Tullamore A C hosted the national league final today. KCH having qualified for the Division One Men’s and Women’s finals with skeleton teams in the Preliminary Round sought to build full squads for the final. With a number of the club’s top athletes unavailable (eg Peter Lynch, Pia Langton, Cliodhna Manning, Cathal O’Reilly etc) it was a challenge for the managers to fill the teams and match the athletes to the competition events. They met the challenge head on and in the twenty-one events the men’s team scored in twenty while the women scored in nineteen.
The combined efforts of athletes and managers brought a first place finish to the men and second place for the women. The men had nine first place results which garnered a good scoring base of 63 points. But it wasn’t just the first places that counted. Every score mattered. When the final tally was made KCH Men ended the day on 129 points – a mere one point ahead of the second place team – Waterford A C on 128 points. So, much credit goes to the young athletes Cormac Holden, Cathal Rossiter, Cillian Daly, Ruairi McEvoy, Paddy Kelly, Conor Malone, Kyrell Mtinsi whose combined contribution made the win possible. Of course the contribution of multi-eventer Noah Gilmore in five events was massive.
The achievement by the women was equally enjoyable. The result was not as tight as with the men. Enniscorthy with 148 points took the gold with KCH winning silver on 135 points. The KCH team was very much a blend of young and not so young combined with good management and team spirit. The contribution by Karen Nugent and Ashling Burns was amazing especially as both athletes had competed successfully in a number of events in yesterday’s national masters. Great also to see Abbie O’Brien and Hazel Coogan back in competition and of course Evelyn McEvoy in the 3000m.
WELL DONE TO ALL INVOLVED.
RESULTS – Women – Karen Nugent 3 – Hammer, 4-shot; Blaithin Holden 2-short hurdles, 2-long hurdles; Abbie O’Brien 1-long jump, 4-triple jump; Sylvia Lennon 2-walk; Hazel Coogan 3-1500, 2-javelin; Ella Wall 1-high jump, 1- 400m; Ashling Burns 2-discus, 2-WFD; Kate Maher 1-200m; Clodagh O’Callaghan 2-800m; Evelyn McEvoy 2-3000m; Grace Delahunty 2-100m; 1-4x100m (Grace Delahunty,Ella Wall, Martha Bergin, Kate Maher); 3-4x400m (Grace Delahunty, Blaithin Holden, Ella Wall, Clodagh O’Callaghan).
Men – Noah Gilmore 1-110 hurdles, 2-pole vault, 4-100m; Louie Raggett 1- long jump; Nicholas Dunphy 1-walk, 6-discus; Neil Gunning 4-shot, 3-WFD; Cormac Holden 5 -400hurdles, 3-triple jump; Eoin Everard 1-1500m; Conor Malone 3-high jump; Cillian Daly 3-400m; Paddy Kelly 1-steeplechase; Alex Cullen 3-200m; Cathal Rossiter 6-javelin; Kyrell Mtinsi 4-800m; Ruairi McEvoy 5 -5000m; 1 – 4x100m (Kyrell Mtinsi, Alex Cullen, Louie Raggett, Noah Gilmore); 1-4x400m (Noah Gilmore, Cillian Daly, Alex Cullen, Kyrell Mtinsi).