Leinster Senior, u/23 & Juvenile Uneven Ages XC 2023 (4th Nov)

Truly memorable day for Mullingar at Leinster Cross Country

Over the years, Mullingar Harriers has won, at different times, all the Leinster cross country Club titles from under 11 girls through to Novice, Intermediate and Senior women and from under 11 boys through all the underage titles to Novice and Intermediate men but never the Senior men Club title. That was put right on Saturday 4th November at the Leinster Senior, u/23 & Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country held in a wet and muddy Dunboyne, Co. Meath where Mullingar made a bit of memorable Club history by winning the Senior men Club title in style. So, now we can boast of having won every Leinster cross country Club title in the book! A very nice achievement as the Club approaches its fiftieth anniversary in 2025.

That wasn’t the only success in Dunboyne however, as Claire Fagan won the Senior woman title and led Mullingar to second Club and Westmeath to third County, Vinny Connolly won the Senior men title leading Mullingar to gold and Westmeath to gold, we had eighteen juvenile top-12 finish places, including Leinster titles for Daniel Cummins (under 11) and Cillian Galvin (under 13), our underage teams won five sets of Club team medals, another two Club teams placed fourth, and Westmeath won two sets of County team medals, and another team finished in fourth place, meaning Mullingar and Westmeath will have a very big squad competing at the All-Ireland finals in Navan in December.

Heavy rain on and off all week and on the night before the event meant that the course in Dunboyne was very soft before we even started but thanks to a lot of very hard work put in all week by volunteers from the host Club, Dunboyne AC, everything was ready. The forecast was bad but the weather on the day actually wasn’t that bad at all, with near calm conditions and only the occasional light shower, but the ground still got very muddy in places, especially in one part of the course where the runners had to splash thorough a long section of mud, making for proper cross country conditions!

The Leinster Championships got underway with the u/11 girls 1,500m where Katie Bohan, Aoife Dunne, Muireann Feery, Helen McGrath, Lauryn Smith, Amelie Downes, Rose Harte, Farah Fox (Athlone AC), Eve Nugent and Lily Archbold battled hard and were very unlucky to finish 5th Club, only four points off the 4th place that would have secured them a place in the All-Ireland finals. The girls also finished a very creditable 5th County. We knew the Mullingar and Westmeath teams in the u/11 boys 1,500m were very strong  and hopes were high of team success. Daniel Cummins ran a brilliant race to finish 1st and win the Leinster title, and with fantastic support and team packing from Mel Bohan, (10th), Conor Gavin (12th), Cillian McManus (Athlone AC), Adam O’Donoghue, Cillian Gavin, Aaron Robinson, Cian Gavin, Michael Kiernan, Noah Morgan, Rory McDonnell, Josh Boyhan, Andrew Bradley, Cillian Martyn and Fintan Harte it was no surprise that the boys finished 1st Club and 1st County to get Mullingar and Westmeath on the medal board.

In the u/13 girls 2,500m Lily Walsh timed her final push to the finish perfectly and she pulled clear of the pack and chased the leader hard up the finish straight and was clearly delighted to cross the line in a close 2nd place, and with Shaynah Mitchell, Chloe Bell, Lucy Kilmurray, Aoibhe Martyn, Liadan Gavin, Emily Tully, Clodagh Doran, Aaliyah Downes and Muirin Dunne working hard to the finish, led the team to 2nd Club. We had our second individual winner of the day in the u/13 boys 2,500m where Cillian Galvin simply dominated, pulling clear in the closing stages to win by a distance, and with Antonio Bertolo racing hard to 4th place, and great team support from Gareth Glennon, Louis Kiernan, Harry Flanagan, Aonghus O’Reilly and Andrew Feery the boys finished 1st Club and were delighted with their gold Leinster team medals.

Mullingar continued to gather individual medals in the u/15 girls 3,500m where Tianna O’Leary raced to 6th, followed closely by Eleanor Kiernan in 8th and with Isabel Tynan Daly, Blathnaid Peters, Emma Lagan, Beibhinn O’Reilly and Chloe Duggan fighting for every place, the team finished 4th Club, a place in the All-Ireland finals but they really deserved more from the race such was their combined team efforts. It was a close 4th Club place too in the u/15 boys 3,500m where Conor Walsh led the Mullingar team home with an excellent 5th place finish, supported by Conor Geoghegan, Daniel Glennon, Cormac McGrath, Daniel Horohoe and Morgan Isdell. Like the u/15 girls these boys really deserved team medals for their efforts.

We didn’t have a team in the u/17 girls 4,500m but that didn’t deter Ailbhe O’Farrell from giving her customary strong performance and she was rewarded with a fine 11th place finish and a place on the Leinster Provincial team at the All-Ireland finals. No problem fielding a team in the u/17 boys 4,500m and with Matthew Molloy finishing in 10th, just ahead of Donagh Carey clinching 12th in a photo finish on the line, and with terrific support from Jamie Wallace, Oisin Kehoe, Luke Greene, Txema Lozano, Conor Mulvany and John Glennon packing well to the end, the boys placed 1st Club and 4th County, to see them all qualify for the All-Ireland finals.

Grace Byrne finished an excellent 5th place and Jessica Cunningham in 11th place in the u/19 girls 5,000m and only for a third girl, Mullingar would have won the Club title and be right in the mix for County team medals too but that doesn’t detract from the excellent performances by Grace and Jessica and they qualify for the All-Ireland finals with the Leinster Provincial team. We had a wealth of talent in the u/19 boys 5,00m where John Ryan raced to 3rd, just ahead of Conor Sherwin in 4th and with Ross Killalea in 8th and Pablo Lozano in 10th. Four in the top twelve and great team support from Philip McCartan and Conleth Mullen meant there was no surprise that the team finished 1st Club and 1st County to round off the underage programme in style.

Moving to the senior races, Mullingar certainly kept the best for last. Claire Fagan lost little time stamping her authority on the Senior Women 6,000m race, pulling away effortlessly and with a  truly dominant display went on the win by a distance. Aine O’Reilly, Anna Broderick, Michelle Bohan and Linda Cunningham put in great efforts behind and were rewarded for their efforts by finishing 2nd Club and 3rd County. The nine men strong Mullingar team in the Senior Men 9,000m stormed out hard from the gun and also lost little time stamping their mark on the race. The lead eventually whittled down to three, with Vinny Connolly in control at the front and Kevin Moore in close contact. Racing on over the long mucky sticky course, Vinny pulled clear to win, with Kevin in 2nd. Following in close behind was Andrew Nevin in 5th, and with brilliant support and team packing by James Keegan, Andy Boyhan, Kedagh Geoghegan, Kris Foster, Alan Crowley and Brian Martin it was inevitable that the men placed 1st Club and 1st County. This was a terrific conclusion to a memorable day for Mullingar Harriers. Over the last year, Vinny has won the Leinster Novice and Intermediate titles and has now added the Senior title but more importantly with the support of the senior men squad led Mullingar to its first Senior men Club title.

Thanks to the many parents and coaches that attended to support our teams, especially our young u/11 teams where some of them were competing in their first Leinster Championship races, so they really needed plenty of attention and support to keep any nerves at bay. The juvenile even age teams that qualified from Dunboyne will go forward to the All-Ireland Finals in Navan, Co. Meath in December.