Cross Country and Road Round Up 2010-Denny McSweeney

The past 12 months have seen many fine performances from Kerry Athletes at County, Munster and National level.It was encouraging to see numbers increase in most events but especially in the Juvenile Championships.

Niamh O Sullivan An Riocht and Cian Murphy Iveragh continue to dominate the county scene, with both recording senior road and cross-country doubles in Kerry as well as having very good performances outside the county. The emergence of some very exciting Juvenile athletes gives us plenty to look forward to over the coming months and years.

We will begin this round up with a look at the county juvenile even age  and Novice cross-country which as usual for this fixture was hosted and very well organised by Gneeveguilla A.C in Killarney. The re-emergence of Kenmare A.C added greatly to the numbers taking part and indeed the overall atmosphere at these events.

   The U10 Girls winner was Kaitlyn Moriarty Kenmare with Kenmare winning the team section. Emma Dineen Spa/Muckross proved best in the U12 event with Kenmare winning the team event.The U14 Girls went to Muireann McKenna Lios Tuathail with Kenmare again the team winners.Muireann’s teammate Vanessa Dineen was the U16 Champion with Bridget Dennehy Iveragh having a great run when taking the U18 crown.

   In the U10 Boys race Conor O Brien Kenmare was first and also led his team to the gold medals. Fiachra Clifford won an exciting U12 race with Farranfore/Maine Valley the team winners.The U14 gold medallist was Kevin Donoghue An Riocht with Iveragh winning the team event.Cillian O’Donovan Iveragh was very impressive when taking U16 gold and leading his club to victory also. Aodhan Burns Spa Muckross was the impressive U-18 champion.

   In the novice men’s championship Simon Mangan Gneeveguilla who had mainly been known for his road running marked his arrival on the cross-country scene with a great front running performance to win it from Niall Prendiville Farranfore/Maine Valley who has been most prominent as a race walker over the past couple of years, Jonathan Leinston of Gneeveguilla won the Bronze medal, Gneeveguilla were the team winners. Annemaria Costello of Gneevguilla won the Novice women’s race from Katie Rodgers St.Brendans and Sorcha Prendiville Lios Tuathail.

The action moved to Beaufort on October 10^th for the County Intermediate, Masters and uneven age juvenile championship. As always the course was excellent and the event was well hosted by Star of the Laune A.C.The girls to claim individual gold in the juvenile’s were Ciara Kennelly Gneeveguilla U9,Sophie Lynch Lios Tuathail U11,Christine Cooper Spa Muckross U13, Vanessa Dineen Lios Tuathail U15 and the Iveragh duo of Bridget Dennehy and Grace Lynch winning the U17 and U19 events respectively.

  In the Boys events Jack O Connor Kenmare was the first U9,the U11 champion was Darragh Louth St.Brendans, U13 Michael O Leary Iveragh,U15 Cillian O’Donovan Iveragh,his club mate Aaron Quigley winning the U17 and Jack O Sullivan Farranfore/Maine valley the U-19 Champion.Kieran Reid and Niamh O Sullivan both of An Riocht were the overall winners in the masters event with category wins being claimed by Mary O Connor, Brid Stack and Joan O Sullivan in the woman’s section and Seamus Murphy, Michael Mangan,Patrick O’Shea and Mike Brown in the men’s.James Doran An Riocht was a very impressive Intermediate Champion from his club mate Kieran Reid and the Novice Champion from the previous week Simon Mangan Gneeveguilla. An Riocht were the team champions. Mary O Connor An Riocht was equally impressive when taking the women’s intermediate title from Brid Stack and Caroline Murphy both Gneeveguilla with An Riocht again winning the team gold.

An excellent course in Currow was the venue for the County Senior, Junior and Juvenile relays on October 31^st.Gneeveguilla, Lios Tuathail, Kenmare and An Riocht shared the juvenile girls relay’s with Gneeveguilla, Star of the Laune and Iveragh sharing the boys titles.Kenmare AC won best overall juvenile cross country club for the first time with Lios Tuathaill winning the division 2 overall.

Jack O Sullivan Farranfore/Mainevalley was crowned Junior Men’s champion with Grace Lynch Iveragh winning an exciting junior women’s event from Mary Fitzgerald An Riocht and Niamh De Hora Farranfore/Mainevalley. In the senior Women’s 5K race Niamh O Sullivan An Riocht shook off the long time attention of her team mate Laura Crowe to win the Nora Bronsan memorial cup. Laura was the silver medallist with Novice champion Ann Marie Costello Gneeveguilla taking the Bronze. Niamh and Laura were joined by Mary O Connor to win the team section for An Riocht.

 The senior mens race was exciting as usual. A group of four runners broke away early on but at the halfway mark Cian Murphy moved clear to win his sixth senior title and the JJ Crowley memorial cup from his Iveragh clubmate Brian Murphy and An Riochts James Doran. With great support running from Donal O Callaghan, Tim O Connor and Kieran Reid An Riocht regained the team title.

Kerry athletes had a very successful Munster Cross-Country championship.The first Munster event of the current season was the Novice and evenage juvenile championships in Macroom on October 10^th.  Cillian O’Donovan had a brilliant win in the Boys U16 and led his County and Club Iveragh to team gold.The other scoring members of the County team were Conor O Mahony, Tralee Harriers who was an excellent 3^rd ,David O Keefe, Gneeveguilla  5^th,Andy Quigley 13^th,Liam O Connell 14^th both Iveragh and David Kavanagh Tralee Harriers 18^th.Brian Sugrue joined Killian, Andy and Liam to win gold for Iveragh.Another great performance came from Grace Lynch Iveragh in the Girls U18 5000M, being well  placed throughout she finished very strongly to take 2^nd position.Niamh Clifford Star of the Laune also ran very well to finish in 7^th position.The boys U12 team won the silver medals thanks to some fine runners from Adam Donoghue Riocht 4^th,Michael O Leary Iveragh 5^th,Patrick Warren Gneeveguilla 9^th, Fiachra Clifford Star of the Laune 13^th,Sean Galvin Lios Tuathail 18^th and David Kenny Farranfore Main Valley 24^th.Other good performances came from Aaron Quigley Iveragh U18, Kevin Donoghue Riocht U14, Muireann McKenna Lios Tuathail U14, Helen O Sullivan Kenmare U12 and Kaitlyn Moriarty Kenmare U10. 

   Ed Murphy Gneeveguilla had a very good run in the Novice when finishing an excellent 3^rd in the Big Field.Ed also led Kerry to bronze medals.He was well supported by James Doran Riocht 8^th,Simon Mangan Gneeveguilla,Tim O Connor Riocht, Fergal Barry and Jonathon Leniston both Gneeveguilla.  Ann Meria Costello was our leading athlete in the womens race when being placed 7^th. 

The unevenage Juvenile and Intermediate Championships were held in Charleville on November 7^th.  Again Cillian O’Donovan was the star when the promising Iveragh athlete made it a Munster Double when adding the U15 title to the U16 gold medal win of a couple of weeks previously.The U15 race was unique from a Kerry viewpoint in that we had a clean sweep of the top three positions.David O Keeffe Gneeveguilla was an excellent 2^nd with Liam O Connell Iveragh having a fine run in 3^rd place with Liam Carey Star of the Laune in 12^th position and the Iveragh Pair of Brian Sugrue and Ronan O’Shea running strongly  Kerry won the team gold.Cillian, Liam, Brian and Ronan combined to win club gold for Iveragh.Conor O’Mahony Tralee Harriers had an excellent run to finish 3^rd in the boys U.17.Niamh Clifford Star of the Laune was 6^th in the U19 event with Mary Fitzgerald Riocht 7^th; Bridget Dennehy Iveragh was 10^th U17.

   In the Intermediate Mens race we had the biggest field of runners for many years when almost 90 went to the start line.  From the beginning James Doran Riocht was in the leading group and finished strongly to take 3^rd position.  Other Kerry Athletes to perform well were the An Riocht Trio of Donal O’Callaghan, Tim O’Connor and Milosz Wojcik. 

The Munster Masters and Juvenile B championships were in Dungarvan on November 21^st.Niamh O’Sullivan An Riocht and Patrick O’Shea Iveragh were again category winners with Niamh being placed 2^nd overall.Niall O’Shea Iveragh won the Boys U13 race and led Iveragh to club gold.The other team members being Cathal O’Donovan,Stephan O’Connor and Ciaran Clifford.

   Cillian Tierney Spa Fenit Barrow was placed 4^th and Jack McKenna Lios Tuathail 26^th to combine with the Iveragh Boys to win team Silver for Kerry in the county section.  The An Riocht pair of Katie Reidy and Aisling O’Connell both had excellent runs to finish 2^nd in the Girls U13 and U15 respectively.  Other good performances came from Katelyn McCarthy Spa Fenit Barrow 6^th U13,Vanessa Dineen Lios Tuathail 4^th U15,Liam O Donnell Spa Fenit Barrow U11,Tadgh McKenna Lios Tuathail U9 and Ellen Brown Riocht U13. 

Kerry athletes have also been successful at many National Fixtures with Niamh O’Sullivan 4^th place finish at the National Senior Inter clubs being perhaps the stand out performance.Niamh also won her category at the National Munster Cross-Country in Boyle Co. Roscommon in February.Kerry teams were very successful also at this venue in the National Inter Counties Cross-Country Relay.We had Gold medal winning performances from our U12 and U14 boys teams.The boys team comprised of Adam Donoghue, Patrick Warren, Dean Crowley and Niall O’Shea.The U15 team were Cillian O’Donovan,Adam King,Jack Daly and Mitchell Holland.The U12 girls teams won bronze medals with a team of Christina Cooper,Katelyn McCarthy,Beatrice Casey and Ellen Browne. 

The first All Irelands of the current season were held on a snow covered course in Derry on November 28^th.Many Kerry Athletes made the long trip in treacherous driving conditions and aquitted themselves very well.The U12 boys team did brilliantly to win coveted silver medals for the County.The scoring team members were Adam Donoghue Riocht 11^th,Fiachra Clifford Star of the Laune 15^th,Patrick Warren Gneeveguilla 16^th,Michael O Leary Iveragh 17^th, David Kenny Farranfore Main Valley 28^th and Sean Galvin Lios Tuathail 59^th.Cillian O’Donovan Iveragh led the U16 boys home in 6^th position and they also won inter county bronze medals.The other team members being David O Keeffe in 12^th,David Kavanagh Tralee Harriers 26^th and the Iveragh Trio of Andy Quigley 44^th,Liam O Connell 48^th and Brian Sugrue 76^th.Bridget Dennehy had an excellent run when being placed 6^th in the girls U.18.We had other good performances from Niamh Clifford Star of the Laune,Kevin Donoghue Riocht,Grace Lynch Iveragh and Muireann McKenna Lios Tuathail.

 Patrick O’Shea and Niamh O’Sullivan finished 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in their categories at the home Countries Masters Cross-Country in November.

The county road championships were hosted by Iveragh A.C on an excellent course in Caherciveen on April 11^th.Local man Cian Murphy delighted his home supporters with a great display of front running to win from his club mate Brian Murphy and their namesake Ed from Gneeveguilla making it a clean sweep for the Murphy clan.

   In the Senior womens section An Ríochts Niamh O’Sullivan continued her dominance of distance running within the county with an emphatic victory from the Gneeveguilla pair of Caroline Murphy and Breeda Barrett.  The novice sections were won by James Doran An Riocht and Abina O Sullivan Gneeveguilla while Stephen Walsh St. Brendans and Bridget Dennehy Iveragh were the Junior Category winners.  Masters category winners were Billy O’Brien An Riocht, Brendan King and Louis Collins both Iveragh, Michael Mangan Star of the Laune, Mike O’Connor Farranfore Main Valley and Mike Browne Gneeveguilla.

Rathkeale in Limerick was the venue for the Munster Masters Road championships in March.Niamh O’Sullivan was again dominant when winning the overall race.John Barrett Gneeveguilla was 8^th overall and 2^nd in his category as was Patrick O’Shea Iveragh in the M.50 category.Mike Browne was also category gold medallist. 

   A couple of weeks later Ballyea in Co. Clare was the venue for the Senior and Novice event.Niamh O’Sullivan was a silver medal winner in the senior event as was Annemarie Costello in the Novice section. 

   In the senior mens race Kerry were led home by former winner Cian Murphy in 5^th position, good support from Brian Murphy, Arthur Fitzgerald, Frank Mangan,Ed Murphy and John Barrett was enough for Kerry to win the Inter County Section.In the Novice event Brian, Arthur,Frank and Ed were joined by Sean Cahalane and Cian Hogan to win Inter County Novice Silver.

   At the Munster Half Marathon which was held in Blarney on September 12^th Billy O’Brien was Kerrys top finishes in 6^th place.Tom Shanahan An Riocht and Willie O’Riordan St. Brendans won their Masters Sections. 

   Cian Murphy was Kerrys top athlete at the National 10K round championships when being placed 23^rd in a time of 32 minutes 44 seconds.James Doran was 30^th in 33minutes 17 seconds.

Great credit is due to all who helped in any way with the cross-country and road fixtures over the past year.A special thanks to Lorcan Murphy who took on the position of cross-country and road secretary and did an excellent job. Credit also to clubs who hosted events and landowners who made their lands available for cross-country.