Kerry athletes excel at Munster combined events championship
The plan by the Munster Athletics board to hold certain juvenile events on the same day as U20s and upwards has worked well, with young and not-so-young supporting each other in the various competitions. It also ensures a full house, even on a damp and sometimes cold weekend as it turned out in the fine Tipperary athletics venue.
Among the many highlights that were there to be savoured for Kerry was the success of the Gneeveguilla squad in a variety of events in the masters' championships and especially in the throws. In three events, various members of the club had a clean sweep of the medals on offer.
The women's W40 shot was dominated totally by Gneeveguilla. Gemma O'Connell, Michelle Murphy and Michelle Knee had the medal podium to themselves at the end of a hotly contested final.
In the men's masters M55 weight for distance final, Gneeveguilla did it again. Denis O'Donoghue, Fred O'Sullivan and Niall Ó Donnchú got gold, silver and bronze with excellent application.
The women did it again in the masters' W40 weight for distance…Michelle Knee, Gemma O'Connell and Marie Murphy owned the podium there again.
There were many other throws success for the club also. If it's throws you want to see, come to Gneeveguilla.
THERE is no doubt about the ability of Kieran Keane (Ríocht) in the shot business. The young lion from Lispole (who wakes at 6am some days to do his weights' session), putted the iron ball high and long in the U20 final in Templemore to claim another title, ahead of his All Ireland schools' appearance on this weekend.
On Saturday, as the showers fell with annoying rhythm, he putted 15.43m a PB for that U20 shot weight. It could be another Keane show in Tullamore where he will face-up the best in the Irish schools' boys' shot-putting community. His application is infectious and he has now attracted a huge following of throwers wherever he putts.
KERRY senior athletes had outstanding success over the weekend in a variety of events. Perhaps one of the most interesting was the tense battle in the 5,000m between Conor Kissane from Killarney Valley and Jamie Moloney of Nenagh Olympic.
The Tipp athlete did everything in his power to shake off Kissane mid-race, and it seemed for a while that his sheer power would open a gap, but the Killarney man stuck like a leech over the last three laps and fired on all cylinders in the last 100m overtake and to claim the gold in a time of 16:06.22 with the rain coming down.
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THE juvenile pentathlons were a sight to behold. Each athlete took on five events and, as in the Olympics, accumulated points as they proceeded from one to the next. You saw them running hurdles to open their show, then they would stream over to the high jump, and the shot, and the long jump and then a distance race to finish off. Kerry were prominent in most of the age-groups from U11 to U16 and took gold in a number of the age-groups.
The Tralee Harriers pair of Aria Collins and Harriet O'Loghlen dominated the U13 girls' pentathlon amidst huge opposition from a large number of Munster clubs, but claimed the gold and silver respectively at the end of a hectic day.
Jack Sheehy of St Brendan's won gold in the U12 boys event and and Donnacha Quilter who copied that at U15 level.
One huge facet of those pentathlons is that the athletes mix more with opposing athletes better than in any other event and generate pals in the course of the day. The athlete also help themselves to become total athletes with the sampling of the different disciplines.
Overseas success
Jack O'Leary (Killarney Valley) came home third in the BMC Manchester senior 800m event in a time of 1:51.23 at the weekend, continuing his upward trajectory at this distance.
Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley) had a season's best in the 100m in Brussels with a time of 11.65 seconds and was the lead runner on the Irish 4 x 100m relay team that won their race at that FAM event. The team clocked 44.23 seconds which puts them up in the top 7 Irish women's relay performances since 2019. The team was Leahy, Neville, Lavin and O'Leary.
All-Ireland Schools Athletics Championships
The big event this weekend in the All Ireland Schools Athletics Championships which begin in Tullamore on Friday and reach a climax all day Saturday. It will be worth a visit as Kerry will be strongly represented in these, the most prestigious athletics event of the year for the youth.
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