Harriers make history with senior men's Leinster cross country title

Mullingar Harriers notes

Over the years, Mullingar Harriers have won at different times, all the Leinster cross country club titles, from U11 girls through to Novice, Intermediate and Senior women, and from U11 boys through all the underage titles to Novice and Intermediate men – but never the Senior men club title. That was put right last Saturday at the Leinster Senior, U23 and Juvenile Uneven Ages cross country held in a wet and muddy Dunboyne, County Meath, where Mullingar made club history by winning the Senior men club title in style. Now they can boast of having won every Leinster cross country club title in the book, a fine achievement as they approach their 50th anniversary in 2025.

That wasn’t the only success in Dunboyne, however, as Claire Fagan won the Senior woman title and led Mullingar to second club and Westmeath to third county; Vinny Connolly won the Senior men title, leading Mullingar to gold and Westmeath to gold. The club also had 16 juvenile top 12 finishes, including Leinster titles for Daniel Cummins (U11) and Cillian Galvin (U13), and their underage teams won five sets of club team medals, another two club teams placed fourth, and Westmeath won two sets of county team medals, and another team finished in fourth place, meaning Mullingar and Westmeath will have a large squad competing at the all-Ireland finals in Navan in December.

Heavy rain on and off all week and on the night before the event meant that the course in Dunboyne was soft before the event started, but, thanks to a lot of hard work all week by volunteers from the host club, Dunboyne AC, everything was ready. The forecast was for poor weather on the day, there were near calm conditions and only the occasional light shower. The ground was still very muddy in places, especially in the part of the course where the runners had to splash thorough a long section, making for proper cross country conditions.

The Leinster Championships began with the U11 girls 1,500m, where Katie Bohan, Aoife Dunne, Muireann Feery, Helen McGrath, Lauryn Smith, Amelie Downes, Rose Harte, Farah Fox (Athlone AC), Eve Nugent and Lily Archbold battled hard and were unlucky to finish fifth club, only four points off the fourth place that would have secured them a place in the all-Ireland finals. The girls also finished a creditable fifth county.

We knew the Mullingar and Westmeath teams in the U11 boys 1,500m were strong and hopes were high of team success. Daniel Cummins ran a brilliant race to finish first and win the Leinster title, and with fantastic support and team packing from Mel Bohan, Conor Gavin, Cillian McManus (Athlone AC), Adam O’Donoghue, Cillian Gavin, Aaron Robinson, Cian Gavin, Michael Kiernan, Noah Morgan, Rory McDonnell, Josh Boyhan, Andrew Bradley, Cillian Martyn and Fintan Harte, it was no surprise that the boys finished first club and first county to get Mullingar and Westmeath on the medal board.

In the U13 girls 2,500m, Lily Walsh timed her final push to the finish perfectly and she pulled clear of the pack and chased the leader hard up the finish straight and was clearly delighted to cross the line in a close second place, and with Shaynah Mitchell, Chloe Bell, Lucy Kilmurray, Aoibhe Martyn, Liadan Gavin, Emily Tully, Clodagh Doran, Aaliyah Downes and Muirin Dunne working hard to the finish, led the team to second club.

Harriers had their second individual winner of the day in the U13 boys 2,500m, where Cillian Galvin dominated, pulling clear in the closing stages to win by a distance, and with Antonio Bertolo racing hard to fourth place, and great team support from Gareth Glennon, Louis Kiernan, Harry Flanagan, Aonghus O’Reilly and Andrew Feery, the boys finished first club and were delighted with their gold Leinster team medals.

Mullingar continued to gather individual medals in the U15 girls 3,500m, where Tianna O’Leary raced to sixth, followed closely by Eleanor Kiernan in eighth and with Isabel Tynan Daly, Blathnaid Peters, Emma Lagan, Beibhinn O’Reilly and Chloe Duggan fighting for every place, the team finished fourth club. They earned a place in the all-Ireland finals but they really deserved more from the race such was their combined team effort.

It was a close fourth club place too in the U15 boys 3,500m, where Conor Walsh led the Mullingar team home with an excellent fifth place, supported by Conor Geoghegan, Daniel Glennon, Cormac McGrath, Daniel Horohoe and Morgan Isdell. Like the U15 girls the boys really deserved team medals for their efforts.

We didn’t have a team in the U17 girls 4,500m but that didn’t deter Ailbhe O’Farrell from giving her customary strong performance and she was rewarded with a fine 11th place and a place on the Leinster provincial team at the all-Ireland finals.

There was no problem fielding a team in the U17 boys 4,500m and with Matthew Molloy finishing in 10th, just ahead of Donagh Carey clinching 12th in a photo finish, and with terrific support from Jamie Wallace, Oisin Kehoe, Luke Greene, Txema Lozano, Conor Mulvany and John Glennon, packing well to the end, the boys placed first club and fourth county, and all qualify for the all-Ireland finals.

Grace Byrne was an excellent fifth place and Jessica Cunningham 11th place in the U19 girls 5,000m and only for a third girl, Mullingar would have won the club title and be right in the mix for county team medals too, but that doesn’t detract from the excellent performances by Grace and Jessica and they qualify for the all-Ireland finals with the Leinster provincial team.

Mullingar had a wealth of talent in the U19 boys 5,000m, where John Ryan raced to third, just ahead of Conor Sherwin in fourth and with Ross Killalea in eighth and Pablo Lozano in 10th. Four in the top 12 and great team support from Philip McCartan and Conleth Mullen meant there was no surprise that the team finished first club and first county to round off the underage programme in style.

Senior races

In the senior races, Mullingar certainly kept the best for last. Claire Fagan lost little time stamping her authority on the Senior women 6,000m race, pulling away effortlessly and with a dominant display went on the win by a distance. Aine O’Reilly, Anna Broderick, Michelle Bohan and Linda Cunningham put in great efforts and were rewarded by finishing second club and third county.

The nine-strong Mullingar team in the Senior men 9,000m stormed out hard from the gun and also lost little time stamping their mark on the race. The lead eventually whittled down to three, Vinny Connolly in control at the front and Kevin Moore in close contact. Racing on over the long, mucky sticky course, Vinny pulled clear to win, ahead of Kevin in second. Following in close behind was Andrew Nevin in fifth, and with brilliant support and team packing by James Keegan, Andy Boyhan, Kedagh Geoghegan, Kris Foster, Alan Crowley and Brian Martin, the men placed first club and first county. This was a terrific conclusion to a memorable day for Mullingar Harriers. Over the last year, Vinny has won the Leinster Novice and Intermediate titles and has now added the Senior title, but more importantly with the support of the senior men squad, led Mullingar to their first Senior men club title.

Thanks to the many parents and coaches that attended to support the Harriers teams, especially U11s as some were competing in their first Leinster championship races, so they really needed plenty of attention and support to keep any nerves at bay.

The next outing is the National Senior, U20 and Juvenile Even Ages cross country finals in Gowran, County Kilkenny in two weeks, where many that competed last Saturday will also be in action. The juvenile even age teams that qualified from Dunboyne will go forward to the all-Ireland finals in Navan in four weeks, but in the meantime, it is vital that everyone continues to train hard and be in the best possible condition for the all-Ireland finals, so we expect everyone to keep in full training over the coming weeks, especially in Belvedere at the weekend.

Dalton in Spain

Cormac Dalton had his first cross country race of the season and finished with a brilliant 11th place at the Cross Internacional de Atapuerca in Burgos, Spain on Sunday October 29. The race was a Gold Level meeting on the World Athletics Cross Country Tour and this was reflected in the quality of the field, and some of the world’s leading endurance athletes were present. The race was won by the 2020 Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and current world cross country champion, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda ahead of Kenyan athlete Ronald Kwemoi, who has placed in the top eight at world championships, in second.

Cormac positioned himself in the top 15 from the start and was leading the chasing group for much of the race, which was held in windy conditions on a typical European cross country course with tight corners and a selection of man-made obstacles to be negotiated. He finished strongly to claim 11th place among a group of established international endurance athletes.

He will now turn his attention to preparing for the National Cross Country Championship in Gowran, Kilkenny in two weeks.

Check the club website at mullingarharriers.com and Facebook page for further updates.