Kerryman Article 12/10/09

The Kerry Novice and Juvenile Even Age Cross Country Championships were
held in Banna East,Ardfert on Sunday last in pleasant weather and solid
underfoot conditions.The highlight of the day was by far the Novice mens
6km event which ended in a finishing straight sprint  between the eventual
winner Aodh O’Neill of Iveragh AC and ED Murphy of Gneeveguilla AC.Both
athletes were neck and neck throughout with Murphy leading most of the way
but with about three hundred metres to go O’Neill made his move
surprisingly on the only hill on the course and it turned out to be
decisive as he snatched the victory.Great credit is due to Aodh as he flew
back from England in order to compete in this event which shows great
commitment to the sport.An Riocht won the team event here with
Gneeveguilla AC in second.
    The Novice womens 3km event was won by Elaine Cronin from Gneeveguilla
AC who was equally as impressive as the winner of the mens. Elaine and
second placer Caoimhe Casey of St Brendans were running comfortably
together for the first half of the race but Cronin started to move
away from then on to take the win.Margaret O’Leary finished third in
the event.
   On the day there was an open mens non championship senior event
held.The ever present Cian Murphy of Iveragh took victory from Arthur
Fitzgearld Farranfore with Brendan O’Shea Iveragh in third.
   The bulk of the numbers on the day were as always made up by the
juveniles with numbers on a par from last year.There were some
fantastic individual performances on the day plus some ding dong
battles in certain age groups.The most impressive winners on the day
were Dara Lowth St Brendans and Sophie Lynch Lios Tuathaill in the u10
events;Dean Crowley Gneeveguilla in the u12 boys 1km;Aaron Quigley
Iveragh and Niamh De Hora Farranfore in the u16 events and Karen Curran
Iveragh in the u18 womens 3km.There were some fantastic battles between
Katelyn McCarthy Spa Fenit and Christine Cooper Spa Muckross in the u12
1km with Katelynn taking the victory on this occasion;Vanessa Dineen
Lios Tuathaill  and Aine O Connor Riocht in the u14 1500m with Vanessa
taking the spoils;Cillian O’Donovan Iveragh and David O Keeffe
Gneeveguilla in the u14 2000m with Cillian emerging victorious.The Boys
u18 5km was a three way battle between David Hogan, Stephen Walsh and
PJ Galvin all St Brendans AC with Hogan taking the gold from Walsh and
Galvin finishing a gallant third.
   The team events were divided evenly enough with St Brendans taking gold
in the boys u10,u16,u18 and girls u14 with silver from the girls u10
and boys u12.Gneeveguilla took gold in the girls u10 and boys
u12.Iveragh took gold in the boys u14 and bronze in the boys u12,Riocht
gold in the girls u12 and bronze in the boys u10 and Farranfore
Mainevalley second in the Boys u10.
   The overall standings in Division 1 of the Best Overall Club puts St
Brendans AC in the lead on 115 points,Gneeveguilla second on 59 points
and Iveragh AC third on 57 points.In the newly formed division 2
competition An Riocht lead the way on 42 points with Farranfore
Mainevalley on 21 points and Lios Tuathaill AC on 16 points.Star of the
Laune and Spa Muckross AC both on 13points,Spa Fenit barrow on 9 points
and Tralee Harriers on 8 points.
   The Kerry county board would like to thank the O’Mahoney family for the
use of their fine land and St Brendans AC for organising the event.
   Kerry Cross Country Training for the forthcoming Munster championships
takes place this Wednesday night the 14th at 7.30pm in Beaufort GAA
pitch for all athletes who finished top ten in the above event.All
clubs have been notified of their athletes.

Boys u10-1.Dara Lowth STB 2.Fiachra Ennis STB 3.Tristin O’Donoghue SM
Girls u10-1.Sophie Lynch LT 2.Orla O’Reilly TH 3.Shona O’Brien SM
Boys u12-1.Dean Crowley GG 2.Adam O’Donoghue RI 3.Patrick Warren GG
Girls u12-1.Katelynn McCarthy SF 2.Christine Cooper SM 3.Ellen Browne RI
Boys u14-1.Cillian O’Donovan IV 2.David O Keeffe GG 3.Liam O’Connell IV
Girls u14-1.Vanessa Dineen LT 2.Aine O Connor RI 3.Muireann McKenna LT
Boys u16-1.Aaron Quigley IV 2.Kevin O Sullivan SOL 3.Dylan Carey STB
Girls u16-1.Niamh De Hora FF 2.Emer Foley GG 3.Brigid Dennehy IV
Boys u18-1.David Hogan STB 2.James Walsh STB 3.PJ Galvin STB
Girls u18-1,Karen Curran IV 2.Grace Lynch IV 3.Niamh Clifford SOL
Novice Men-1.Aodh O’Neill IV 2.Ed Murphy GG 3.Peter Murphy RI
Novice Women-1.Elaine Cronin GG 2.Caoimhe Casey STB 3.Margaret O’Leary GG