North Leinster Schools XC 2023 (27th Jan)
Excellent start to Schools Cross Country
The schools cross country season got underway for Mullingar athletes on Friday morning 27th January when the North Leinster Schools Cross Country was held at a very cold “Fifteen Acres” in the Phoenix Park. Despite having hosted the West Leinster Schools and the East Leinster Schools in the two days previously, underfoot conditions were surprisingly good. Competing for their schools and colleges, as expected, the Mullingar athletes were in terrific form, returning home with three individual wins, another eleven top 12 finish places and three sets of team medals too. The top twelve individuals and top three teams in each race qualify for the Leinster Schools Cross Country to be held in Santry next week.
Emma Lagan (St. Finian’s College) raced to a fine 11th place finish in the Minor Girls 1,200m, and with support from Blathnaid Peters, Lisa O’Brien and Sadhbh Carey, the St. Finian’s team was unlucky to finish out of the medals in 5th place, but not too far off the medal places. The Minor Boys 1,600m saw another St. Finian’s team chasing honours but it wasn’t to be for Daniel Glennon, Aaron Conroy, Ciaran Mulvany or Ronan Kelly, who together with Cian Hyland (Colaiste Mhuire) ran well but finished out of the individual and team medal places.
Lydia McDonnell (Loreto Mullingar) had an excellent race in the Junior Girls 2,000m where she worked hard all the way and was rewarded with a 12th place finish. There were plenty of Mullingar athletes in the Junior Boys 2,200m, led home by Conor Walsh (Colaiste Mhuire) in 12th place to book his place in the Leinsters, followed by Oisin Kehoe (St. Finian’s College), Conor Geoghegan (Colaiste Mhuire), Txema Lozano (St. Finian’s College), Adam Feery (Mercy Kilbeggan), Dylan Feery (Mercy Kilbeggan) and Conor Mulvany (St. Finian’s College), but there were no team honours won.
The Intermediate Girls 1,600m is an extremely short distance for girls this age and proved no problem for Caoimhe Kilmurray (Loreto Mullingar) who finished 3rd, just ahead of Grace Byrne (Loreto Mullingar) in 4th. Ailbhe O’Farrell (St. Finian’s College) had a terrific race to finish 8th, just ahead of Jessica Cunningham (Loreto Mullingar) in 9th, also having a great race. With great support and team packing from Loreto’s Siofra O’Halloran, Muireann Donohue and Siofra O’Reilly, the Loreto Mullingar girls placed 1st team. Conor Sherwin (Colaiste Mhuire) was in flying form and won the Intermediate Boys 3,800m with ease. David Burke (St. Finian’s College) stormed through in 9th place, with Conor Liston (Colaiste Mhuire) in 12th, just ahead of Pablo Lozano (Colaiste Mhuire) in 13th. Thanks to great team support from Luke Greene, Niall Brady, Jorge Martin and Daniel Hickey, Colaiste Mhuire finished 1st team. Despite the efforts of Matthew Molloy, John Glennon and Barry Walsh (St. Finian’s College), there were no team honours for St. Finian’s.
Continuing her excellent return to competition, Aimee Wallace (St. Finian’s College) led the Senior Girls 2,200m race home to take the gold, with Caoimhe Donohue (Loreto Mullingar) finishing strongly in 10th place, booking their places in the Leinsters. The final race of the day, the Senior Boys 4,200m saw another individual victory go to Mullingar as Diarmuid Fagan (Colaiste Mhuire) romped home, followed by Ross Killalea in 4th and with support from Adam Brady, the team clinched the title too as Colaiste Mhuire finished 1st team. Andrew Glennon and Conleth Mullen (St. Finian’s College) also competed well but finished out of the individual places and didn’t have a team.
