All-Ireland Schools T&F 2026 (29th/30th May)

The All-Ireland Schools T&F took place in Tullamore on Friday evening 29th May and all day Saturday 30th May, continuing an excellent innovation begun a few years ago to reduce an overly long programme on Saturday by holding some events on the evening before. Friday’s programme included events for 6 of the 8 Mullingar Harriers members that were competing for their schools and colleges over the two days. This is regarded as one of the toughest underage T&F Championships in Ireland, and the road to the finals is very hard, so even reaching the finals is a huge achievement.

First up on Friday evening was Gareth Glennon (St. Finian’s College) in the Junior boys 1,200m walk. Right from the gun, Gareth went quickly to the front and was never challenged as he raced to what looked like victory by a margin only to incur a 30 second time penalty after the race, which relegated him to second place and the silver medal, very unfortunate, but always a risk in this very technical event.

Moving to the Senior boys 3,000m walk where the early leader and eventual winner had set a blistering pace right from the gun. John Glennon (St. Finian’s College) knew the pace was too fast for him, so he wisely tracked him and was on course for second place when he was stopped in the home straight to serve a 30 second time penalty, which meant he had an anxious wait to see if he was clear enough of third place. Thankfully he was and when his 30 seconds was up he still had enough of a lead to race to the finish line to take second place and the silver medal.

There was no such drama for Daniel Glennon (St. Finian’s College) in the Intermediate boys 2,000m walk. He went out very fast to the front, pushing on to lead by nearly 50m after the first lap. Maintaining his form and pace, Daniel was simply too good for the opposition and raced to victory in 8:38.15, a new personal best by a narrow margin of just over one second, about 250m clear of second place to win a coveted All-Ireland Schools title and gold medal.

Away from the track, Chloe Bell (St. Finian’s College’s) won a fantastic silver in the Junior girls long jump. Chloe jumped 5.07m, a big personal best, to equal the eventual winner’s best jump, but the judges split the girls’ standings based on next best jumps. 5.07m was an improvement on her Leinster performance and saw her out-jump the girls she had shared a podium with at the Leinster Schools T&F.

Back on the track again, Tianna O’Leary (Ursuline Convent, Thurles) competed in the Senior girls 1,500m steeplechase. She was right in contention for the bronze medal up until the last lap when a mistake at the water jump proved critical, losing ground and falling back out of the medal places to 5th place. This was still a great performance from her in a new event and she’ll take the experience forward to the rest of the outdoor season ahead.

We ended the evening with the Senior boys 5,000m where Jamie Wallace (Colaiste Mhuire) stayed with the leading group of four up to 3,000m but then began to fall off the back of the group. Despite his best efforts to get back in contact, unfortunately he had to call it a day with four laps to go and made the difficult decision to stop.

The first event on Saturday morning was the Intermediate girls 3,000m and Lily Walsh (Loreto College) was one of the youngest girls in race, giving away a year to most of her opponents. Such was the standard in the race that the times recorded by first and second place were inside the European u/18 T&F qualifying standard. But a confident, tactically astute race ensured Lily a place on the podium with a third place finish and the bronze medal, in a new personal best time 9.52:38.

We rounded off a very successful week-end for Mullingar athletes with another medal, courtesy of Cillian Galvin (Colaiste Mhuire) in the u/16 boys mile. Tactically very aware, Cillian kept to the back of the pack out of trouble but keeping a close eye on the race as it unfolded. He was never far from the action at the front and going down the backstraight on the final lap he began to move up the field. With 200m to go he hit the gas and swept to the front and looked to be running to victory but was caught shortly before the finish and ran in second for the silver medal in a very close finish. A brilliant effort in a brilliant race.

That wraps up the schools competitions for everybody except Lily Walsh, Daniel Glennon and Cillian Galvin who have been selected to compete for Leinster in the Tailteann Inter-Provincial T&F in three weeks [GD/CW/TW].