Cathal Doyle lands thrilling 1500m gold as stars shine at Irish Championships in Santry
STAR POWER Cathal Doyle lands thrilling 1500m gold as stars shine at Irish Championships in Santry
CATHAL DOYLE reigned supreme in the men's 1500m at the Irish Championships in Santry yesterday.
The Clonliffe Harriers ace saw off a top-class field that included Andrew Coscoran and Nick Griggs
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Cathal Doyle of Clonliffe Harriers AC after winning the senior men's 1500m Irish national
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Sarah Lavin of Emerald AC, Limerick won the 100m hurdles final at Morton Stadium in Dublin
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Senior women's 400m champion Sophie Becker of Raheny Shamrock AC with her medal during day two of the 153rd 123.ie National Track & Field Senior Championships at Morton Stadium
And there was also joy for Sarah Lavin who claimed the spoils in the women's 100m hurdles showpiece.
Mark English claimed gold in the men's 800m at Morton Stadium.
But the race of the day was the men's 1500m — and it did not disappoint the masses.
Coscoran, Griggs, Darragh McElhinney, Callum Morgan, and Shane Bracken all in contention with Doyle.
But the Clonliffe man made the decisive move with 200m to go and he never relinquished the lead as he held off Coscoran in a time of 3:53.60.
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Coscoran clocked 3:53.84, while Griggs was just behind them in 3:53.80.
Lavin also impressed in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.92 to claim her TENTH national title.
She saw off silver medallist Molly Scott in 13.61 as Sarah Quinn claimed bronze in 13.84.
But Limerick sprinter Lavin was not the only one to claim a tenth title in Santry — as Mark English joined her.
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The Donegal man crossed the line in the 800m decider with a time 1:48.76 after biding his time to rush home.
Ian McPhillips pushed him closest but had to settle for second in 1:49.26, with Andrew Thompson claiming bronze with 1:49.93.
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And English said: 'I felt great. I was a little bit nervous coming into the race because there's a bunch of guys that train together so I knew it was going to be a difficult race but I had a plan and I executed it.'
Elsewhere, Sophie Becker won the women's 400m.
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The Raheny woman crossed the line in 52.87 to make it three national titles in the last four years.
Rachel McCann and Cliodhna Manning followed in 53.19 and 53.99 respectively.
While Coscoran did not claim glory in the 1500m, he did at least take gold in the 5000m.
The Star of the Sea AC star out-kicked defending champ Brian Fay to win in a time of 13:34.14. Fay clocked 13:34.92.
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Leevale's Niamh Allen won the women's 5000m in 15:35.90 and was followed home by clubmate Anika Thompson who set the pace for much of the race, ultimately crossing in 15:40.56.
Fiona Everard of Bandon AC completed the Cork 1-2-3 in 16:04.36.
Bori Akinola claimed his first national senior 100m title in style, clocking 10.29 to add to his indoor 60m crown from earlier this season.
Ciara Neville won the women's 100m to secure her first outdoor sprint title since 2019 — clocking 11.44.
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Jack Raftery clocked a winning time of 45.71 in the men's 400m.
Alex O'Neill claimed her first national senior title in a thrilling women's 800m final, crossing the line in 2:04.53. Laura Nicholson won the women's 1500m race in 4:13.32.
Adam Nolan powered to victory in the men's 110m hurdles, claiming his first senior title with a time of 14.24.
Cara Murphy won her first 400m hurdles title in 59.85.
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Niall Carney broke through to claim his first senior 400m hurdles title, coming on the back of Thomas Barr's era of dominance that saw him win 12 of the last 14 runnings. Carney crossed for gold in 54.87.
Reece Ademola became just the second Irish athlete to post a leap of eight meters or longer in the men's long jump.
The Cork athlete produced a huge attempt to reach eight metres.
Nicola Tuthill continued to shine by securing her fourth senior outdoor title in the women's hammer throw with an Under-23 record.
The UCD athlete saw three throws go out over the 70m mark, with her best and last attempt of 71.75m breaking her own record.
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Niamh Fogarty added the discus title to her shot put victory.
Matthew Callinan Keenan won the men's Pole Vault, claiming his third outdoor title in just four years with a winning height of 4.80m.
Sean Mockler won the men's hammer with a best throw of 65.62m.
Lauren Callaghan soared to her first senior outdoor title in the women's long jump, landing a winning leap of 6.24m in doing so.
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