Championship Silver and Bronze

Sunday Jan 9th 2011 was Leinster cross-country Championship Day for Junior and Senior athletes.

Kilkenny entered strong teams in all four races but with defections caused by flu and other commitments the teams lining up at the starts were substantially weaker than those recorded on the entry forms. Such shortcomings not withstanding all teams performed above expectations. The Junior teams won silver and the senior teams won bronze.

The Junior Ladies were well served by a fine performance in their 3K race by the girls from the Thomastown club. Megan Morrissey, in third place, led them in. Her clubmates, Aoibhe O’Connor 6th, Niamh O’Connor 15th and Laura Walpole 17th, combined well to win silver for the club. Gowran’s Rose Kennedy finished 11th and KCH had Orla McPhillips 13th and Niamh Tuohy 16th. The overall result – Silver for the County.

For the Junior Men’s 6K, it was a case of what the girls can do the boys can also do. Local man, Conor Rochford, St Senan’s, ran his usual determined race. His reward was individual silver. Gowran man, Shawn McCormack, showed great pace over the last kilometre to place 7th when he moved ahead of KCH duo James Maher in 9th and Eamon O’Connor 13th. Seppi Lysaght, Gowran, came with a late burst to finish 17th, thereby splitting KCH men Conor Mahon 16th and Conor Quinlan 18th. Another very satisfactory result, Silver for KCH club and silver for the county team.

And so to the senior races. The ladies had a distance of 5K and it was the veterans Niamh Richardson, KCH, and Maria Griffen, St Joseph’s, who set the pace for the younger team members. This duo fought their own battle over the distance with Niamh finishing in 12th place, shading it over Maria in 13th. KCH also had Ciara Martin 21st, Oonagh Hennessy 25th and Mairead Lacey 28th to win bronze for the club. All five combined to win third place for the county team.

Tommy Evans, Gowran, in his first outing since picking up an injury at the snowy inter-counties in Derry on 5th December, showed much of his old form when he took on the field in this 10K race. Winning individual silver was some consolation for missing the County Seniors before Christmas. Toss Hayes, KCH, showed considerable sparkle and placed 9th. Sean Caulfield, St Senan’s, a veteran of years and many courses finished in 20th place, two places ahead of KCH man David McPherson. Gowran’s Lyndon Barcoe 47th and David Farrell 49th, completed the scoring for this bronze winning team which also received considerable support from Gowran’s Tom Brennan and Denis Cormack.