Leinster Senior & Juvenile Uneven Ages XC 2019 – FERBANE (9th Nov)
Leinster Team Titles for Mullingar Senior Women
Back in 1995 the Mullingar senior women team of Caroline Mullen, Paula Gowran, Brigid McCabe, Vera McCool (then Flynn) and Lorraine Nooney won the Leinster (then called Eastern Region) senior women cross country Club title in Pedigree Corner, Co. Laois. At the Leinster Senior and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships in Ferbane, Co. Offaly on Saturday 9th November, our senior women ended a nearly 25 year drought when they won the Leinster Club title with a dominant display that saw the first four on the team finish in the top twelve. Led home by Claire Fagan in second place and with great team support from Aine O’Reilly (7th), Sinead Whitelaw (10th), Elizabeth Carr (12th), Michelle Bohan, Jennifer Algar, Anna Broderick and Amy Mahony the Senior Women team not only finished 1st Club but also 1st County by some distance.
The only Leinster cross country team title never won by Mullingar is the senior men, and our Senior Men team of Padraig Moran (4th), Andrew Nevin (12th), James Keegan, Gerard Gavin, Patrick Muldoon and Eoin Lynch came very close but fell short by only a few points to finish 2nd Club. This second place is the closest that Mullingar has ever come to winning the senior men Club title. The men also finished 4th County, just two points away from third place and the bronze medals.
We have become very accustomed in Mullingar, almost blasé, about underage cross country success, but senior titles are so much harder to win, making the victory of our senior women, and the close call by our senior men, particularly noteworthy. This success did not happen just by chance of course, and is as a result of long hours of dedication in training by our senior athletes under the watchful eye of our senior cross country coach, Colm Walsh.
The senior races in Ferbane came after a long day of thrilling races in the underage programme in tough weather conditions with the odd shower of rain and with gusting winds to test the athletes and spectators. Underfoot conditions were quite good despite prolonged heavy rain in the days leading up to the event and with all types of testing terrain and uphill and downhill sections to challenge the athletes, it was a proper cross country course. Ferbane AC hosted the event and congratulations to them for setting up a great course and providing excellent on-site catering that greatly contributed to the success of the event.
Undeterred by the tough course and conditions, in addition to the senior team medals, the Mullingar underage teams won medals in every underage race from u/11 to u/19 that we had teams in, a total of 9 sets of Club team medals from 10 underage races, not to mention 5 sets of County medals too, making for a truly dominant team display. Diarmuid Fagan won the u/15 boys race and we another 16 Mullingar athletes won individual medals by finishing in the top twelve places.
Before the Championships proper, there were open races for boys and girls u/9. Emily Collentine ran in the girls race and Killian Galvin was the runaway winner of the boys race, where Aonghus O’Reilly and Louis Kiernan also competed and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We are sure to see these youngsters in the coming years racing in Championships proper.
For some of the twelve-strong Mullingar team in the 1,500m for girls u/11 it was their first Leinster race, though others they had moved up an age to compete in the u/12 race in Gowran two weeks before, but they all took it in their stride. Leading the team home in 7th place was Tianna O’Leary, and with Muireann Galvin, Mollie Conlon, Therese Daly, Eleanor Kiernan, Allison Tourish, Aiveen Lynch, Katie Glennon, Isabel Daly, Lisa O’Brien, Eleanor Mulligan and Blathnaid Peters providing great support, the team finished 2nd Club, but out of the County medals in 6th place. Jake Bell finished fifth in the 1,500m for boys u/11 to lead the Mullingar team of Oliver Lynch, Darren Corcoran, Daniel Boyle, Conor Geoghegan, Conor Walsh, Thomas Daly, Jack Geoghegan and Greg McDonnell to 1st Club, but out of the County medals in 6th place.
Team medals continued to come our way in the 2,500m for girls u/13 as Morgan Corcoran in 9th place led the team of Rachel Murphy, Orla Manning, Ellen Daly, Rose Macken, Lydia McDonnell, Muireann Donohue and Síofra O’Reilly to 3rd Club, but still County medals eluded us as the team also finished 6th County. Four in the top twelve in the 2,500m for boys u/13 thanks to Matthew Molloy (2nd), Conor Liston (5th), Jamie Wallace (6th) and Luke O’Leary (10th) guaranteed the gold medals for 1st Club. With strong finishing and support from Alex Lynch, Luke Greene, Cian Corcoran and Niall Brady, the team also finished 1st County, our first of the day.
Caoimhe Kilmurray pushed herself very hard in the 3,500m for girls u/15 and was rewarded with 5th place, and with Adele Geoghegan just missing an individual medal in 13th place, followed by Grace Byrne, Leah Geoghegan, Jessica Cunningham, Caoimhe Donohue, Lucy Donnelly, Shauna Traynor, Aisling Lane and Ellen Foran packing well in support, the girls finished 2nd Club and 3rd County. We had our first and what transpired to be our only individual victory of the day in the 3,500m for boys u/15 when Diarmuid Fagan timed his break from the leading pack to perfection to pull clear and win. Followed in by team mates Ross Killalea, Adam Brady, Philip McCartan, Conor Sherwin, Callum Costello, Adam Smyth, David Burke, Tadhg Sheridan, Andrew Glennon and Conleth Mullen the boys finished 2nd Club and 3rd County.
We had four in the top twelve, in the 4,000m for girls u/17 where Phoebe Bate finished 7th, Meabh Killalea 9th, Amy Geoghegan 10th and Bea Drummond 11th to comfortably secure the gold medals for 1st Club. Thanks to great support from Karla Cunningham, Annie Kilmurray and Anna Macken the girls also finished 2nd County. On to the 5,000m for boys u/17 where Matthew Glennon in 5th, Colin Smith close behind in 7th, Lorcan Mullen, Tadhg Hunwick, Colin McGee, and Kevin Martin were very happy to finish 1st Club but missed the bronze medals by just four points when they placed 5th County on count-back.
The only event where we did not field a team was the 4,000m for girls u/19 but that did not prevent Aoife Darby putting in a great effort, only to miss an individual medal by just one place when she finished in 13th. Lisa Gavin (Athlone IT) also ran well in a tough competitive race. We ended the underage programme with the 6,000m for boys u/19 where Mullingar fielded the minimum team of four, led home by Eoin Quinn in 6th, Oisin Lane right behind him in 7th and with strong performances by Brian Martin and Ruairi Fagan and boys finished 2nd Club and with just four needed to score for a County in this age group, they also finished 3rd County.
We concluded the day with the 5,000m for Senior Women and 10,000m for Senior Men where as previously noted, our senior teams were in excellent form and put in terrific performances to win the women title and the men placed second, to send the big group of Mullingar friends and supporters home in high spirits.
A Leinster title for Diarmuid Fagan, another 16 top-twelve finishers, 9 Club team medals and 5 County team medals, means that Mullingar and Westmeath will have a big squad at the All-Ireland finals in Dunboyne in mid-December. The All-Ireland finals are a step up though and everyone that has qualified for the even ages in Abbotstown in two weeks and for the uneven ages in Dunboyne three weeks after that needs to continue to apply themselves fully in training, at the Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays but especially in Belvedere at the week-ends.
