Leinster Schools T&F 2026 (18th & 20th May)
The Leinster Schools T&F finals were held over two exciting days of top class competition in Tullamore on Monday 18th & Wednesday 20th May. The Senior and Intermediate athletes competed on Monday, and the u/16, Junior and Minor athletes, and all the race walkers, competed on Wednesday. The 12 athletes from Mullingar Harriers competing for their schools and colleges performed to their customary very high level and were to the fore across a range of events. At the end of the two days, 8 of the 12 had secured places in the All-Ireland Schools T&F finals at the end of May.
First up on Monday morning was Mathew Molloy (St. Finian’s College) who decided to try a different event, the Senior 2,000m Steeplechase and it almost paid off with him finishing 4th after an exceptional race, unlucky not to have gained a medal but he did gain valuable experience. We followed with Lily Walsh (Loreto Mullingar) who won the Intermediate girls 3,000m with a polished performance, dipping under the 10 minute mark, to qualify for the All-Ireland Schools finals and she’ll also represent Loreto College at the Inter-Provincial T&F to be held in late June where she’ll race for Leinster. We ended the day with Jamie Wallace (Colaiste Mhuire) who lined up in the Senior boys 5,000m a distance he had never ran before on the track and his aim was to qualify for the All-Ireland finals with as little effort as possible keeping in mind he planned to race in Belfast five days later and that’s exactly how his race panned out. Jamie followed the pace in third until 400m to go then took the lead and when challenged with 80m to go he wisely let the winner go and held 2nd place comfortably and qualify for the All-Ireland finals.
The race walks started the programme on Wednesday morning and it no surprise that it was a clean sweep of titles for the Glennon brothers competing for St. Finian’s College, gold for Gareth Glennon in the Junior boys 1,200m walk, gold for Daniel Glennon in the Intermediate boys 2,000m walk, and gold for John Glennon in the Senior boys 3,000m walk and all three advance to the All-Irelands finals.
Chloe Bell (St. Finian’s College) was in the middle of her Junior girls Long Jump competition when she had to step on to the track for the Junior girls 800m. Concentrating on one event is tough enough but two at the same time was a little bit much to ask. Although the 800m got away from her and she finished out of the medals, Chloe leaped to 3rd place in the long jump, earning a place at the All-Ireland finals. John McManus (St. Finian’s College) raced in the Junior boys 800m where he finished a very creditable ninth place in a good time of 2:20. Oisin Clarke (Colaiste Mhuire) was very unlucky in the Intermediate boys 1,500m where he just missed out on a medal and a place in the All-Ireland finals with a fourth place finish in a close race. Donnacha Doyle (Colaiste Mhuire) cleared 1.45m in the Junior boys High Jump to finish a fine eighth place in a tough competition.
After a very sedate early pace in the u/16 boys Mile, Cillian Galvin (Colaiste Mhuire) settled in the middle of the pack and let the race develop around him. Then, with 500m to go he shot up on the inside lane and just ran away from the rest of the field in impressive fashion. An added bonus to winning the Leinster title was his invitation to join the Leinster team for the School’s Inter-Provincial finals. Antonio Bertolo (Colaiste Mhuire) had us looking towards the podium one more time when he earned a fine silver with a second place finish in the Junior boys 1,500m [TW/CW].
