Dunne and Alice Geelon contested the heats of the u/15 girls 800m but didn’t advance to the final to join Lily Walsh who easily won her heat. The medals prospects continued as Oisin Clarke comfortably won his heat of the u/15 boys 800m to qualify for the final. Scott Cogan swept to victory in his heat of the u/16 boys 800m to qualify for the final along with Daniel Horohoe, but unfortunately not to be joined by Morgan Isdell.
In between the heats and finals of the 800m, we were treated to some great hurdling by the Mullingar athletes. Lucy O’Connor was fourth in her heat of the u/12 girls 60m hurdles and Daniel Cummins third in his heat of the u/13 boys 60m hurdles, but both were unlucky to just miss places in the finals. Clodagh Keane won her heat of the u/14 girls 60m hurdles, fourth for Donnacha Doyle in his heat of the u/14 boys 60m hurdles heats saw him qualify for his final but fifth for Harry Flanagan saw him miss by just one place to join Donnacha in the final. Morgan Isdell had a straight final in the u/16 boys 60m hurdles where he raced to a fine fifth place.
It wasn’t all track of course and there was plenty of action in the field events too. Chloe Bell leapt to a fantastic third place in the u/14 girls long jump with 4.48m, just 2cm away from silver. Also competing was Roisin Keane and Kate Horohoe (u/12 girls long jump), Noah Morgan, Olly Wright, Donagh Bourke, Senan Clinton and John Healy (u/12 boys long jump), Donnacha Doyle and Rian Gavin (u/14 boys long jump), Mina Sheridan (u/14 girls long jump), and Lucy O’Connor and Kate Horohoe (u/12 girls high jump) where Lucy was most unfortunate, finishing fifth with the same clearance as third and fourth, but placed fifth on count-back.
Moving to the finals of the 800m and 60m hurdles, Mullingar ended the day with our own medal streak replicating the Irish team at the final day of the European Indoors. In the final of the u/12 boys 600m, Mel Bohan went out hard from the gun and took the lead, with Killian Hardman tucked into the chasing group. Mel continued to race hard but had to surrender the lead on the final lap and finished in second place, with Killian finishing fast behind but out of the medals. Daniel Cummins really battled hard in the final of the u/13 boys 600m and even though he ran faster than in the heat, had to settle for a place out of the medals in a close finish. The final of the u/14 girls 800m was run at a furious pace from the start, and Chloe Bell quickly settled into fourth place, just behind the leading group, with Amelie G Kelly close behind. As the race unfolded, the leading group slowly pulled clear and Chloe was unable to close the gap and finished in fourth place, with Amelie sprinting in fast to finish in seventh place. The final of the u/14 boys 800m was an excellent race, where Gareth Glennon and Harry Flanagan attacked it from the start, Gareth going to the front, followed closely by Harry in third. The boys held their places for much of the race but a furious fast lap saw them overtaken and they ran in Gareth in third and Harry sixth after a great effort. In the final of the u/15 girls 800m, Lily Walsh sat on the shoulder of the early leader for the opening laps but when the time came to make her move, she pulled clear effortlessly and raced home to take the Leinster title in a very swift 2:21.29, only three tenths of a second outside the Championship Record. Running faster in the final of the u/15 boys 800m, Oisin Clarke went out hard and quickly settled into the leading group. The lead continued to increase on the rest, and such was the gap by the bell that they simply couldn’t be caught and Oisin was delighted to race home in second place to win his first individual Leinster medal. Scott Cogan and Daniel Horohoe gave us plenty to cheer for in the final of the u/16 boys 800m but Scott just fell off the lead trio to finish fifth with Daniel coming home close behind. Conor Liston toed the line in the u/19 boys 800m final against a quality field. Conor knew he was going to have to be in top shape as the 400m champion from the previous day lined up against him. Conor went straight to the front and dictated the early pace. Determined to not let the race develop into a burn-up on the final lap, Conor continued to pick up the pace and when he struck for home at the bell, he quickly pulled clear and had enough in the tank to hold off a late challenge and crossed the line in a well-deserved first place in 1:55.65, setting a new Championship Record.
We ended the long day with the hurdles finals and we cheered as Clodagh Keane blasted from the blocks in the u/14 girls 60m hurdles final and with a faultless display raced to an excellent third place in a new personal best of 10.09 seconds, much faster than she ran in the heat. Disaster struck on the third hurdle for Donnacha Doyle in his final of the u/14 boys 60m hurdles, as he hit it very hard, completely upsetting his rhythm but he raced on to finish anyway, happy that at least he had reached the Leinster final.
The big increase in numbers competing last week-end was certainly reflected in the excellent performances by everyone, not least the fantastic haul of fifteen medals in stark contrast to the total of five medals won in 2024. This was a huge weekend for our juvenile athletes, many competing in Leinster Indoors for the first time, with brilliant performances all around, massive experience and lots of personal bests, finalists and medals won in a wide range of events. Well done to everybody who competed. Regardless of the end result, they all did themselves proud and have something to build on for the outdoor season.
