Limerick athletes excel with impressive performances at home and abroad

THIS past week was a very busy one for Limerick athletes competing across Ireland and Europe as well as two athletes running on Irish teams. 

Tailteann Games: 

The annual Tailteann Games took place in a sweltering SETU arena in Carlow this Saturday. This is the pinnacle event for in the school's calendar for Intermediate athletes with Internatioanl selection for the SIAB’s on the line.

Ella Grace Osborne (Laurel Hill Coláiste) competed in the girls 3000m finishing 6th.

READ NEXT: Stunning silver medal success for Limerick swimmer at European U23 Championships

Destiney Lawal (Castletroy College) was a convincing winner in the girls 100m and 200m. Destiney ran 11.50 seconds in the 100m to win by six tenths of a second. Unfortunately, the time won't stand as a pb for Destiney as the wind speed of +3.1m/s is above the legal speed of +2.0m/s.

She came back to win the 200m in 23.85 which will count as a pb and was under the Performance Guideline Standard for the EYOF tournament in July.

Fionn Cunningham (Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh) ran in the boys 400m final finishing 5th in 51.79 seconds. Alex Collins (CII Abbeyfeale) competed in the boys Triple Jump finishing in 6th jumping 12.49 meters.

Raymond O’Brien (Mungret C.C.) competed in the boys shot put finishing in 7th throwing 10.45 meters. The best performance of the day came from Emer Purtill (Mungret C.C.) who won both the girls shot put and javelin.

In the shotput Emer threw 14.35 meters to win by almost 2 meters. She then went and threw 48.38 meters in the javelin to win by over eight metres and break the previous championship record held by World and European medalist Kate O’Connor.

But perhaps the most touching moments of the day was when Emer was awarded the Ailish Sheehan Cup. Ailish who was a very talented athlete representing Ireland in shotput, javelin and multi events while competing for Dooneen, tragically died in an accident at only 23 years old.

Fittingly Ailish’s father and Emer’s coach John was on hand to present the trophy. Victoria Amiadamen competed for an Irish U23 4x400m relay at a one-off race in Carlow.

She ran against two other Irish 4x400m teams, helping her team to run 3.36minutes and securing the European U23 Qualification standard.  

National Children’s Teams Games & U12 Championships: 

IN THE U9 Boys 300m Ronan Treacy and Rian Noonan (Limerick AC) came 5th overall. Ronan won his heat in 54.42 seconds. Ella Fahy and Elise Grant (Limerick AC) finished 4th in the U10 Girls Turbo Javelin with Elise coming 4th overall.

U11 Boys long jump saw Harry Murphy and Charlie Mcelroy (Limerick AC) finish 5th with jumps of 3.34 and 3.64 meters respectively.

Sadhbh Thornton and Tara Considine (Limerick AC) competed in the U11 Girls Long Jump. Rian Noonan and Ross O’Neill (Limerick AC) competed in the Boys U9 Long Jump.  

Noah Laffan and Ruairí Heeney (Dooneen AC) competed in the U11 Boys Turbo Javelin. Peter Szabo (West Limerick AC) won silver in the U12 Boys 60 meters running 8.62 seconds. Conall Redmond (Limerick AC) won bronze in the U12 Boys 600m in a time of 1.42 minutes.

Anna Murphy (Limerick AC) finished 6th in the girls U12 High Jump clearing 1.25 meters. In the Shot Put Anna threw 6.30 meters. Freya Carroll (Limerick AC) competed in the Girls U12 Long Jump.

Róisín Moore, Laurie Earls Sadhbh Thorton and Tara Considine (Limerick AC) competed in the Girls U11 4x100m relay but were unfortunate to drop the baton. Conor Oliver, Conall Redmond, Jake O’Connor and Ryan O’Connell (Limerick AC) won a bronze medal in the U12 Boys 4x100m relay clocking 57.13 seconds to win their heat. 

UCD Athletics Meet:  

A lot of Irelands top athletes descended on Morton Stadium in Santry Wednesday evening for the 2025 UCD Athletics meeting.

Victoria Amiadamen (Dooneen AC) was first up in the women's 400m hurdles. Victoria won the race in 58.56 seconds, running a pb and under the Athletics Ireland ‘B’ standard for the European U23 Championships this summer.

Victoria will need to run under 59 seconds once again to be eligible for selection. Debbie Lawal (Dooneen AC/UCD AC) competed in the womens 100m running a pb of 12.10 seconds.

Lauren Ryan (Dooneen AC) continued her comeback from a lengthy time out running in the 100m clocking 12.35 seconds. Jenna Bromell (Emerald AC) stepped down from her preferred 800m to run the 400m running 55.19 seconds.

Paul Costelleo (Limerick Track Club) continued his return from injury in the 100m running 10.67 seconds. Darragh Murphy (Limerick AC/UCD AC) ran the 100m clocking 10.78 seconds. 

Atleticageneve EAP: 

CIARA Neville (Emerald AC) headed out to Switzerland with a large Irish contingent to run the 100m and the 4x100m relay.

Ciara won her heat in a season's best of 11.53 seconds. She ran the second leg of the 4x100m relay where Ireland clocked 44.81seconds. Ciara is also named as part of the Irish team heading to Maribor in the 4x100m relay.

A men's 4x100m relay were also in action clocking a new national record of 38.92 seconds eclipsing the record set in the 2000 Sydney Olympics where Tom Comyns (Dooneen AC) was part of the team. 

Paavo Nurmi Games: 

Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) opened her season in Finland Tuesday evening clocking a strong 13.04seconds over the 100m hurdles. 

Munster B Track and Field Championships: 

THE Munster B Track and Field Championships took place in Templemore this past weekend with Limerick athletes coming away with plenty of medals. Polly Mcphail (Limerick AC) won the Girls U10 500m.

Crea Moore (Limerick AC) led home a Limerick AC 1,2,3,4 and 8th in the Girls U13 600m. Conor Noonan (Limerick AC) won the Boys U11 Long Jump.

Maeve Hayes (West Limerick AC) won the Girls U9 Turbo Javelin with a throw of 10.87 meters. Nathan Laffan (Dooneen AC) won the Boys U12 Shot Put with a throw of 7.11 meters. The full set of results can be found online. 

Motonet GP Kuortane: 

Sarah Lavin once again was racing in Finland finishing second in her heat clocking a season's best of 12.90 seconds.

In the final Sarah was once again under 13 seconds finishing second in 12.99. Sarah now looks forward to the European Team Championships in Maribor, Slovenia next weekend where she hopes to lead Ireland to promotion up to Division 1. 

West Limerick AC Club Notes: 

Munster B's:  

On Saturday June 21 we had a number of club athletes travel to Tullamore for the Munster B Track and Field competition.  

U9 Turbo Javelin: 

Maeve Hayes won gold in this event. Maeve was the clear winner with a super throw and new personal best of 10.87 meters.  

U13 600m: 

Conor Hayes ran a time of 1:55:39, a split second away from 3rd place. Well done to Conor, who had already run in the County Community Games on Saturday morning in Mungret before travelling to Tullamore. 

U11 Turbo Javelin: 

Leyna Halpin Colclough was 4th in a very competitive group. Leyna's best throw was a distance of 13.63 meters. 

National Finals  

On Sunday, June 22, the National Finals were held in Tullamore. Peter Szabo qualified after a very impressive showing at the Munster Championships. Peter competed in heat 1 of the U12 60m, running a time of 8.66 seconds to finish 2nd and qualify for the final. Peter improved his time to 8.62 seconds in the final time finish in second place and win a National Silver medal. 

Coolagown 10k Road Race: 

This race was held in Coolagown just outside Fermoy in Cork on Thursday evening. Gerard Hannon clocked a time of 00:54:08. Well done! 

Clare Women's Mini Marathon: 

This annual race was held in Ennis on Sunday morning. West Limerick had two members running. Kate Murray was 5th in 45.38, while Joan Mullane was 13th in 49.59. Well done both, great running! 

Michael Manning Memorial Dunshaughlin 10k: 

Íde Nic Dhomhnaill won this race in County Meath in Saturday evening in an impressive time of 33.17, reclaiming her title after a break in 2024. 

Waterford Viking Marathon: 

This event is one of the largest mass participation running events in County Waterford. Now in its 13th year, the 2025 event attracted almost 3500 runners across the Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10k distances, as well as the inaugural Disability Friendly Run. 

From West Limerick, Theresa Hughes was running and clocked a time of 48.41, a new 10k PB and placed 22nd Female of 877. 

Limerick Wellbeing Series | Ardagh:  

The third run in the Limerick Wellbeing Series was held in Ardagh on Sunday morning. The event has a 5k and 10k option, both of which are out-and-back courses. Well done to Nollaig Horgan, Marie Carr O'Kelly, and Patrick Nelligan who all ran in the 10k