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Junior
Girls take County Title
The St Senan’s girl’s team had a
cracking win in the county junior cross
country championships in Kilmacow last
Sunday. Led by Leanne Foskin in silver
medal position and Claire Walsh in
bronze, the squad added another yet
trophy to this year’s growing
collection. In the “B” Novice race
PJ Irish took silver behind Pat Kavanagh
of Gowran AC with Damien Walsh also
having a fine run, while in the “B”
juvenile races there was fine wins for
Chloe Laffan and Rosanne Kennedy plus
some winning team performances from our
U/12 and U/14 teams.
Ladies
First
The first race of the day for U/8
athletes, saw a thrilling run from
Hannah Irish as she finished like a
train to take 3rd place overall. Great
runs too by Sinead McEvoy and Eve Lacey,
two budding stars of the future.
In the U/10 race another Lacey was doing
battle, as Tara Lacey in 3rd
place led her team of Michelle McDonald,
Clare McEvoy and Eimear Long to the
silver medals. T
he U/12 race saw a brilliant run by
Ciara Kennedy to take silver, while
great backup from Sarah Molly 4th,
Karen Costelloe 6th, Orla
Butler 7th and Aoife Butler 8th,
saw the team take gold.
In the U/14 race Chloe Laffan was a
class apart as she stormed to victory
with Fiona Dennehy taking a fighting
bronze medal. Good running by Eimear
Breathnach 5th, Lydia Meyler
and Aisling McDonald saw the team win
gold.
There was individual gold and silver in
the U/16 race as Rosanne Kennedy just
out-kicked team mate Sarah Dollard to
win. Great running by two talented young
ladies.
Boys
Oh Boys
The first race of the day for U/8
athletes saw Feargal Lawrence run well
in 11th place.
In the U/10 race Eoghan Wallis had a
great run in 7th with David
Irish in 16th and Gerard
Wallis in 17th, the team
placing 4th overall.
The U/12 race saw Donagh Meyler place 11th
in a large field.
Junior
High
The junior race saw a battle ensue
between Leanne Foskin and Gretta Kennedy
of Gowran as these two matched strides
over the first of the two 1500m laps.
The chasing pack included Claire Walsh
and Fiona Dennehy with Eimear Breathnach
also running well. In the final 800m
Gretta opened a lead and held it to the
line with Leanne clear in 2nd
place. Meanwhile Claire Walsh had a
battle on her hands but showed a cool
head and plenty of fighting spirit to
take the bronze in a tight sprint and
secure the overall team win by just one
point. The men’s race saw a fine win
for Eoin O’Shea of KCH with brother
Brian in silver and Ciaran Phelan
Aghaviller in 3rd place.
Martin Delahunty was the only St Senans
athlete, running strongly for 13th
place. KCH took the team title.
The
Men Behind Dwyer
In fact all but one athlete finished
behind the bold PJ, as he battled out a
duel to the death with Rocky Mernagh of
St Josephs for the silver medal. Damien
Walsh made the early running along with
Henry Langton of St Josephs and they
opened a lead of some 60m on the first
lap. Pat Kavanagh of Gowran was
gradually reeling in the leading runners
and by lap two was just a few yards
back. On lap three Dwyer, Kavanagh and
Mernagh were well clear and it was only
in the closing half mile that Kavanagh
pushed on for a fine win. PJ had to dig
deep to ward off the fast finishing
Rocky, but dig he did to take the silver
medal. Damien held on well to take 5th
place, while St Josephs took the team
title thanks to good running from
Michael Power.
Senior
Draws Nigh
Sunday 18th Dec is the date
and Connahy the venue for this year’s
county senior race. Following his fine
run in Sligo, Brian Maher of KCH will
start as favourite and will certainly
have home advantage as the race takes
place on his own land. Mick Kelly and
Tommy Evans both of Gowran AC will be
the main challengers and Gowran may well
have to dig deep to retain the title as
KCH have strong runners in Eoin Everard,
Paul Cody, Mark Ginnity and Eoin
O’Shea. Meanwhile the St Senan’s
team is taking shape with Owen Gahan,
Aidan Lanigan, Colin Butler, Robert
Duggan, Nicholas Halley and James Howley
looking the likely scorers. However
don’t rule out the fast improving PJ
Dwyer or Damien Walsh. The real battle
could be to see if either Bill Lacey or
Gerry Madden can rise from the dead to
make the “B” team. I’ll toss you
for it Bill, though with my look I’d
probably win!! Adele Walsh is the
current ladies champion but Sinead
Cummins had a good win on the roads
recently and will be looking to take
back the title she’s won on numerous
occasions. St Senans will also have a
ladies team competing with Catherine
Fennelly, Cait Caulfield, Mary Phelan
and Aisling Aylward all listed to start.
Could be a cracker in both races.
Don’t forget County Board raffle is on
the same day, so get selling.
No
Laffan Matter
“All
ye that love our Irish sport, draw near
both young and old.
And listen with attention to these lines
I now unfold.
Concerning those young heroes, the
flower of Leinster now,
The men of fame who I do name, are the
team from Kilmacow.”
It
was indeed a privilege to be in the
Parish Hall last Monday for the launch
of Kathleen Laffan’s book “A History of Kilmacow”. The packed attendance gave evidence to
the high regard in which both Kathleen
and her work is held. It is in every way
a wonderful history of the life and
times of a community for over 6,000
years and will stand as a unique record
of the people and events that have
shaped the life of the parish down
through the years. Filled with history,
stories, characters, photos and songs,
it has something for everyone and is a
timeless work that you can read and
re-read endlessly. So if you’d like to
see a photo of the legendary Molum
Middlepeice Band, the 1931 Ballymountain
Tug of War Team or Tom Gaule’s
Thrashing Engine look no further. Or
perhaps you need a cure for boils,
burns, corns or the whooping cough,
you’ll find them all on page 402.
Songs and stories, crafts and customs,
it’s all there beautifully bound and
printed so buy it now, while stocks
last, because it’s sure to sell like
hotcakes. Congratulations to Kathleen on
a superb body of work, hopefully
she’ll sell more copies Cecilia Ahearn,
which could leave her laughing (pun
intended) all the way to the bank. One
way or another it’s a priceless little
gem and something to be hugely proud of.
“And
yet in all their victories and the
honour which they gained,
Their modesty and manly ways had always
true remained.
They sought no gain nor trifling badge,
only victory was their vow,
So here’s a toast to the heroes bold,
the boys of Kilmacow.”
(Written
by Francis Aylward of Molum to
commemorate the 1887/88 football team
and an extract from the book)
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