Mullingar wins great haul of indoor medals

Mullingar athletes descended in force on the Nenagh Indoor Stadium last Sunday (31st January) for day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships, which was for junior, senior and master track and field and juvenile track relays. The relays were run-off first and Mullingar had 14 teams in action, with two teams in some age-groups.We had two teams in the 4x100m girls u/13, where Laura Whitelaw, Rachel Glennon, Hilary Harris, Clare Fagan, Emma Glynn, Moya Leydon, Ellen Cronin and Meabh McNulty ran very well and finished 3rd in their respective heats but were unlucky not to advance to the final. In the boys u/13, Simon Carr, Declan Brady, Patrick Leydon and Patrick Shaw won their heat and in the final worked very hard as a team and deserved their medals for 3rd place. It's a team effort, but Patrick Shaw had a particularly fine race and never gave up and by sheer determination anchored the team to the bronze medals.The 4x200m girls u/15 team of Victoria Harris, Edel Glennon, Linda Conroy and Caoimhe Shaw also won their heat comfortably but in the final had to battle hard and Caoimhe Shaw emulated her brother by running an absolutely fantastic anchor leg to take the team into 2nd place in a thrilling finish. In the boys u/15, Liam O'Reilly, Jack Reid, Boidu Sayeh and Eoghan Moore combined brilliantly to win in style and secure the first gold medals for Mullingar, making it look positively easy on the way. Stephen Nea, Jonathan Daly, Ian McCormack and Shane Fitzsimons found the pace of the boys u/17 just a little too quick for their liking and despite a brave effort, finished 3rd in their heat but didn't advance to the final.The second set of gold medals came in the boys u/19 where Diarmaid Hyland, David Moran, Robert Yorke and Eamon Lawlor turned in sterling performances to capture the Leinster title.The relays then turned to the even age-groups and in the 4x100m girls u/12, despite dropping the baton but picking it up again quickly on the final change, Ellen Cronin, Adeola Ojomo-Amaka, Niamh Quinn and Meabh McNulty were far too good and won their heat, and in the final led from gun to tape and safely carried the baton around to win by the biggest margin of the day. The 4x100m boys u/12 team of Simon Carr, Patrick Leydon, Jonah Kelly and Eanna Burke ran well but were unlucky not to qualify for the final. It was a similar story in the 4x200m girls u/14 for Aisling Moody, Rebecca Kelly having her first race for Mullingar, Faye Walsh and Lorna Moody who ran well and finished 3rd in their heat but unfortunately just couldn't find the extra edge to make the final. No such problems for Glen Gaffney, Philip Doherty, Mervyn Harris and Oisin Quinn in the boys u/14 as they finished 2nd in the heat and in the final ran brilliantly and never faltered to finish 3rd. Thomas Lynn, Aaron Glynn, Ryan Blundell and Shane Fitzsimons won their heat of the boys u/16 and in the final thanks to great team work and particularly the very strong finish of Shane, took 3rd place in probably the closest battle of the day for third place. We had two teams in the girls u/16 where Mairead Sayeh, Jane Leydon, Victoria Harris and Anna Ryan finished 3rd in their heat but didn't advance to the final, while Lorraine Daly, Donna Kiernan, Elizabeth Carr and Ciara Hewson also finished 3rd in their heat but qualified on time for the final, where they also finished 3rd thanks to some great individual performances and team spirit.After the relays, in the junior 3,000m it was a clean sweep for Mullingar as Vincent Connolly finished 1st, Stephen Nea 2nd, Jonathan Daly 3rd and Ian McCormack 4th, clearly showing the Club's depth in talent. In the junior 800m, Robert Yorke fought all the way to the line and was rewarded for his determined spirit with a well deserved bronze medal.Looking at Matt Glennon in the master 3,000m, you wouldn't think he was taking part in his first indoor competition such was the manner of his performance and he richly deserved his 2nd place overall finish and took silver in his age-category. He also ran the 800m where he experienced the rough and tumble of the tight indoor bends and was very narrowly beaten into 4th place on the line. Afterwards he said he was pleased but had learned a lot and will be better prepared next time, so the opposition better watch out! Another newcomer to master indoor competition was John O'Reilly who powered to 3rd place in the 60m, to the delight of his fans. No stranger at all to indoor competition, Sean McMullin drew on his considerable experience to finish 2nd in the 3,000m race walk and later in the afternoon won the 1,500m run and added to the big Mullingar medal haul.By days end, Mullingar had won a total of 8 team medals, we took all the medals in the junior 3,000m and a bronze in the junior 800m, and the masters won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals between them, which is quite a day's take by any standards. However, important as medals are, of more importance was the brilliant performances and team spirit seen in the relays from the youngest to the oldest ages, which is a tribute to our juvenile athletes. Many thanks to the many parents who made the journey to Nenagh to support our athletes and particular thanks to Brid and Niall Leydon for taking charge of the younger relay teams in the warm-up area and making sure they were as well prepared as possible for their races. The results speak for themselves.