Kerry Juvenile Relays, U20 Cross Country Championships 2024 Report

 By

David Butler, Juvenile Head Coach

Super performances all around today on Day 1 of the county cross country championships!

Wind and rain were the order of the day, but that didn’t deter them. First up was the U20 race, where the men and women ran together on two and a half laps of the challenging course. Zach Walshe was the first club athlete home, winning the bronze medal for 3rd place. Zach will be running in the U18 race next weekend and is primed for another strong performance. Rian Kenny O’Sullivan was the next club athlete across the line, finishing in 6th place. In the women’s race, Caoilinn Kenny O’Sullivan also came home in 6th place. It was great to have three of our older athletes compete, providing inspiration to our juvenile relay teams who would follow them.

As the senior action took place, our relay teams warmed up with the club’s cross country coach, Tom McCarthy. First up was our GU10 team, with Éabha Cowan leading off and putting the team into contention for the medal positions. Lily Mai Scanlon helped maintain that position, and Emma O’Flaherty finished her leg strongly, keeping the girls in a medal position. Holly O'Driscoll, on the anchor leg, brought it home, securing a joint 3rd place and a bronze medal. This was their first time together as a team, and it was fantastic to bring home a medal for their efforts.

Next up was the U10 boys, who were determined not to let the girls have the limelight for too long. U9 athlete James Sheehy led off for the team, putting them into 2nd place before passing the baton to Liam O'Driscoll, who maintained that position. Dara O’Connell took over for the 3rd leg, again keeping the team in 2nd place with a strong performance. Brandon Scanlon finished the race with his trademark kick, securing a silver medal as he opened a nice gap on the team behind them.

The U12 girls raced next, with our quartet of U11 runners stepping up to the challenge. Aisling O'Driscoll was the first runner for the team, working her way through to the midfield. Einin Lawlor took the baton next, showing a good turn of pace. Lelia McCarthy ran a composed 3rd leg, giving her best for her teammates before passing over to Amelia Dineen for the final leg. Amelia faced a tough battle throughout that leg, but she rose to the occasion, sprinting in the last 100m to secure an 11th place overall for the girls.

Our final club action came in the boys' U12 race. Corey O’Carroll, the regular starter for the team, had a strong opening leg, finishing in 2nd place just at the changeover. Conor Slattery followed, extending the gap to 3rd place and working hard to close the gap to 1st before passing to Cody McKenna. Cody showed his speed, keeping the team in 2nd place before Jack Sheehy took over for the last leg. Jack kept his eyes on 1st place while being aware of the competition behind him, and with a strong finish in the last 200m, he secured a silver medal for the team.

Well done to all our athletes on the day! Thank you for representing your club so well. Thanks to the parents for bringing them to the event, especially considering the weather conditions, which likely didn’t hold much appeal that morning. However, experiences like these are very important for the athletes as they prepare for the season ahead. Thank you to the club coaches for preparing the athletes and supporting them on the day

Silver Award at the Kerry Community Awards

 

St Brendan's AC has just won a Silver Award at the Kerry Community Awards ceremony in The Rose Hotel in Tralee. 

The club won the award for its wide programme of activities for both young and adult athletes in the North Kerry area, for its diversity, inclusivity and integration policy. The award was accepted by adult head coach, Ursula with Tricia, Moira, Irene, David B,  David K, Sinéad and Marie Louise.

Kerry Sportshall Games 2024 Report

 

St Brendan’s AC Wins Best Overall Club Award

By David Butler, St Brendan's AC Juvenile Head Coach

St Brendan’s AC was represented by 28 of our younger juvenile members at the 2024 edition of the Kerry Sportshall Games. This year’s event was originally scheduled for April but it was postponed then on safety grounds due to a red weather warning relating to a long since forgotten storm taking place.

For the first ever it was going to be held in one of Kerry’s premier sports facilities, the Kerry Sports Academy at MTU Tralee so all were eager to see the young athletes take to the boards.

Competing for the club on the day were

Aisling O’Driscoll

Amanda Connell

Anna Winter

Aoife Rice

Cassie O’Connor

Corey O’Carroll (Gold in BU12 Sprints, Silver in BU12 Shot Put, Silver in BU12 Standing Long Jump)

Dara O’Connell

Éabha Cowan (Gold in GU10 Sprints)

Einin Lawlor

Emma Joy (Bronze in GU11 Sprints)

Holly O’Driscoll

Jack Feehan (Silver in BU9 Speedbounce, (Joint) Bronze in BU9 Standing Long Jump)

Jack O’Flaherty

James Sheehy (Gold in BU9 Sprints, (Joint) Bronze in BU9 Standing Long Jump)

Karl Wallace (Gold in BU10 Speedbounce)

Keely Flaherty

Kira Harbuzova

Laoise Neary

Lelia McCarthy

Liam O’Driscoll

Lottie Boyle

Millie Flavin

Niamh McGuckin

Olivia Leen (Silver in GU12 Shot Put)

Roisin Flaherty

Sarah Duggan

Tadhg Quille

Tomas O’Flaherty (Gold in BU12 Shot Put, Gold in BU12 Standing Long Jump, Bronze in BU12 Sprints)

Following the successes of the individual events it was then into the relays where the club fielded 6 teams across the age groups. 4 of our teams secured medals by finishing in the top 3 in exciting races.

U9 Girls Relay, Bronze Medal (Roisin Flaherty, Niamh McGuckin, Amanda Connell, Anna Winter)

U10 Boys Relay, Gold Medal (James Sheehy, Dara O’Connell, Liam O’Driscoll, Karl Wallace)

U11 Girls Relay, Silver Medal (Lottie Boyle, Millie Flavin, Aisling O’Driscoll, Emma Joy)

U12 Girls Relay, Silver Medal (Keely Flaherty, Aoife Rice, Olivia Leen, Emma Joy, Lottie Boyle)

Well done to all the athletes on their performances and congratulations to our medallists. With the competition completed the club won the overall best club award on the day, the last time the club won the competition was in March 2020 (just before lockdown!)

Thanks to Kerry Athletics for hosting the event especially as it was away from its normal calendared date, to all volunteers on the day including the Irish Red Cross and club volunteers who looked after the athletes and helped run off an efficient event. Thanks to the parents for bringing their children to represent the club. Thanks to club coaching team who helped to prepare the athletes for the original date and the rescheduled date and for supporting the athletes on the day.

National Outdoor Juvenile B Championships & National Outdoor Juvenile Championships 2024

 

By David Butler, St Brendan's AC Juvenile Head Coach

A successful weekend for our club athletes, first up on Saturday was Cody McKenna running the U12 boys 60m sprint heats. With 4 heats and just the 1st in each to qualify to the final with 4th fastest times to also qualify, Cody placed 4th in his heat but just missed out on the final by one place with his time as he had the 5th fastest time. Cody would be back in action in the afternoon.

Next up then was Katie Butler competing the U13 girl’s shot put where she would line up against 10 other competitors. Katie opened her competition with a throw of 7.36m which was the best throw of all in the first round. In the 2nd row with all the play for she kept for form and focus and improved her mark to 7.69m. A final round throw of 7.60m followed. All throws completed and the results in and it was a silver medal for Katie, her 2nd National medal having also won silver in 2022 in the turbo javelin pairs.

After a long wait Conor Slattery was up for the U12 boy’s high jump, Conor had first time clearances from 1m all the way to 1.20m. On his 2nd attempt at 1.25m he equalled his PB before the bar was raised to 1.30m. Conor had 3 attempts at this height and he was very unlucky to have the slightest clip of the bar on his 3rd go which saw his competition end. 2 athletes jumped the 1.30m bar but no higher and with the results in Conor placed 4th on countback. Not too long of a wait and Conor was back for his 2nd event, the U12 boy’s shot put. Conor opened his account with 6.33m with a safe throw. His 2nd round throw looked to be a big one but unfortunately didn’t meet the favour of the judge’s eye. Under pressure then going into the final round, Conor needed to improve to get into a medal position and he landed the shot out to 6.89m, breaking his old PB of 6.75m and to the silver medal, a first National medal for him.

Cody was back in action then, the u12 boy’s long jump. A large field of 17 athletes here and Cody was 2nd last in the jumping order before he could take to the runway. His PB of 4.06m would need to be surpassed to get him a chance at the podium. With that first jump Cody’s leaped to a new lifetime best of 4.14m and into the 1st place in the event, just getting ahead of the next best jumper on 4.13cm. Two rounds of jumps would follow but no one closed that gap on Cody and he won the gold, his first National medal.

On Sunday and day 2 of the National Juvenile Championships. Aoibhinn O’Driscoll was up first in the u14 girl’s long jump in a large field of 18 athletes. Aoibhinn opened her account with 4.66m before improving to 4.78m in the 2nd round and it was 4.62m in the 3rd round. This had Aoibhinn as 6th overall as she made the top 8 final then and all to play for. Aoibhinn had a target, 3 jumps to try win that medal. Her 4th and 5th jumps of 4.43m and 4.61m didn’t improve her position but taking to the runway for the final time she had a brilliant final jump of 4.92m (just 3cm off her pb of 4.95) to move into the bronze medal position. 5 more athletes would jump with two of them the potential to move Aoibhinn out of the hot seat and unfortunately that was to be the case as she finished 4th overall.

Next up then was Oisin Fletcher, making his first trip to Tullamore for his debut at Nationals. Oisin was competing in the u14 boys 2K walk. Oisin worked hard to prepare for the competition fitting training in during his holidays abroad with plenty of warm weather and hill training. Oisin warmed up for the event today with walks coach David Kissane present to support. Lining up in a field of 8 boys it was 5 laps of the track for all. A fast start before the boys settled into their pace, Oisin had a consistent race and avoiding the scrutiny of the referees he crossed in 7th place just two seconds off his PB of 13:56 for a fine debut at National level.

The final athlete to compete at these championships for the club then was Maddison O’Connor who would be taking part in the u15 girl’s triple jump. Maddison’s 2nd time to Tullamore having competed last year in National B’s she was excited to get going at her event. A field of 14 athletes for this new event in this age group Maddison opened her competition with 8.78m (a new pb for her moving on from 8.31m). On her 2nd round jump her right foot rolled slightly on landing on the step which didn’t help her jump and she landed at 8.28m. In the 3rd round she pushed to try improving on that first round but 8.48m the mark. Just missing out on the top 8, Maddison placed 9th overall.

That closed off the juvenile season for our athletes, thank you again to the athlete’s families and friends for making the trips to bring them to competitions and to the athletes for representing their club so well. Thanks also to our coaches and club volunteers who help prepare the athletes for their events and for supporting the athletes on the days across the country. It has been a very successful season for our club, 10 Nationals medals just one of the indicators of the success of our group and the many more positive experiences for all earned through the participation at training and competition. We look forward to next season when it all kicks off again.

Munster Athletics U14-U19 Track & Field Championships 2024 Review

 By David Butler, St Brendan's AC juvenile head coach.

There and back again….Waterford Regional Sports Centre was the venue for this weekend’s competition, it’s about as far away as you can get in Munster and still be in the province but it proved to be a successful weekend for our club with precious reward which came in many forms. Our athletes tested themselves against the best in Munster and came away with 9 medals, National qualification and personal bests as they went through the experience of it all.

First in action on Saturday was Eoin Malik, who was entered to compete in 3 U17 boys events over the two days. Triple Jump in terrible conditions meant that playing it safe was going to be the order of the day. Eoin opened and closed his event with a best jump of 12.31m to win the gold medal.

At the same time Aoibhinn O’Driscoll opened her weekend with the first of her trio, U14 girl’s high jump and after opening at 1.25m the bar rose to 1.40m which Aoibhinn cleared. The wind and rain was not helping Aoibhinn and her competitors as they fosbury flopped onto a wet mat but her best jump of 1.40m won the silver medal.

Action on the track then got going for the club with our duo of racewalkers for this Munster competition of Hannah Sheehy going in the U13 girls 2K race and Oisin Fletcher in the U14 boys 2K race. This was Hannah’s 2nd ever racewalking race (the last one at Munster Indoors this year season) but her first race at the 2K distance and it was Oisin’s 2nd ever racewalk having taken up the event this season too. Both athletes were put through a vigorous warmup by David Kissane which was certainly needed with the conditions and the standard of the event. Both the boys and girls in this age group went off together and working very hard across all 5 laps both athletes recorded clean sheets with Hannah crossing the line in 13:22.42 and Oisin in 13:56.85 (new pb). Both athletes won the silver medal in their age groups. A first Munster medal for Oisin, a day to remember!

Over to the hurdles then,

Aoibhinn was back in action then for her 2nd event of the day, this time in the 75mH. Running into a strong headwind she placed 2nd in the semi-final to qualify through to the final. With a quick turnaround the girls lined up for the final where Aoibhinn improved on her semi time of 13.56 to 12:95 to win her 2nd medal of the day, this time the bronze for 3rd place.

Alex Blackett was next up to face the short hurdles as he lined up in the U14 boys 75mH event. The wind was doing none of our hurdlers any favours but Alex crossed the line in 4th place in his semi-final and qualified for the final. The final ran off a short time, Alex improved on his time from the semi as he finished in 8th place overall with a time of 17.06m.

Maddison O’Connor stepped up to the blocks next in the U15 girls 80mH, with unfortunate scheduling Maddison’s favoured events of long jump, triple jump and short hurdles where going to be run in quick succession so she had a choice to make and decided to stick with one jump event and the hurdles. Maddison qualified from the semi-finals it was short notice before she had to quickstep it to the start line. With a better start Maddison improved on her time from the semi she crossed the line in 7th place in 15.8 seconds.

Maddison then switched over to the triple jump; thankfully conditions had slightly improved but still very changeable with wind, drizzle and sun alternating every 15mins. Maddison hop, skipped and jumped to 8.29m this best jump (just 2cm off her personal best) coming in the 3rd round. That jump secured her 4th place which secured her a spot at Nationals in the event.

Eoin Malik was competing in his 2nd event of the weekend, the U17 boy’s javelin. The head wind which can sometimes work in your favour with the javelin showed no consistency for the throwers as the javelins were sometimes stalling instead of rising through the air. Eoin’s best throw of 36.25m coming in the third round won him his 2nd medal of the day, a silver medal for 2nd place.

Alex Blackett was back in action where his 2nd event of the day was the U14 boys 200m heats. This was Alex’s debut in the 200s, he had a good start and attacked the bend before finishing strong down the home straight to place 5th in his heat with a time of 33.16.

The final athlete competing on Saturday was Zach Walshe who lined up in the U18 boys 3000m race. In this event, the U17s, U18s and U19s boys all raced together. A fast start over the first two laps before the field opened up and then it was solo running for the majority of the athletes including Zach. Crossing the line in 10:25.27 it wasn’t the time Zach had hoped for but still secured the bronze medal in his age group for him.

Back for the Sunday events, the rain clouds abated and it was sun cream weather this time out! Aoibhinn O’Driscoll competed in the U14 girl’s long jump and Eoin Malik in the U17 boy’s long jump. Eoin was first to the pits, with a narrow break on his first round jump on what was a certain pb his best jump of the day to that point came in the 3rd round where he leapt to 5.91m. Eoin had his eyes on the 6.10m mark and to also pb, the 4th and 5th jumps were back a little from his earlier best but there was more to come. In the final round with the pressure on he jumped to a new lifetime best of 6.18m (previously 6m) and to a silver medal for Eoin. This medal to go with his gold and silver from day 1 and close off an excellent Munster season for Eoin and he reverts back to National competition next weekend.

Aoibhinn then who had watched on in quiet interest to Eoin’s competition then took to the runway in the U14 girl’s event. A large field of 29 long jumpers competed in what was the largest field of the weekend in the long jump events. Her first round jump of 4.43m put her in 2nd place and she then stepped that up to 4.64m in the 3rd round. All to play for going into the delayed final, Aoibhinn’s kept focusing on improving her jump and in the final round jumped to 4.73m to put more distance between her and 3rd place and secure the silver medal. Aoibhinn’s 3rd medal of the weekend, with 2 silver medals and a bronze medal going home to Kilmoyley.

That drew to a close the Munster U14-U19 competitions, well done to our all athletes on their successes and thanks to their families and friends for bringing them to the competition. Thanks to the club coaches for preparing our athletes for the event and the support given to the athletes over the weekend.

Kerry Athletics Masters and Seniors County Championships 2024

 

By Ursula Barrett, Adult Head Coach, St Brendan’s AC

The much-anticipated Senior and Masters County Championships had a new and important focus this year. We knew for months that we would be trying to bring the Patrick O’Riordan Cup to St Brendan’s in its inaugural year, but we didn’t know that we would be doing so without having Patrick to present it to us.

Patrick’s passing brought new meaning to the cup and intensified the efforts of the club. This sense of purpose contributed massively to the large numbers representing the club and taking part in record numbers of events across numerous age categories in both the masters men and women’s events. We were all proud to wear the club colours and to do our best in honour of our President, Patrick.

Walking On

The day started with St Brendan’s dominating the 3,000m walk. Six athletes all in blue (David, Denis, Marian, Tina. Marie-Louise and Áine) battled against the clock to claim the first points of the day for the club as they secured five gold medals and one silver. Marie Louise was the first walker home in an impressive time of 18:46. Well done to coach David Kissane for getting everyone to the starting line, especially our new member Áine McKenna who learnt the technique in the week before the competition.

While the walks race was underway, the discus competition was also taking place. Brian McKenna and James Cullagh in the M45 category put their Walnut Grove practice to the test and walked away with a silver and bronze medal for throws of almost 15 and 16 metres. Eddie O’Flaherty showed impressive form in the M55 category earning another silver medal and vital points for the club and David Kissane added to the tally in the M70 category with a gold medal.

Next up on the track was the 100m sprints. The masters women showed off their speed with three gold medals and one bronze from our sprinters, Linda, Ursula, Aoife and Karen and some great times too ranging from 14 to 18 seconds. We had no men taking part in this event so will have to recruit for next year!

The long jump competition saw Linda and Ursula both walk away with first place positions in the masters competition. Darren took part in the senior long jump competition coming in 6th place overall against some serious competition.

In the 200m sprint distance we had several contenders taking to their starting lines on the bend. John Lane and Johnny Jeffers came in 5th and 6th in the M50 category while Tom McCarthy came home in second place in the M55 category. Our masters women both took part in the F45 race claiming the gold and silver between them.

While this track action was taking place the men’s javelin was proceeding in the centre field. Again, the blue t-shirts were visible to all as we showed up in numbers to compete. Gold medals from David Butler, Brian McKenna, Artur Nowak and Martin Butler as well as silver from Eddie and bronze from John Lane produced more welcome points for the club. The women followed suit a little later with another 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze to add the medal count.

High Gold

Our sole high jumper of the day was Artur Nowak. He collected his gold medal for a jump of 1.55m. Next up on the track was the most contested race of the day, the 3000 metres. Seven and a half laps of the track passes slowly when the sun comes out and the pack is competitive. Ten women took part in the first race and the St. Brendan’s runners were cheered each time they passed. Digging deep and running hard, Margaret Carlin was the first blue t-shirt over the line in a time of 14:22, followed by Aoife O’Driscoll and Jill Kenny. Seventeen men took to the track for the masters race and walked away with two more gold and two silver. The race yielded a great time of 12:18 for Tom McCarthy and thanks to Roland Rogers who volunteered to guide Ivan in this race, Ivan clocked 12:31. Well done also to Jim O’Meara and Willie O’Riordan for their strong performance and gold medal performances also. Darren was our only competitor in a fast paced senior race where he came in 12:45 and managed to smile and wave to his fan club on the home straight each time he passed them.

Senior Bronze

The 400m saw Rian claim a bronze in the senior race and golds for Jim, Margaret and Jill. Meanwhile in the shot-put Karen and Sheena (W50) bagged another silver and bronze while David, James and Brian got gold, silver and bronze in the O35-O45 category. More titles came for Artur (first place) and John Lane (third) in the M50 along with another gold and silver for David Kissane and Martin Butler in the M70 grouping. The final field event of the day was the weight for distance and another medal haul with triple gold for the Butler family of Martin, David and Irene, Gold also for Marie Louise, Silver for James and Karen and Bronze for Eddie.

Highlight of the Day

The highlight of the day was the final track event which saw 5 masters teams carrying the baton around the track. There is nothing like the teamwork and fun of a relay. Norma joined one team and two teams were ready to go. Then Helen arrived and we were able to add a third team once Sheena swallowed her mouthful of baguette. With lots of cheering St Brendan’s took on the Star of the Laune team and came home in first, third and fourth positions. The men were up next and under pressure to follow the women’s example. They did so by claiming gold in the M35 competition and second to Gneeveguilla in the M55 category. As Tom hadn’t made it back in time for the start the club had to call upon Willie O’Riordan to take his place and there was no hesitation.

It was very fitting then that when the numbers were crunched and it was obvious that we had secured the cup that Patrick’s daughter Katie would present the cup to Patrick’s brother, Willie, a long term member of the club and relay team runner. The magnitude of our victory was only clear after when the results were released. St Brendan's earned 144 Points ahead of second place Gneeveguilla AC on 55 points. A comprehensive win and a challenge posed to the other clubs in Kerry to try to claim the cup in future years.

Full results HERE.

For now, the cup is with the O’Riordan and St Brendan’s families.