Senior International athletes from Mullingar remembered (17th May)

Senior International athletes from Mullingar remembered

A list of athletes who have represented Ireland at senor level in official Internationals from 1876 to 2020 has been published on the Athletics Ireland website (see HERE). Since Mullingar Harriers was founded in 1975, over 100 athletes have gained International honours at senior, under-23, junior, masters, and underage levels, but only 18 have gained the ultimate honour of a senior vest, including two Olympians. They are 14 men: Eddie Williams, Louis Kenny, Kevin Atkinson, Nollaig McEntegart, Michael Lane, Pat Ryan, Robert Berry, Cormac Finnerty, David Burke, John Burke, Tom McGrath, Martin Fagan, Mark Christie, Brendan Marshall, and 4 women: Mary Walsh (née Gallagher), Caroline Mullen, Catherine Boland and Vicky Harris.

It is interesting to note that with 25 senior caps, Kevin Atkinson is the 10th most capped Irish man on the list and that David and John Burke are part of a small select sub-group, as they are among only 32 brothers awarded senior caps for Ireland since 1876.

Another three Mullingar-born athletes began their athletic careers with the old NACA Mullingar Athletic Club, namely John Ross RIP (UCD), Ruth Algar (Crusaders AC) and Kingston Mills (Civil Service AC), giving a total of twenty one athletes.

The list on the AAI website is headed with a quote from President Michael D. Higgins when remembering the innocent civilians killed in the 1916 Rising “To be forgotten … is to die twice”, so with that in mind, if anyone knows of any other athlete from Mullingar who in years gone by represented Ireland at senior level and in what particular event, we would be delighted to include them.