County Senior Cross Country, Kilmacow

St Senan’s take the team

After a gap of 29 years, St Senan’s AC clinch the victory in the ladies country senior cross country at Kilmacow. We have to go back to 1988 when the host club won their 5th team title in a row.  The team of Perri Williams, Mary Farrell, Mary Kinsella and Olive Ruane (replacing Tina Moloney who was not available in 1988) were the club’s last gold. But not anymore – new shoes have stepped up to the mark. Adele Walsh led the team home, followed by fast finishing Michelle McDonald, Bronagh Kearns, Aine Kinsella and Racheal Butler. KCH were 2nd and St Josephs were 3rd.

It was fantastic to see a field of 35 athletes compete in this race, with several teams from all around the county. Lauren Dearmody of Castlecomer led for most of the way, with Sally Forristal of St Josephs. Going out onto the last lap it was Sally who looked marginally stronger and moved going by the pond, to power up the hill to the finishing shoot. Adele Walsh finished 3rd with club mate Michelle McDonald in 4th.

KCH 6 in a row

The local club may have been excited to see their girls do well, but meanwhile the men’s race was heating up to be a cracking spectators event. From early there was a bunch of 10 athletes in the top group. But the Kilmacow hills are famous for sorting out cross country runners, and by the second lap, we had four main contenters pushing the pace   -Tosh Hayse of KCH, Brian Maher of KCH, Niall Sheehan of Gowran and Eoin Everard of KCH. These four drew away from the rest of the field and at any stage it could have been any of the four who could clinch victory. With Tosh Hayse as the pre-race favourite, he looked fresh all the way, leaving no one in any doubt that he would make his move on the last lap. What a thriller the crowd were in for – Brian Maher who had slipped back to a tailing fourth place – used his experience and strength to power up the final hill and move past Tosh to take victory once more. With Brian and Tosh taking the first two spots, Niall Sheehan was too much of a match for Eoin Everard and finished 3rd with Everard getting the 4th spot.

In the team event KCH were clear winners, with Gowran 2nd and Thomastown 3rd. The KCH quartet were Brian Maher, Tosh Hayse, Eoin Everard and Mossie Roantree. Again it was good to see a big field in the race.

County Training

It was great to see a large turnout at county juvenile training this morning – working together helps not only bring on athletes but also encourages athletes to push themselves harder – a perfect recipe for success. Well done juveniles for making the effort to get up early and travel to Kilmacow this morning.

Fixtures

Sunday 15th October County Juveniles unevens and Masters Over 45 in Castlecomer.

Results

LADIES:  1 Sally Forristal (St Josephs) 2 Lauren Dearmody (Castlecomer) 3 Adele Walsh (St Senans) 4 Michelle McDonald (St Senans) 5 Caoimhe Malone (KCH) 6 Donna Dowling (KCH) 7 Bronagh Kearns (St Senans) 8 Aine Kinsella (St Senans) 9 Imelda Kennedy (Castlecomer) 10 Claire O’Donovan (St Josephs) 11 Niamh Richardson (KCH) 12 Caoimhe Foely (KCH) 13 Ruth Kennedy (Gowran) 14 Tereasa Mooney (Castlecomer) 15 Ann Waters (St Josephs) 16 Elenore Kennedy (Gowran) 17 Kathryn Kennedy (Gowran) 18 Rachael Butler (St Senans) 19 Kathleen Nolan (Castlecomer) 20 Kathy Millet (KCH) 21 Mary Doolin (St Josephs) 22 Esther Kennedy (Castlecomer) 23 Michelle Ryan (Gowran) 24 Caroline Mullally (St Josephs) 25 Maggie Helen O’Connor (St Josephs) 26 Mary Ann Molloy (KCH) 27 Michelle Dearmody (KCH) 28 Caoimhe Carroll (Gowran) 29 Ann Esther Joyce (Gowran) 30 Sinead Keating (Gowran) 31 Leona Connolly (Gowran)

Teams: 1 St Senans 2 KCH 3 St Josephs 4 Castlecomer 5 Gowran

MEN: 1 Brian Maher (KCH) 2 Tosh Hayse (KCH) 3 Niall Sheehan (Gowran) 4 Eoin Everard (KCH) 5 Mossie Roantree (KCH) 6 James Kelly (Castlecomer) 7 Robbie Magee (Gowran) 8 Conor Bolger (KCH) 9 Paul Moran (KCH) 10 Danny Shandon (Thomastown) 11 Cormac Buggy (Castlecomer) 12 Denis O’Sullivan (Thomastown) 13 Marcus Fitzsimons (KCH B) 14 Tom Corrigan (Gowran) 15 Conor Rochford (St Senans) 16 Derek Kehoe (Gowran B) 17 Pat Bookle (St Josephs) 18 John Davis (Thomastown) 19 JD Flynn (KCH B) 20 John Maye (KCH B) 21 Lyndon Baron (Gowran B) 22 Robert Cunningham (KCH B) 23 Eoin Mullally (KCH B) 24 Marty Mosday (Gowran B), 25 Stephen O’Connor (St Josephs) 26 Oliver Mullally (St Senans) 27 Ger Walsh (Thomastown) 28 Bill Carroll (Thomastown) 29 David Hamilton (KCH B) 30 George Carpendale (St Senans) 31 Michael Power (St Josephs) 32 Joe Irish (St Senans) 33 Pat Lennon (Gowran B)

Teams: 1 KCH 2 Gowran 3 Thomastown 4 KCH B 5 St Senans 6 Gowran B