Limerick Athletics - Weekly News Update

Limerick County 4-Mile Road Championships

JOHN Kinsella, of Back 2 Boston, secured a maiden ‘County Roads’ title in Castleconnell last Sunday.

His time of 20:03 was 14 seconds clear of four-time champion Declan Moore of Bilboa, second in 20:17. Conor O’Brien, of West Limerick AC, completed the podium in third on 20:26.

Clubmates Declan Guina fpurth in 21:06, Padraig O’Donnell fifth 21:34 and Karl Lenihan seventh in 21:44 helped West Limerick take the Senior Men’s Team title.

Other results included Liam Dunne (Back 2 Boston) 6 th in 21:42, the Dooneen duo of Brian Ahern 15th (23:56) and Anthony Harty 19th (24:36), the An Bruo duo of Patrick Lynch (25:31) and Gerry Prendergast (26:41), Tony McMahon Kilmallock (28:45) Barry O’Brien (Bilboa) 31:43 andTommy Madden (Country Club) 30:39, Alex Kelly (B2B) 24:43.

Sinead McDermott, of Dooneen AC, took the Senior Women’s County title in a time of 25:39, to accompany her 2023 County cross-country crown. Bilboa’s Pamela Kirby was second in 26:00 with Noelle Ahern, of AC Limerick, third in 26:1.

Grace O’Donnell, of West Limerick, was fourth in 26:42 and takes the Novice title, fifth placed Val Sheehy 26:37, Martina Giltenane ninth 28.13 and Gillian O’Regan 10 th in 28:25 helped West Limerick AC to the Senior and Novice Women’s team
titles.

READ NEXT: PICTURES: Supporters cheer on Limerick and Waterford in U20 Munster Championship clash in Rathkeale

Other times included Louise Matthews (Dooneen) 28:49, Edel Foster (An Bru) 31:03, Avril Kelly (Bilboa 31:03).

Eimear O’Leary, of Galway City Harriers, won the overall Run Limerick Series race in 23:46, but was not part of the County Championship Mile.

Thanks to Justrace.ie and Ahane GAA who collaborated to produce a great event.

U20 & U23 National Indoor championships

The U20 & U23 National Indoor championships took place in Athlone last weekend. Róise Gavan (Limerick AC) progressed to both the 60m and 200m finals finishing sixth  in both.

She was joined in the final of the 200m, by Destiny Lawal (Dooneen AC) who finished fourth on her return from injury. Debbie Lawal (Dooneen AC/UCD AC) won a silver medal in the U23 60m final. 

Megan O’Shea (Dooneen AC) stepped up to the U20 level for the first time by winning her heat of the 60m hurdles and going on to finish eighth  in the final. Rian Collins (Dooneen AC) had a comfortable win in his U20 200m heat before coming sixth  in the final. 

Niam Hynes (Dooneen AC) was another stepping up to the U20 level for the first time. She finished a credible fifth in her 400m final behind the eventual winner. Aaron O’Connor (Limerick Track Club), fresh off winning the intervarsity title last week, won a silver medal in the U23 triple jump. Leagh Moloney (Dooneen AC) finished fourth  in the U23 women's triple jump, missing out on a medal by only 6cm. 
 

Around the Country

Congratulations to Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill who continued her strong form to finish as first lady at the Skerries 10k in a time of 33:53.

Abbeyfeale United FC hosted a 5k and 10k run on the Greenway on Saturday to fund the new astro turf. Well done to Megan Reidy of West Limerick who was 3rd girl overall in the 5k. A brilliant run from Megan well done!

International Events

Darragh Whelan will represent Ireland at the SIAB Schools International in Bangor, Wales next weekend. Ciara Neville and Sarah Lavin are donning the Irish vest in Torun, Poland at the World Indoors from this weekend.

Well done to the many Bilboa athletes who travelled half way across the world for the Tokyo Marathon. Times included running for Bilboa were Mick McCarthy 3.28, Helen Meehan 3.45, Kevin Broughton 3.56, James McMahon 4.35, Marie Wright 3.45 and Kathleen Blackwell 5.49. They were accompanied by Dooneen's Marcella McGrath who clocked 3:33:10.

Tip of the week

"The first part of the strength & conditioning process with any athlete is understanding their particular needs as an athlete (strength, mobility, stability, muscular endurance, corrective movement patterns, etc) and the specific demands of their sport/discipline. Any intervention should be specifically tailored towards these twin requirements." - Mike Carmody

Fixtures

The Michal Rejmer 10 Mile hosted by Dooneen AC is now just one week away, starting and finishing at Limerick Racecourse, taking in Patrickswell and Crecora. Starting at 11am, food, and T-Shirts for the first 250 entries, enter through Eventmaster.

The Kilmallock AC 4 Mile 2026 takes place on Friday, May 22 at 7:30, entries through Eventmaster.