AAI Senior, Junior & Juvenile Even Ages XC 2018 – ABBOTSTOWN (25th Nov)
Jamie Battle secures selection for European Cross Country
Last year, at the same event and venue, illness had robbed Jamie Battle of his best in his effort to secure selection for the European cross country. One year later, on Sunday 25th November, it was an entirely different story. This time Jamie could show his true class and he ran a superb race to finish 3rd in the Junior men 6,000m race and was rewarded with automatic selection for the Irish junior team to compete at the European cross country in the Netherlands in two weeks time. This is a just reward for his dedication to the sport, his undoubted self belief, and his trust in and the guidance of his coach, Joe Ryan.
Conditions were cold but dry last Sunday for the AAI Senior, Junior and Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Finals at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, Dublin. Despite more than a week of rain, ground conditions were remarkably good and a testament to the value of the purpose built cross country course in Abbotstown.
In the eight underage races, our athletes took Club team medals in four of them, two teams finished fifth Club, and two County teams just missed medals when they finished fourth County. Four juvenile Mullingar athletes won individual medals by finishing in the top twelve places and won gold medals with Leinster teams. These are excellent results and help to maintain the Club’s formidable reputation in underage cross country.
The first race of the day was the 2,000m u/12 girls where the Mullingar girls battled well over the two laps, led home by Rachel Murphy, followed by Orla Manning, Ellen Daly, Lydia McDonnell, Muireann Donohue and Rose Macken. The team finished out of the medal places but the experience of running in an All-Ireland against the best in the Country will stand to them in the future. The pre-race favourites in 2,000m u/12 boys, everyone was watching the Mullingar team and they didn’t disappoint, turning in a dominant display. Led home by Matthew Molloy in 4th place, followed by Conor Liston in 7th, Luke O’Leary with his customary brilliant sprint finish to take 8th and James Flynn providing the vital fourth team score, the Mullingar boys easily finished 1st Club by a huge margin. With fantastic team support from Cian Corcoran, Rory McDonnell, Luke Greene, Niall Brady and Arthur Drummond, the boys finished 4th County, missing bronze by only a few points. Matthew, Conor and Luke also provided the first three scores for the Leinster team that won the Inter-Provincial race to give them another team gold medal each.
Most of the Mullingar team in the 3,000m u/14 girls will be underage again next year, so we’re always going to be challenged to get in the medals. That didn’t stop great efforts by Grace Byrne, Adele Geoghegan, Caoimhe Kilmurray, Leah Geoghegan, Jessica Cunningham, Orla McDermott, Lucy Donnelly, Ciara Glennon and Eva Farrell. Even though they finished out of the medals, they’ll learn from the experience and take it with them to the uneven age finals in three weeks time. Diarmuid Fagan wasn’t afraid to put in a hard shift in the 3,000m u/14 boys, leading the large field at times and always keeping in contention for honours. It was only late in the race that he had to let the leaders go, but he kept working hard and was rewarded with a fantastic 3rd place finish. With great support from Ross Killalea, Tadhg Sheridan, Adam Brady, Callum Costello, John Ryan, Daire McDonald, Adam Smyth, Sonny Drummond and Conleth Mullen, the Mullingar boys were delighted to finish 3rd Club and win the All-Ireland bronze medals. The team also finished an excellent 4th County. Diarmuid also won a gold medal with the Leinster team.
The Mullingar girls ran strongly in the 4,000m u/16 girls, packing well and always looking likely to take team honours. Led home by Amy Geoghegan with a very strong finish, and with Phoebe Bate, Meabh Killalea, Bea Drummond, Karla Cunningham and Francesca Walshe providing great team support, the Mullingar girls thoroughly deserved their gold medals for 1st Club and they also finished a very creditable 6th County. The Mullingar team in the 4,000m u/16 boys gave it their best and despite strong performances by Colin Smith, Lorcan Mullen, Matthew Glennon, Colin McGee and Tadhg Kenny had to settle for a place out of the Club medals, finishing 5th Club but only ten points away from bronze, a good performance in a highly competitive All-Ireland final.
The 4,000m Junior Women and u/18 girls was a combined race and athletes could declare on both teams, as well as score individually. Aoife Darby (u/18) ran an excellent race and led the Mullingar team home. Following in quickly behind was Susan Glennon (u/18), Sarah Glennon (u/18), Jennifer Fidgeon (u/18), Lisa Gavin (u/18, Athlone IT), Daria Fidgeon (junior), Ciara Smith, Andrea Brady (junior), Laura Shaw (junior) and Elysia Greene (u/18). When the junior and u/18 results were separated and calculated after the race, the Mullingar u/18 team of Aoife, Susan, Sarah, Jennifer, Ciara and Elysia finished 3rd Club, and with Lisa they finished a creditable 7th County. Adding Daria, Andrea and Laura, the junior team finished out of the team medal places but can be very proud of their collective performances.
The 6,000m Junior Men and u/18 boys was also a combined race and again athletes could declare on both teams, as well as score individually. Always keeping in the mix, working hard and covering all the breaks, Jamie Battle (junior) put in a great performance and was delighted to finish 3rd and secure an automatic place on the Irish junior team for the European cross country in two weeks time. Following Jamie in was Ciaran Nolan (junior), Jack Moran (junior), Eoin Quinn (u/18), John Whitelaw (u/18), Oisin Lane (u/18), Andrew Daly (u/18), Ciaran Luby (u/18), Rian Hogan (u/18) and Paul McCool (u/18).When the junior and u/18 results were separated and calculated after the race, the Mullingar u/18 team of Eoin, John, Oisin, Andrew, Ciaran, Rian and Paul finished a very creditable 5th Club. Adding Jamie, Ciaran and Jack, the junior Club team finished just out of the medals in 4th place, missing third place by a mere five points. Euan Lagan injured his shoulder in an unfortunate clash just after the start and though he ran on for a while, his shoulder was too sore and he was forced to stop. We can’t say for sure, but Euan might have been the difference the team needed to get in the junior team medals. A real pity, but that’s sport.
Proceedings then moved to the 8,000m for Senior and u/23 Women where Mullingar was represented by Claire Fagan and Linda Conroy, both running u/23. Linda was still not fully recovered from a bout of illness during the week and suffering with laboured breathing she had to stop with about a lap to go. Claire developed pain in her shoulder during the race and though she had completed most of the long four lap race and with a little over 200m and within sight of the finish line, Claire had to stop as her shoulder was too painful to continue.
We finished the day with the 10,000m for Senior and u/23 Men, a tough five lap race with enough hills and muddy places to sap the energy and test the very best of athletes. Cormac Dalton and Padraig Moran were competing u/23. Cormac ran a very smart race, keeping close to the leading group and digging deep over the final stages of the race to come home in 14th place overall against the very best men in the Country. Cormac was 5th in the u/23 ranks, and though it was outside the qualification places for the European cross country by just one place, he knows he turned in a fine performance and can be very proud. Padraig also worked hard and dug deep on the tough course, finishing well up in the u/23 ranks, crossing the line nearly exhausted and leaving nothing on the track, which is always the sign of a good athlete.
