Exciting action in Offaly schools athletics championships

The Offaly national schools athletics championships were held in the Tullamore Harriers Athletic stadium last Saturday. It was very well supported by schools in the county with 25 boys and 22 girls teams competing. Well done to all the those who took part and also to the teachers and team managers who put in the time and effort to make it possible. The event was a team competition with the boys and girls competing over a total of five events. These were the 80 Metres, 600 Metres, Long Jump, Shot Putt and the day finished off with the always exciting 4 by 100 Metres Relay. There were a lot of great performances and very close finishes on the day with great support from team-mates and parents for all those competing. Stephanie Nolan was a very impressive winner of the 80 metres, just ahead of Ciara Ni Mhuiri and she was selected as the best girl athlete of the day. Ciara Izuchuka ran a great race to win the 600 metres while Paulina Madrawska excelled in winning the shot putt. Hollie Dunne jumped well to win the long jump. In the boys events there were good performances all round with Robert Grondzi, Cian Dully and Barry Mooney all having good victories. The winner of the shot putt was Conor Mulligan and he was named as the best boy athlete. The team competitions proved to be very exciting with a lot of teams in the shake up going into the relays which were the last event. There was great excitement as the team winners were announced. Clonbullogue A retained the boys title that they won last year by just a margin of three points from Scoil Eoin Phoil A with Daingean N.S. in third place. Scoil Mhuire Tullamore B took first place in the girls from Cloneyhurke N.S. in second with Dromakeenan NS taking third place. Overall, it was a very successful event and it was good to see so many students competing. If any child wants to continue athletics as a sport, there are many clubs in Offaly which cater for all athletic events. Results Boys Team: 1 Clonbullogue N.S. 116 points ; 2 Scoil Eoin Phoil A. 113 points ; 3 Daingean N.S. 106 points ; 4 Scoil Bhride B 101 points ; 5 Ballinamere N.S. 99 points ; 5 Mucklagh D 99 points ; 7 Clonbullogue B 93 points ; 7 Charleville N.S. 93 points. 80 metres. 1 Robert Grondzi - Scoil Bhride Tullamore 11.21; 2 Sean Coleman - Mucklagh N.S. 12.24; 3 Shane Tierney - Daingean N.S. 12.25. 4 David Dempsey - Cappagh N.S. 12.28 ; 5 Donal Kenny - Clonbullogue N.S. 12.42. 600 metres: 1 Cian Dully - Mucklagh N.S. 1.51.7 ; 2 Kevin Berine - Scoil Eoin Phoil. 1.55.7 ; Eoin Mulligan - Clonbullogue N.S. 1.56.3 ; 4 Chinnie Izicmukwu - Scoil Bhride Tullamore 1.59.9 ; 5 Paul O"Reilly - Ballinamere N.S. 2.02.9 ; Long Jump: 1 Barry Mooney - Scoil Eoin Phoil 3.97 ; 2 Conor Dunne - Cappagh N.S. 3.94 ; 3 Tom Ramelas - Charleville N.S. 3.87; 4 Keith Fox - Ballinamere N.S. 3.86 ; 5 Padraic Cuskelly - Daingean N.S. 3.75. Shot Putt: 1 Conor Mulligan - Clonbullogue N.S. 10.13 ; 2 Rehmann Burlas- Scoil Bhride Tullamore 9.11 ; 3 Kealan Feery - Cappagh N.S. 9.09 ; 4 Morgan Mooney - Clonbullogue N.S. 7.87 ; 5 Laurin Ryan - Scoil Eoin Phoil 7.75. 4 x 100 metre Relay. Clonbullogue N.S. A 1.00.17 ; 2 Scoil Bhride B Tullamore 1.02.76 ; 3 Ballinamere N.S. 1.04.02 ; 4 Scoil Eoin Phoil A 1.04.34 ; 5 Daingean N.S. A 1.04.75. Girls Team: 1 Scoil Mhuire Tullamore B. 104 points ; 2 Cloneyhurke N.S. 96 points ; 3 Dromakeenan N.S. 91 points ; 4 Clonbullogue N. S. Team A. 87 points; 5 Daingean N.S. Team A. 86 points ; 6 Ballinamere N.S. 81 points ; 7 Gaelscoil An Eiscir Riada B Team. 68 points ; 8 Clonbullogue N.S. Team B 67 points. 80 metres: 1 Stephanie Nolan - Dromakeenan N.S 11.21 ; 2 Ciara Ni Mhuiri - Gaelscoil An Eiscir Riada. 11.42 ; 3 Noelle Cocoman - Daingean N.S. 12.09 ; 4 Leanne McCabe - Clonbullogue N.S. 12.50; 5 Megan McDonagh - Scoil Mhuire Tullamore 12.79 ; 600 metres: 1 Ciara Izuchukwa - Scoil Mhuire Tullamore 1.51.3 ; 2 Decoda Goin - Clonbullogue N.S. 1.56.7 ; 5 Nadine Donegan - Ballinamere N.S. 2.02.6. Long Jump: 1 Hollie Dunne - Cloneyhurke N.S. 3.61; 2 Keelin Guilfoyle - Geashil N.S. 3.38 ; 3 Alison Mooney - St Philomena"s N.S. 3.18 ; 4 Zoe Ni Mhuiri - Gaelscoil An Eiscir Riada 3.15 ; 5 Katie Dunne - Killeigh N.S. 3.03. Shot Putt : 1 Paulina Madrawska - Scoil Mhuire 7.83 ; 2 Darlene Goin - Clonbullogue N.S. 7.66; 3 Michelle Keegan - Cloneyhurke N.S. 7.45 ; 4 Alice Coffey - Scoil Mhuire Tullamore 6.50 ; 5 Ayesha Ni Bhreasail - Gaelscoil An Eiscir Riada 5.84. 4 x 100 metres Relay: 1 Cloneyhurke N.S. 1.03.06; 2 Dromakeenan N.S. 1.05.28. Tullamore Harriers Midland Road League Despite the cold, windy and wet weather there was a record turnout of 296 runners for the first leg of the Mullingar road league. The race is run over a 5K trail through the woods of Belvedere House grounds. The course was a bit mucky but thankfully the rain stopped before the start. Jody O"Reilly ran a good race to finish in 10th place in a time of 17.25. Maire Triona Keane, who is coming into great form at the moment, was the first placed woman in a time of 18.40. Jim Langan was placed second over 65 and clocked 22.34. Fixtures Wed May 20th and 27th: Mullingar Midland Road league in Belvedere at 8pm. Sunday May 17th: AAI Games and Senior Track Relays in Athlone. May 23rd and 24th: Leinster Combined events championships, Greystones, Co.Wicklow. Friday 22nd May: Jack Cox 5k Road Race in Kilcormac at 8pm. Monday June 1st: Flora Women"s Mini Marathon, Dublin.