Annalee AC athletes in good form at County Cross Country Championships
Daire O’Reilly of Annalee AC won his first county championship title in some style at the 2012 County Cavan Cross Country Even Age Championships. Daire had shown a glimpse of his good form when he came a close third in the much shorter winter league race but wasn’t to be beaten over the tough cross country challenge winning by 100m. Daire win gave a boost to the clubs runners and he was the first home of a series of Annalee championship title winners. Clodagh O’Reilly led home a 1,2,3 of Annalee athletes with Irene Rose Monaghan and Caoimhe O’Reilly taking second and third place. Louis Courtney won the U18 Boys 5k race and Andrew O’Brien dominated the Junior men’s. Gina Dolan was a clear winner of the junior girls showing good pace as she came home 500ms ahead of second place. Aodhagan Watters ran a good race battling with Bailieborough’s Conor Smith for nearly the full 3k but the Bailieborough athlete had the faster finish and he beat Aodhagan in the run in. Lyla Dolan had no problem competing in the younger age groups this year finishing in a strong second place in the 3k Ladies V3 race.
Other podium positions were taken by Odhran O’Reilly who was third in the U10 Boys, Ciaran O’Reilly and Sean T. Murphy, 2nd and third in U14 Boys, Aodhagan Watters and Donal Monaghan who were second and third in the U16 Boys, Laura Young and Lauren Sexton who were second and third in the U18 Girls, Darren Watters was third in the Junior Men's race, Eadaoin O’Reilly who was third in the Junior Ladies, Cian Connolly was third in the U18 Boys, Fiona Connolly was third in the V1 Ladies and Lyla Dolan and Brenda Wilson were second and third in the V3 Ladies. There were some very good runs from other athletes who didn’t get in the top 3 individual placings and many of them received top 12 finisher medals while others represented the club proudly running for their teams. Many of the athletes were running a year out of age, making the performances even more impressive and those athletes will be looking forward to running in their own age breaks in the uneven championships in Killinkere.
Team medals were won in every age group. First up were the master races and the ladies did very well with Fiona Connolly, Lorraine O’Reilly and Eileen Murphy finishing in second place while the V3 Ladies team of Lyla Dolan, Brenda Wilson, Evelyn O’Reilly and Mary Gannon won gold.
The U10 Boys won gold (Odhran O'Reilly, Daniel Madigan, Donncha McNamara, Cormac Hegarty, Alex Prior, Ben Monaghan, Martin Donohoe, Callum Kelly)
The U10 girls ran well to finish in third place and win a bronze medal (Emily Sheridan, Niamh McCorry, Lucy Jayne Grant, Maeve Young, Katie Donohoe and Emma Mulvaney).
We had no team in the U12 Boys which is a shame as Daire O'Reilly, Conall Ruddy and Adam Kelly ran very well.
The U12 Girls team won a bronze team medal (Mary Kate Gannon, Cliodhna Sheridan, Blathnaid O'Reilly, Bevan McCaffrey, Kate Wilson, Doireann McNamara).
The U14 Boys won gold with Ciaran O'Reilly, Sean T Murphy, Daire Connolly, Mark Minihane, Oisin McCorry and Patrick Gaffney.
Only three girls (Claire Young, Abbey Sexton and Orla O’Brien) were available for the U14 Girls team and all had good races.
The Annalee U16 Girls team won Gold and the team consisted of Clodagh O’Reilly, Irene Rose Monaghan, Caoimhe O’Reilly and Jamie Gannon.
The gold winning U16 Boys team were Aodhagan Watters, Donal Monahan, Diarmuid McCorry, Mark Wilson, Killian Connolly and Sean Og Lawlor.
The U18 Girls team of Laura Young, Lauren Sexton, Aoife Murphy and Orla Murphy won the U18 girls and then teamed up with Gina Dolan and Eadaoin O’Reilly to win the Junior Girl’s race. There was no U18 Boys team.
The Junior men finished the day on another gold note with Andrew O’Brien, Louis Courtney, Darren Watters and Cian Connolly coming first.
The overall results give Annalee AC 93 points with the second placed club Innyvale AC on 55 points, and Annalee AC has a healthy lead going into the second day of county cross country championships. Hopefully the athletes can continue their good form next Sunday in Killinkere
Full results-click here
