Leinster Juvenile T&F 2022 (18th/19th June)
The final Leinster T&F fixture of the season took place on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June in Tullamore when the Leinster Juvenile T&F was held. Competition was mainly for under 14 to under 19 but there were also some under 12 and under 13 hurdles and field events held over from their T&F a few weeks ago.
The Mullingar race walkers were out in force and as expected they simply dominated in their events, with a clean sweep of gold medals thanks to John Glennon (u/16 boys 3,000m walk), Aisling Lane (u/18 girls 3,000m walk), Andrew Glennon (u/18 boys 3,000m walk) and Daniel Glennon (u/14 boys 2,000m walk). Four gold medals are brilliant results for an extremely dedicated group that trains diligently under the expert eye of their coach, Michael Lane.
The action then turned to the short sprints where the Mullingar sprinters put in good efforts in very competitive heats where qualification for finals was very difficult. Emma Lagan and Sadhbh Carey contested the u/14 girls 80m, Aaron Conroy and Cian Hyland the u/14 boys 80m, Amy Crowley and Rosie O’Grady the u/16 girls 100m, and Barry Walsh and Kyle Faherty the u/16 boys 100m. Only Kyle advanced from his heat to the final where he put in a very strong effort but is not long recovered from injury and had to settle for a place out of the medals.
Mullingar had a good number of 1,500m athletes in action across the age groups. Blathnaid Peters ran very well in the u/14 girls 1,500m but finished out of the medal places. Conor Walsh came close with a fourth place finish in the u/14 boys 1,500m after a great race where he was always in contention for honours and deserved more. Finishing behind Conor was Darragh Ryan and Dylan Byrne who also ran well. Lydia McDonnell (u/15 girls), Matthew Molloy (u/15 boys) and Ailbhe O’Farrell (u/16 girls) battled well in their races but finished out of the medals. Jamie Wallace finally broke into the medals in the u/16 boys 1,500m after a thrilling race where he was always in the thick of the action and with a very fast last lap was rewarded with an excellent second place finish, with Donagh Carey finishing fast behind but out of the medals. On to the u/17 girls 1,500m where Mullingar had three in action, Grace Byrne, Aimee Wallace and Jessica Cunningham with the three girls staying in the pack in the early stages. On the back straight of the final lap, Aimee burst to the front, closely followed by Grace and they pulled away quickly opening a gap on the field leaving it to the two girls to fight it out for victory. Grace just had the edge in the final sprint finish to win, closely followed home by Aimee in second place, and Jessica also running well to the finish but out of the medals. Conor Sherwin and Pablo Lozano worked hard in the u/17 boys 1,500m and kept in contention throughout. At the bell, it was down to three, with Conor at the rear but he never gave up and kept his form down the back straight and around the final bend and with a final burst he found another gear in the closing stages to move into second place just before the finish line, with Pablo finishing fast behind but out of the medals. The final 1,500m with a Mullingar interest was the u/18 boys 1,500m where Conleth Mullen put in a good effort but finished out of the medal places, though top marks for effort.
In the field events, Dylan Byrne competed in the u/14 boys long jump and u/14 boys javelin, Aaron Conroy in the u/14 boys long jump and Greg McDonnell in the u/13 boys long jump, where despite not winning any silverware, they enjoyed the competitions. We finished with the u/14 girls 300m, a new event in Leinster, where Blathnaid Peters worked hard but being such a short distance, the pace was a bit too quick for her liking and she didn’t feature in the medals, but will have taken a lot from the experience. That concluded Saturday for the Mullingar athletes, with five gold medals, three silvers, one fourth place finish, and lots of determined effort.
Sunday began with the 800m where Emma Lagan ran well in the u/14 girls 800m but unfortunately didn’t advance from the very competitive heats. No problem for Conor Walsh in the u/14 boys 800m, advancing safely to the final, but unfortunately Darragh Ryan didn’t advance from his heat to join Conor in the final. The final was run at a fierce pace from the gun and though he gave it everything, unfortunately Conor finished out of the medal places. Conor Mulvaney battled hard in his heat of the u/15 boys 800m but didn’t advance to join Matthew Molloy who qualified comfortably from his heat and in the final was very unlucky to get run out of the medal places in a close finish. Aimee Wallace took it out hard in the u/17 girls 800m and the race quickly came down to a straight head to head sprint finish over the closing stages, with Aimee narrowly beaten into second place, her second silver medal of the weekend. It was great to see Philip McCartan and Pablo Lozano being so competitive in the u/17 boys 800m, both right in the mix at the bell, but as the pace wound up, it was Philip who had the better finish to place fourth, with Pablo finishing fast close behind. In the u/18 boys 800m Conleth Mullen gave a spirited performance but finished out of the medals.
As expected, the 200m heats were very competitive and despite running very well in their heats, unfortunately Sadhbh Carey (u/14), Amy Crowley (u/16) and Barry Walsh (u/16) didn’t qualify for their finals. In contrast, Kyle Faherty won his heat of the u/16 boys 200m with ease and in the final blasted from the blocks and after a terrific bend, led into the home straight, and was only passed near the finish and narrowly beaten into second place, but was delighted to win a Leinster medal and qualify for the All-Ireland finals.
We had two in the u/16 boys 3,000m where Jamie Wallace was always in contention and with a great performance and fast finish crossed the line in second place for his second medal of the weekend, with Donagh Carey finishing fast but out of the medal places. Caoimhe Kilmurray always looked very comfortable in the u/17 girls 3,000m but as the pace increased in the final kilometre she began to feel the pressure but remained in the medal places and it was only in the final 200m that she was relegated to fourth place and finished out of the medals, but as the top four qualify for the All-Ireland finals, Caoimhe will get another chance. David Burke was full of running and simply cruised with ease in the u/17 boys 3,000m, leading for much of the race and it was only in the final lap or so that he had to surrender his lead but was still very pleased with his Leinster silver medal.
We finished the day with the u/13 girls 60m hurdles where Chloe Duggan and Lisa O’Brien competed very well over the barriers but didn’t qualify from the very competitive heats. That concluded the Leinster juvenile T&F season but with a total of five gold and seven silver medals won, and three fourth place finishes, Mullingar will be well represented in the All-Ireland Finals in July.
