All-Ireland Schools XC 2022 (12th Mar)
International selection for Jamie Wallace
The All-Ireland Schools Cross Country finals were held at the Mallusk Playing Fields outside Belfast on Saturday 12th March and among the highlights was the second place finish by Jamie Wallace in the junior boys race that earns him selection on the Irish team to compete at the SIAB Schools International Cross Country against the best cross country runners from England, Scotland and Wales in Wales at the end of March. This is a fantastic honour for Jamie, his family, his school Colaiste Mhuire, and of course for Mullingar Harriers.
Wet weather in the weeks and days leading up to the event, particularly very heavy rain the day before, meant the ground was very soft and muddy and made running difficult in places. The first race with a Mullingar interest was the Junior boys with Jamie Wallace, Luke Greene and Niall Brady (Colaiste Mhuire) and Donagh Carey and Matthew Molloy (St. Finian’s) taking to the start line. This was the first time for these boys to represent their school at All-Ireland level, and they didn’t disappoint. In a very competitive field, Leinster schools champion Jamie Wallace was right up at the front from the very start, followed closely by Donagh, Luke and Niall, with Matthew a bit back after getting almost knocked over in the first 100m. It was clear from early on that the pace was going to be frantic. After the first 1,000m, a group of eight including Jamie had broken away from the main pack. Donagh, Luke and Niall were battling hard to keep in the top thirty and Matthew was making steady progress through the field. By the half way mark, the leading group was down to six, with Jamie still sitting with the leaders. Going into the last lap, Jamie surged to the front on an uphill section and the quick injection of pace reduced the leading group to just three, eventually reducing to two as Jamie continued to race to the finish. The lead changed hands several time in the closing 500m and it was only in the final 100m that the eventual winner got ahead of Jamie for the final time and Jamie crossed the finish in second place. This was a fantastic result considering that he had been ill during the week. As Jamie finished, attention turned to the other Mullingar athletes. Digging deep over the final 1,000m Donagh held on to nineteenth place, closely followed by Matthew who made up a lot of ground, then Luke and Niall finishing strongly for Colaiste Mhuire to provide vital scores that helped Colaiste Mhuire to finish 2nd team.
Following the excitement of the junior boys race, the Intermediate girls took to the start line. Representing Loreto Mullingar, Caoimhe Kilmurray put in a terrific performance to finish strongly in twelfth place, and with great support from Grace Byrne, Jessica Cunningham, Síofra O’Halloran and Muireann Donohue, the Loreto girls team finished a very creditable 4th place, not far off the bronze team medals. This is a young team and most of them will be underage again next year.
Pre-race favourites for team honours in the Intermediate boys race, the Colaiste Mhuire team was led home by Ross Killalea racing brilliantly to a fantastic twelfth place finish, and with Conor Sherwin, Pablo Lozano and Conor Liston putting in great efforts, the boys were delighted to finish 1st team and win All-Ireland medals. Also having a great race was David Burke (St. Finian’s) who finished well up the field, finishing not far behind Conor.
Representing Loreto Mullingar in the Senior girls race, Meabh Killalea and Phoebe Bate had very strong races and finished well up and should be very proud of their performances. The final race of the day was the Senior boys and by now the course was had really deteriorated and was extremely testing but Lorcan Mullen, representing Cistercian College Roscrea put in a strong performance over the testing course to round off an excellent day for the Mullingar athletes who represented their schools with distinction.
