Last weekend was an absolutely brilliant one for athletes from Ferrybank AC at the All-Ireland Senior Indoor Championships in Belfast. Over the two days they won four titles and also came home with a bronze medal.
Once again Kelly Proper was in top form, retaining her long jump title on Saturday with a leap of 6.32m to equal her national record. On Sunday she ran a tremendous race to win the 200m in a time of 24.10 seconds in a blanket finish with her clubmate Niamh Whelan, 2nd and Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, 3rd.
Niamh set a personal best of 7.50 secs to win the 60m most impressively and Kelly was third in 7.56 secs. Another Ferrybank sprinter to finish first was Christopher Russell in the 200m in a PB of 21.93, and he was 4th in the 60m final. Billy Ryan won the 400m “B” final in 49.67 and on Saturday he too had a personal best of 49.47 in the heats.
Fourth placings in finals were secured by Gavin Downey, 1500m; Jessie Barr, 400m “B” final and James Ledingham, West Waterford AC, was fourth in the 800m “A” final. A former Ferrybank AC athlete now with UCD, Maireád Murphy was second in the 60m hurdles final.
McCarthy’s good run
Competing in the Boston Indoor Games last Saturday, David McCarthy (WWAC) finished 4th in the 1 Mile event in a PB time of 4 minutes 1.8 secs in a blanket finish,; just 0.8 seconds separated the first four in a very physical race.
Munster Championships
Last Saturday and Sunday the Munster U-13 to 17 Indoor Championships were in Nenagh and again athletes from Ferrybank AC were very prominent. There were wins by the following:
Ciara Giles-Dora, U-15 Hurdles and long jump; Ann O’Shea, U-15 60m; Megan Kiely, U-16 High jump; Kate Daniels, U-14 Long Jump, Girls U-15 and U-16 relay.
Also for Ferrybank, silver medals were won by Megan Kiely, U-16 long jump; Kate Daniels, U-14 long jump; Ciara Giles-Doran, U-15 60m; Ann O’Shea, U-15 long jump; Sorcha Murphy, U-16 high jump; Neil Murphy, U-13 high jump; Ben Kiely, U-14 long jump, girls U-14 relay; Paul Murphy, U-14 long jump.
Bronze medals went to Ciara Giles Doran, U-15 high jump; April Flynn, 200m U-16; Ben Kiely, U-16 200m; Kate Daniels, U-14 shot putt; Jade Power, U-16 shot putt; Kelly Meade, U-16 hurdles, Boys U-13 relay, girls U-17 relay 3rd. Kate Veale, WWAC, won the U-16 walk in record time.
Munster Masters
Another fixture in Nenagh on Sunday last was the Munster Masters Indoor Championships and a small number of athletes from Waterford AC and West Waterford competed. For Waterford AC there was a win in the over-35 1500m by David Drohan. Tom O’Brien was second in the over-40 long jump and Cathal Lowe had two third places over-40 in the 60m and 200m.
The Waterford AC relay team were third. The team was David Drohan, Cathal Lowe, Tom O’Brien and Ronan O’Brien. For WWAC Harry O’Brien had an over-45 treble in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m.
League finale
This Thursday the Paddy Byrne Winter League comes to an end with the final leg beginning at the RSC in the city at 7pm and registration from 6.15pm. Afterwards the prizes will be presented in the Mount Sion Centre at approx 9.45pm.
