Cross country honours shared as season ends

The Co. Cavan Athletics Cross Country Season concluded on Sunday with the Senior men and Ladies County Championships and even ages events at juvenile level. The event, hosted by Bailieboro AC, took place near Killinkere Community Centre on a wet and cold November day but athletes and clubs turned out in good numbers to challenge all races on a good but tough cross country course. In the Senior Women's race the unstoppable Eimear McGovern was absolutely outstanding over the four kilometres, leading the race from the starting whistle to take the Senior and The Arlene Smith Senior Women's Cup. Louise Kierans of Bailieboro ran at a consistent pace to take second place and along with team-mates Emily Meehan, fourth and Elaine Smith fifth, took first team place for their club and the Senior Women's Cross Country Cup. Lisa Clerkin of Shercock ran the race as Senior and Junior Ladies, taking first place in the Junior race and third in the Senior Ladies squad. Innyvale Senior women's team took Silver. Annalee AC won the Senior Men's Individual Title, Men's Senior Cross Country ' Ulster Arms' Trophy and the overall Cross Country Cup in dramatic fashion. Fionan O'Reilly led the 10,000m senior men's race from start to finish in a superb race, increasing his lead over the remainder of the field with each lap. His brother and clubmate, Aodhagan O'Reilly, in his first Senior race finished a strong second with Bailieboro's Martin Fulton coming in 3rd. Finbarr McGurren and Eddie Prunty of Annalee AC had great runs to complete a gold medal winning performance by the Annalee quartet. Fionan regains the Individual trophy he won in 2008. This is the first time Annalee AC have won the Senior Cross Country Cup and are very proud of their achievement. In the Juveniles, There was a good turn out for the U10 girls despite the rain and cold. In the Even Age competition, Annalee athletes, Claire Young led from the start to win along with Emer Bogue 2nd, Abbey Sexton 3rd and Nikki Sherlock came in 4th to produce an Annalee 1, 2, 3, 4. After Annalee, Shercock girls, Claire Kelly, Danielle Hill, Alyssa Reilly and Rhiannon O'Reilly and Ellen Corbally, on their first cross country outing, won well deserved second team place with the Innyvale AC athletes taking 3rd place. In the U10 boys the competition was mainly between Annalee and Innyvale. Annalee's Cormac Donohue won the Boys U10, followed by Ciaran O'Reilly, Mark Minihane 4th, and Jarlath Brady 8th to win the team Gold. Innyvale's Ryan Smith ran a strong race, finishing 3rd and leading his team to take overall second place. In the U12 girls, Leanne Kiernan, Bailieboro was in fine form to win first place. Innyvale strongest Teamwise, Innyvale AC proved the strongest with Kathy Sheils and Hannagh Egan, taking second and third places respectively to insure first team place for their club. The Bailieboro team finished 2nd with Annalee coming in third place. Dara Kiernan of Shercock finished well in 4th place but was missing team-mates for a club placing. In the U12 Boys, Innyvale athletes proved the strongest. Ryan Smith was spectacular in the boy's u10 running strongly despite his age and size to take bronze individual and ensured his club's team took the first team position. Conor Smith of Bailieboro AC ran well to take second place, ahead Shercock duo Oisin Kerely and Shane Duffy who took 3rd and 4th place enabling the Shercock team take silver. Clodagh O'Reilly followed up her Ulster bronze with an impressive win in the U14 girls. Ciara Murray ran superbly to come in second with Sarah Young coming in 4th and Aisling Brady 5th as members of the Annalee gold medal winning team. Jean Corbally of Shercock made a gallant entrance to cross country competition to take a well deserved bronze medal in this event, while the Innyvale team led by Ashling Sheridan took 2nd team place. In the U14 boys 1500m Pauric Donagh, Shercock continued his cross country success this season so far to take individual gold. Annalee's Donal Monaghan was second followed closely by Gavin Sherlock, 3rd, Paul Sexton, 5th, and Breifne O'Brien, 6th win a team gold. In the U16 girls 2000m Innyvale's Aoibhinn Kiernan and Annalee's Eadaoin O'Reilly battled it out for the gold medal honours in the U16 race but Kiernan made a break with 600m to go and finished a clear winner. However, while Eadaoin took silver individual, she took gold along with her Annalee team. Jessica Drohan of Shercock has continued to improve, taking bronze, followed closed by clubmate Edel Kiernan leading their team to 2nd team, while the Innyvale win finished third overall in this age category. Annalee's Andrew O'Brien was a comfortable winner in the Boys U16 Race. His team-mates of Conor Bates, 3rd, Tadhg McGahern 5th, Liam Fitzsimons 6th, all combined to win team gold. The ever improving Padraig McManus, of Innyvale challenged all the way to the line but had to bow to experience on the day, taking a silver podium place for his efforts but also led the Innyvale boys team to win 2nd team place. There was a good field of athletes in the Under 18 Girls 3,000 m event. Led from the outset by Catherina Mullen, Shercock AC, she increased her lead as the race progressed to win convincingly and take the gold medal. The Annalee girls' team won gold with Rebecca O'Reilly coming second and Eimear Nulty was 3rd. The Innyvale team led by Morgane Clarke took second place. In the U18 boys, Annalee's Cian O'Reilly comfortably completed the 6,000m event to take first place. Niall Comey of Bailieboro ran well to finish second; Sean Fitzsimons of Annalee took 3rd place. Innyvale had the strength in numbers in this event as Thomas Jordan led his team to take gold. The next event for Cavan Athletics Board is the hosting of their bi-annual Awards night in the Hotel Kilmore on Friday 13 November starting at 8pm sharp. Clubs have already been notified of nominations. Special guest, the President Ulster Athletics, and Irish Olympian, Maeve Kyle will attend the Athletics Awards. One of the awards of the night is the Breffni Award which has been previously won by Co Cavan star athletes Arlene Smith and Catherina McKiernan. The next athletic event in the county is the 2nd Leg of the Winter League, to be hosted by Shercock AC on their new tartan tack on Sunday 15 November, starting at 10am.