Leinster Even Age, Novice and U20 2025

Gowran Racecourse was the setting for this year’s Leinster Even Age, Novice and U20 and what a day it was for the Kilkenny clubs with lots of fantastic individual, club and county winning teams medalled in most age groups across the day. Although the sun shone bright and the day stayed crisp and dry, there was a biting windchill that gradually got colder as the day went on. The juvenile runners managed to escape most of the winds but the Novice men and women certainly felt the effects of the wind throughout the 3000m and 6000s races. The good weather this week with just a few showers meant the course conditions were superb for running cross country with a sprinkle of cow pats dotted around the outer field for the full cross country running experience.

First up on the day were the two non-championship races for the U10 kids running an 800m loop around the driving range, then a sprint up the green finishing area, with all runners receiving a Gowran dash medal for their brilliant effort. The underage races were highly competitive and the U12 Boys produced some fantastic results from Kilkenny City Harriers who not only had 3 individual medal winners, but the 1^st club home winning gold and four of its runners on the gold County winning team too. Daniel McIntyre had an incredible run for 2^nd place, with Aaron Tyrell following in 3^rd and Daniel Quinn home next in 6^th place. Dylan Guilfoyle made up the 4^th member for the club team in 27th, while Luke Hanlon of Thomastown and Huw Morgan of St. Senan’s ran in 14^th and 18^th to score for the county team to claim the gold medals.

Kilkenny City Harriers A 1^st, Daniel McIntyre, Aaron Tyrell, Daniel Quinn, Dylan Guilfoyle, Kilkenny City Harriers B 10^th Charlie Norris, Tim Ryall, Robbie Chadley, Daire O’Shea, Philip Bouros, Sam Cuddihy, Liam Connery

Gowran 14^th Cian Shortall, Conor Maher, Harry O’Regan, Darragh Glynn, Harry McCormack,

St. Senan’s Huw Morgan

Castlecomer Cillian Maher, Callum Morrissey

Thomastown Luke Hanlon, Sean Leadbetter

St. Joseph’s James Dunphy

County Team 1^st Daniel McIntyre KCH, Aaron Tyrell KCH, Daniel Quinn KCH, Luke Hanlon TT, Huw Morgan SS, Dylan Guilfoyle KCH,

The Girls U12 may not have secured any individual medals but the clubs and county efforts were great with Kilkenny City Harriers B team finishing 7^th, Thomastown finishing 11^th , St. Senan’s 14^th and Gowran 17^th in the team event. The county team was 6^th overall with girls from KCH, Castlecomer, Thomastown and St. Senan’s making up the county team.

Kilkenny City Harriers 7^th, Nancy Lyons Teehan, Molly-Jean Clarke, Eve Hoyne, Winter Rose Molloy, Cara Burke, Sadie Murphy, Caoimhe Malone, Ellen Hegarty, Sofia Chalal

 Thomastown 11^th, Sarah Collins, Aoibhinn Fennelly, Siofra Croke O’Neill, Pippa Manogue, Ella Jasingne, Lauren Maher

St. Senan’s 14^th, Millie Walsh, Grace Grant, Ailbhe Ni Dhubhda, Saoirse Walsh, Erin Hennessy, Emma Power

Gowran 17^th, Roisin Corrigan, Laoise Moseley, Emma Hayden, Aoife Dalton, Anna Fenlon

Castlecomer, Lauren Malone, Kate Malone

County Team 6^th, Nancy Teehan Lyons KCH, Molly Jean Clarke KCH, Laura Malone CC, Millie Walsh SS, Sarah Collins TT, Kate Malone CC

In the Girls U14 race Laura Aylward St. Senan’s had a great race finishing in 10^th place to medal and qualify for the All-Irelands in Derry next month. The county team of Laura, Kate Kelly KCH in 29^th, Orla O’Keeffe G 36^th, Abigail Hunt G 37^th, Sinead Grant SS 44^th and Emily Nevin SJ 67^th just missed out on qualifying as they placed 5^th behind Laois. The Gowran team just missed out finishing 6 points behind in 5^th in the club event, with the top four qualifying. For the county team, most of the girls were running up in age, and with such great performances today, we will look forward to seeing them compete in the U13 in Kilbeggan in two weeks’ time.

Gowran Team 5^th Orla O’Keeffe, Abigail Hunt, Lydia Phelan and Mia Kennedy, Sarah Mulrooney, Roisin Moseley, Hannah Phelan

Kilkenny City Harriers Team 12^th Kate Kelly, Casey Cleere, Maeve O’Shea, Ella O’Flaherty

St. Senan’s Laura Aylward, Sinead Grant, Amy Walsh

Castlecomer Orla Maher

St. Joseph’s Emly Nevin

County Team 5^th Laura Aylward SS, Kate Kelly KCH, Orla O’Keeffe G, Abigail Hunt G, Sinead Grant SS, Emily Nevin SJ

The Boys U14 race winner Daniel Greene was never challenged over the 3000m, and looked comfortable dominating all the way, to win with a great lead from 2^nd place Matthew Ennis. Sam Woodcock KCH, Tom Doherty SJ and Eoin Hoyne KCH were all in the top 12 finishers and helped the County team to gold whilst Kilkenny City Harriers took the first gold for the first team with Cillian Andrews the 4^th athlete home for them. Gowran’s Bobby Coomey and Barrow Harriers Dara Phelan also made up the top 6 for the County. Gowran’s U14 Team also qualified for the All-Irelands running in 4^th club overall too.

Kilkenny City Harriers 1^st Daniel Greene, Sam Woodcock, Eoin Hoyne, Cillian Andrews, Brandon Maher

Gowran 4^th Bobby Coomey, Ned Og Kelly, Jay Pollocl, Peter Grimley, Cian Larkin, Oscar Langton

St. Joseph’s Tom Doherty,

St. Senan’s Tadhg O’Callaghan

Barrow Harriers Dara Phelan, Lachlinn Halpin

Sinead Cormack of Kilkenny City Harriers was the sole individual medallist in the top 12. Finishing in a very impressive 4^th place, Sinead lead the KCH team home with Katie Byrne, Amelia O’Brien and Emily O’Keeffe scoring for the team silver. Ellen Cormack and Heidi Ryan made up the 4^th place county team.

Kilkenny City Harriers (1^st club & 4^th county) Sinead Cormack, Katie Byrne, Amelia O’Brien, Emily O’Keeffe, Ellen Cormack, Heidi Ryan, Maria Kraljevic

Gowran Lucy Cunningham, Orlaith Carroll

Lewis Morgan of St. Senan’s ran an incredible race to finish in 10^th place whilst Gearoid Farell of Gowran was just pipped at the end and missed out on a medal place in 13^th but also ran a superb race too. Michael O’Keeffe Gowran, Richard Melbourne St. Joseph’s Eoin Galvin St. Senan’s and David Carroll Gowran made up the County team which placed 4^th and qualifies for the All-Ireland’s next month. Conor Bradley St. Senan’s was the 7^th Kilkenny athlete home on the day.

Both the Ladies U18/20 and Men’s U18/20 races were combined and ran together with athletes eligible to score for both if they were U18 and the races produced some great results for many of the Kilkenny clubs. Clodagh O’Callaghan had a brilliant run in the Ladies 5000m finishing 5^th in the U18 age and 6^th in the U20 age category. Eimear Cormack KCH (28^th), Kate Hayden Gowran (32^nd), Ellen Melbourne St. Joseph’s (38^th) Aine Foley KCH (40^th) and Evelyn McEvoy KCH (41^st) made up the county team that won bronze. Kilkenny City Harriers also secured bronze in the U18 Club event. In the U20 race Charlotte Carpendale (8^th), Abigail O’Regan (9^th), Eve Dunphy (36^th) and Caoimhe Phelan (46^th) won bronze for the St. Senan’s team. Kilkenny City Harriers U20 Team of Clodagh O’Callaghan (6^th), Hazel Coogan (37^th), Eimear Cormack (40^th) and Aine Foley (54^th) took 4^th place. Clodagh, Charlotte, Abigail and Eve made up the U20 county team that secured silver in second place.

In the Men’s U18 race Kyrell Mtinsi of Kilkenny City Harriers finished in 7^th in a highly competitive and fast race that was eventually won by Max Murphy. Kyrell Mtinsi of Kilkenny City Harriers finished in 7^th in the 5000m race, and first home for the county team that finished 6^th overall. Conor Carroll Gowran (14^th), Evan Aylward St. Senan’s (32^nd), Evan Walsh St. Joseph’s (37^th), Finn O’Neill St. Senan’s (40^th) and Cameron Whelan KCH (45^th) making up the county team. Callum Barron of Kilkenny City Harriers took home bronze in the U20 with Tom Murphy KCH taking 6^th place, 2^nd runner on the county, Kyrell Mtinsi the 3^rd runner in 15^th and Conor Carroll Gowran the 4^th to score for the county and winning silver. Kilkenny City Harriers were also 4^th Club team.

The Ladies Novice event had ten Kilkenny athletes competing with both Thomastown and Kilkenny City Harriers running a team each and Annemarie O’Donoghue and Elaine Gamble representing Nuenna in the 4000m race. Thomastown placed in 4^th in the team event with the Kilkenny City Harriers team finishing 8^th. The county team finished in 3^rd place just two points ahead of Wicklow for the bronze medal.

Ladies’ results (* County)

22^nd Nuala Fitzgibbons Kilkenny City Harriers*

27^th Joanne Fitzpatrick Thomastown*

29^th Sinead O’Keeffe Thomastown*

37^th Ailis O’Shea Thomastown*

39^th Ellen Ryan Thomastown

42^nd Grainne Behan Kilkenny City Harriers

51^st Robyn McDonald Kilkenny City Harriers

60^th Kate Matthews Kilkenny City Harriers

61^st AnneMarie O’Donoghue Nuenna

73^rd Elaine Gamble Nuenna

The Men’s Novice race was very successful as the Gowran Men’s team secured 2^nd place after count back and won the silver. Joe Keohane running an incredible race finishing in 8^th overall and first home for Gowran and the county team that placed 3^rd. Dean Rowe, Eamonn O’Connor and Johan Behan KCH also scored on the county team alongside Matthew Holland Gowran and Michael O’Shea Thomastown. The Gowran team to score were Joe Keohane, Matthew Holland, Martin Desgrandchamps and Sean Morrisey for silver. Thomastown team placed 4^th in the club event with Michael O’Shea, Tadhg Ryan, Neil Shanahan and Lonan O’Farrell scoring for the team.

Men’s results (*County)

8^th Joe Keohane Gowran*

13^th Dean Rowe Kilkenny City Harriers*

14^th Eamonn O’Conor Kilkenny City Harriers*

21^st John Behan Kilkenny City Harriers*

22^nd Matthew Holland Gowran*

26^th Michael O’Shea Thomastown*

28^th Jp Vereker St, Joseph’s

30^th Martin Desgrandchamps Gowran

34^th Tadhg Ryan Thomastown

40^th Neil Shanahan Thomastown

42^nd Lonan O’Farrell Thomastown

46^th Sean Morrissey Gowran

47^th John Coady Gowran

48^th Johan Muller Gowran

59^th Pat Aylward St. Senan’s

64^th Michael Bergin Nuenna