Hurdles Gold for Paul Doherty

The Finn Valley juveniles travelled to Nenagh at the weekend to compete in the first half of the National Juvenile Indoor Championships. It was a very successful weekend with our athletes winning one Gold, three Silver and two Bronze medals with many more athletes finishing in the top six in Ireland.

On Saturday Matthew Kelly was our first athlete in action following up on last year’s silver medal with another silver in the U15 Shot with a new P.B. of 11.74m. On the track our 60m sprinters were in action in the heats with Roisin Ni Chuireann, Ciara McGarvey and Paul Doherty all progressing to the finals. In the U12 final Roisin was very unlucky not to get a medal finishing in 4th place just 2/100ths of a second from the Bronze medal. Ciara McGarvey was also involved in a blanket finish with an excellent run finishing 6th. Paul Doherty ran a terrific race in the U17 60m and had to wait an agonising hour before the results of a photofinish came out where he was awarded the Silver medal in a new p.b. of 7.36 seconds. This was great running from Paul whose main event is the 60m Hurdles which he would contest the following day. Denise Beirne also ran well in the U17 60m where she equalled her p.b.

Aaron McMenamin was next up competing in the U15 High Jump and had an excellent competition with a new p.b. of 1.55m. The competition was won with a 1.60m jump with joint silver on 1.55m but Aaron unfortunately went back to 4th place on countback despite jumping the same height as the silver medallists due to a failure at a lower height.

Our middle distance athletes were involved in the qualifying heats next and they all did exceptionally well qualifying for Sunday’s finals – Ryan Bonner in the U12 600m, Pauric McLaughlin U16 1500m, Breda McGinty U17 1500m and Darren McGlinchey and Shane Bonner U17 1500m.

The last event of the day was the U17 High Jump where Laura Friel kept us on the edge of our seats putting in a great performance under pressure to win the Bronze medal to add to her Bronze from the outdoor Championships last year.

On Sunday the Hurdlers started the day off well with Ciaran Brennan and Paul Doherty both qualifying for their respective finals. Ciaran finished 6th in his final in a new p.b. of 10.80 seconds which was excellent in a new event for him. Paul Doherty who had won silver in the 60m the previous day was in a very positive frame of mind determined to get Gold and Gold it was with an a perfect technical performance to emerge as the clear winner in 8.98 seconds – thankfully not having to await the result of a photofinish this time. This was a remarkable performance from Paul considering his training has been very limited by a bad run of injury and illness over the past four months. He will now be targeting the Irish Schools and Tailteann Games.

Jodie Stewart who also has struggled badly with injury all season showed her true grit producing a p.b. in the U15 Long Jump with a 4.79m jump just 18 cm off a medal.

Young Shannon Heapes competing in her first National Championships in the U12 Shot also had an excellent p.b. of 6.94m. Shannon was lying in Bronze medal position for a time put went back to 5th in the final rounds but this was a very encouraging performance for her. Nicole O’Leary competed in the U14 Shot Putt also in her first National Championships finishing 5th in a new p.b. of 10.28m and looks a promising athlete for the future. Laura Feely was our final competitor in the Shot Putt U16 and had to rise to the occasion in a top class competition where the Championship Best Performance was broken. Laura despite breaking her finger in her throwing hand three weeks ago went in with a very determined approach and improved her p.b. by 40 cm winning the Bronze with 10.64m. This was a great performance from Laura who has consistently won medals at every National Championships indoor and outdoor since she started competing.

Our middle distance athletes were next on track for their finals with Ryan Bonner first up in the U12 600m where he finished 6th perhaps taking the race out too hard and suffered in the final lap for it. But this was great experience for Ryan and he will no doubt be back to fight another day. Pauric McLaughlin was forced to drop out of the U16 1500m due to an injury. Breda McGinty was very pleased with her 4th place in the U17 1500m giving it everything she had. The last race of the day for us was the U17 1500m where Darren McGlinchey and Shane Bonner competed and what a race it was with Darren taking it on from the start battling it out all the way to win his first ever individual National medal with an excellent Silver in 4.20 having been on many of Finn Valley’s winning cross-country teams. Shane Bonner also running very well to finish 6th. And so finished a very successful weekend, onwards now to next weekend where our 800m runners, walkers and relay runners will strive to win glory at National level. We wish them all the best of luck.

Newsletters by Niall McGonagle, Club P.R.O.