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Irish University Indoor Championships - December 10th & 11th 2005

The indoor athletics calendar got underway recently with the Irish University Championships in Nenagh. Cavan had a representative in each of the four major colleges in Dublin. Louise Reilly was the best Cavan performer of the weekend. Competing for Dublin City University in the 3000m, Louise found her self in the front group of four from the outset. Unable to hold on to the injection of pace at the front by eventual winner Niamh Delvin, Louise finished a highly credible third well clear of fourth with a time of 10:19. Michael Muldoon (left) wore the colours of University College Dublin in the 2000m race walk. Michael completed the distance in a time of 11:00 finishing in fifth place, picking up some valuable points for his college. Hugh Fitzpatrick opened his season competing in the 35lb Weight for Distance. Representing Trinity College Dublin, Hugh finished 8th with a throw of 6.88m. Briain O’ Dowd was in action in the 3000m. Due to a larger number of entries than the four lane track could facilitate, heats were required. Briain lined out for Dublin Institute of Technology in the first of the two heats finishing sixth in a time of 9:55, however this wasn’t enough to advance to the final.

After the two days hard fought competition DCU were announced as the winners of the women’s title ahead of University Ulster in second and University Limerick in third. University Ulster came out on top winning the men’s title with UCD and TCD not far behind in second and third place respectively.

Many of the Shercock athletes who contested the junior indoors on Saturday were back in Nenagh the next day to take part in the senior races. Newly-crowned 400m champion James Ruxton (right) teamed up with the experienced David Shields to contest the team high jump event. James cleared 1.65m and David 1.90m for a combined total of 3.55m to finish in third place behind Carrick AC and St. Abbans. James was also in action in the 4x200m relay where he teamed up with Alan McEntee, Ciaran Ward and Gerard O'Reilly. The quartet produced a great effort to win their heat however they narrowly missed out on the medals in the final when finishing fourth. Hugh Fitzpatrick teamed up with Michael Muldoon to finish in 6th place in the 56 pound weight for distance competition and Hugh was back in action in the shot putt where he partnered Philip Daly to finish in sixth place once again. Noel Carroll was back on track for his second 3000m of the weekend as he teamed up with Shercock team mates Sean Smith and Michael Muldoon for the men's 3x3000m. Noel showed no ill effects from his excursion in the juniors the day before and powered up the field in the final kilometer to finish seventh, knocking another 10 seconds off his PB to record 9:04.9. Sean looked a bit the worse for wear as he struggled in the closing stages, finally finishing 12th while Michael also found the early pace took a heavy toll and he dropped back to 13th after a strong early showing. The Shercock team finished in fourth place behind Rathfarnham WSAF 'A', Liffey Valley and Rathfarnham 'B'.

The final event of the day was the 3x1000m inter-county racewalk relay, an event in which Shercock athletes have established something of a tradition, winning the competition for Cavan in 2004. On that occasion the team was made up of an all-male line-up and following the win the rules were changed to restrict the event to a two-male, one female format. Cavan had no female racewalkers in 2004 and were therefore unable to contest the outdoor relay which was won by Donegal. In 2005 two young Cavan ladies, Orla Smith from Innyvale and Bernadette Muldoon from Shercock, came of age, re-opening the opportunity for the county to defend the title won in 2004. Such is the strength of Cavan racewalking these days that two teams were entered - an A team of Orla Smith, Paul Fitzpatrick and Peter Muldoon and a B team of Bernadette, Michael and James Muldoon. From the gun Donegal's Nicola Alcorn shot into the lead and after the first two laps she opened up a gap on Orla Smith which developed into a substantial lead by the time she passed to her Donegal team mate for the second leg. Orla battled all the way to the line and passed to Paul Fitzpatrick who set off strongly in pursuit of the leader. Bernadette Muldoon then passed to her brother Michael for Cavan B who had fallen well behind the leading pair. Paul went into the lead at the half-way point and began to open up a substantial gap over Donegal, finally passing to Peter Muldoon for the third leg. Bernie O'Callaghan took the baton in second place for Donegal and set off in pursuit of Peter however the Cavan man was fast moving out of reach and after a lap O'Callaghan settled back in second place. Michael Muldoon, meanwhile, passed to his brother James for Cavan B with a 150m deficit behind Donegal which James set out relentlessly to close down. With two laps remaining James moved past the Donegal man into second place and pushed on hard for the finish. Peter, meanwhile, came to the finish line to take the title for Cavan A only to be sent on an extra lap by the officials. James and Bernie O'Callaghan followed in suit so that all three ended up covering 1200m instead of the required 1000m. Despite protests at the finish line, however, the result was beyond dispute and the gold and silver medals went to Cavan A and B with Donegal third. The teams are pictured left: Back row: Cavan A - Peter Muldoon, Orla Smith, Paul Fitzpatrick and Eileen Fitzpatrick (team manager). Front row: Cavan B - Michael Muldoon, Bernadette Muldoon and James Muldoon.

March 12th - James Ruxton and Gerard O'Reilly Score Sprint Double at National Junior Indoor Championships

The strength of Shercock sprinters was strongly in evidence at the national junior indoor championships in Nenagh where both James Ruxton and Gerard O'Reilly reached the top of the podium in their respective events. James progressed to the final of the 400m following a comfortable win in his heat however as the athletes came off the break after 200m he found himself last as Barry Upton from Ferrybank AC led the field into the final lap. A strong surge down the back straight saw James move rapidly into second place and he was sitting on Upton's shoulder as they entered the final bend. James took the bend in lane 2 with Upton on his inside and then accelerated down the home straight and into the lead. Upton responded and regained the lead with 10m to go however James produced a final surge and dived across the line. It took the photofinish camera to separate the pair with James gaining the benefit of the judgement to secure his first junior title. Both athletes were awarded the same time of 52.49s which reflected the slow pace of the opening lap. James is pictured following the medal presentation with Barry Upton on his left and third placed Liam O'Brien from Togher AC on his right.

Gerard O'Reilly, despite being just 15 year's old, went into the final of the 200m with a strong prospect of a medal after an impressive win in his heat. Drawing the outside lane, Gerard took every advantage of the wider bend and was tied for the lead with Greg O'Leary from Leevale AC and Nathan O'Brien from Kilkenny when he entered the final bend. Gerard powered off the curve to take the lead and pulled away from the field down the home straight to record a comprehensive win in 22.80s, knocking chunks off his PB in the process. Gerard is pictured left with his coach John McGeever following the medal presentation. 

David Shields made a return to competition in Nenagh following a layoff due to injury and was rewarded with the bronze medal following a best clearance of 1.90m in the high jump. The competition was won by the affable Caolan Flanagan from Ballymena and Antrim AC who sailed over the bar at 2.03m to win the gold while the silver was won by another Ulster man, Simon Herron from Derry. Hugh Fitzpatrick won a surprise medal in the weight for distance event when he tossed the 35 pound weight out to 6.89m to take the bronze medal. Hugh also finished fifth in the shot putt with a best effort of 11.23m. Fiona Murray was competing in the junior championships for the first time and produced a great performance to take the bronze medal in the 3000m behind Breffni Twohig of DSD and Joyce Curtin from Glenbower. Fiona battled with Blarney's Margaret McCarthy for the opening laps before setting off in pursuit of Curtin who had opened a large gap on the pair. Fiona closed the gap down with typical determination however the finish line came too soon as she was still four seconds behind at the end..

In the junior men's 3000m Noel Carroll produced his best run to date, reducing his PB to 9:14 to finish fifth behind Colin Costello, Brendan O'Neill, Eoin McCormack and Kevin Lawlor. James Muldoon started strongly in the same race but struggled in the closing stages, eventually finishing 11th. Also featuring in the 3000m was Briain O'Dowd from Bailieborough AC who finished 9th in 9:38. Matthew O'Reilly finished 6th in the shot putt (11.04m) and the weight for distance (5.90m). Ciaran Ward finished third in his heat of the 200m in 25.81s which was not sufficient to progress to the final. 

February 12th - Ulster Winter Track & Field Championships 2005

A very wintry Antrim Forum played host to the Ulster trials for the AAI Juvenile Indoor Championships. Pictured below are some of the Shercock squad in action. Full results can be found by following the link on the left.

Fourteen athletes from the club made the now annual pilgrimage to Kelvin Hall to join the large Irish contingent at the Scottish Juvenile Indoor Championships. The trip nearly came off the rails at the outset as a host of transport problems tested the resolve of the whole party, however everyone was safely checked into the hotel on the Friday night before the competition began. Saturday featured the clubs younger members competing in the under 13 & 15 events and the star of the show for Shercock was Paul Smith (right) who produced a great personal best of 5.28m to take third place in the under 15 long jump behind two athletes from fellow Irish club Ferrybank AC. Paul was also in action in the 60m sprint and progressed as far as the semi-finals in which he finished sixth. Also competing on Saturday were Maria Donnery who was fourth in her heat in the under 13 800m, Shauna McGeever who finished 27th in the under 13 long jump and Stephen Donnery, 21st in the boys under 13 long jump.

Sunday saw the older contingent from Shercock take to the arena and the day got off to a great start when Matthew O'Reilly (left) took the silver medal in the under 17 shot putt with an 11.87m effort. Also competing in the shot putt was Peadar Muldoon who finished 14th. Gerard O'Reilly (right) was competing in the under 17 200m, which he will still be eligible for in 2005. Despite giving away a year to his fellow competitors he made a strong progression through the qualifying rounds to the final. Coming off the final bend in fourth place, Gerard stormed down the finish straight and dipped on the line to take the bronze medal in a time of 23.2s. Shercock was well represented in this race with Craig Lynch progressing to the semi-final and posting a time of 24.41s while team mate Ciaran Ward also ran well to finish fourth in his heat in 25.70s which was not fast enough to progress to the semis. Craig also showed good form in the under 17 60m, recording 7.57s and progressing as far as the semis while Ciaran dipped under 8 seconds to record 7.97s when finishing 4th in his heat. Philip Daly was unlucky not to progress from his heat in the under 20 60m but was rewarded with a new personal best of 7.30s when finishing in third place. Fiona Murray produced a great effort to take third place in the under 17 1500m semi-final in a time of 5:11 and went on to finish seventh in the final while James Muldoon struggled to find his best form in the under 20 1500m final and finished well down the field. James Ruxton found himself in the wake of Scottish record holder Kris Robertson in his under 20 400m heat and came home well in second place in a time of 51.75s. This was enough to secure progression to the final as the third fastest qualifier however a misjudgement of the break line resulted in his disqualification in the final itself. The Shercock party made their way home by various means on Sunday evening and Monday morning and the club is indebted to Eamonn Harvey and the Ulster team bus who helped transport three stranded Shermen back to the homeland.

With the majority of club members in Scotland for the weekend it was left to a small group to carry the club colours at the AAI National Indoor Championships in Nenagh. Peter Muldoon (left) was defending his Irish junior 5km racewalk title which he won last year in Belfast's Odyssey Centre. Peter produced his best indoor performance to date, covering the distance comfortably in 23:06 to retain the title from Milford's Brendan Boyce and Cusinstown's Michael Doyle. Paul Fitzpatrick made his first appearance at the championship and did well to take fifth place in his first outing over the 5km distance. Alan McEntee was also breaking new ground in Nenagh, setting a personal best of 7.32s when finishing 14th in the men's 60m. Alan also went on to place 15th in the 200m in a time of 24.71s.

James Ruxton (left) and Philip Daly (below right) became the first athletes from Shercock to contest the AAI Junior Heptathlon in Nenagh at the weekend and both were rewarded with podium positions at the end of the two-day event. James was in flying form and at the end of the first day had taken the lead with performances of 7.52s (60m), 5.51m (LJ), 8.72m (SP) and 3.2m in the pole vault. Philip also had a good opener and was lying second behind James with performances of 7.39s, 5.15m, 9.47m and 3m. Both struggled in the opening events on Sunday morning as James cleared only 1.53m in the high jump and recorded 9.93s for the 60m hurdles. Philip went a bit higher in the high jump with a 1.62m clearance but laboured through the hurdles in 11.36s. This allowed Patrick Kennedy from Border Ramblers through into the lead, however there was everything to play for in the final event, the 1000m, as both of them were still in contention for the medals. James showed the benefit of his 400m training as he produced a run out of the top drawer, winning the race in a time of 2:51.45 and leaving him with an overall points total of 3720. However this still left him 57 points behind Kennedy who took the title, leaving James second. Philip performed beyond his expectations in the 1000m, which he covered in 3:07.67 leaving him with an overall total of 3355 points and the bronze medal. It was a great achievement by the pair who may yet become the club's first decathletes.

The club's annual awards night was held in St. Patrick's hall on January 28th. The large crowd enjoyed a video review of the year which included the club's junior men's team winning performance at the European Junior Clubs Cup in September. A special video tribute was shown in memory of juvenile club member Roisin McCluskey who passed away during the year. The athletes were congratulated on their achievements by chairperson Margaret Ruxton and many of the club's younger members were presented with merit certificates to mark their performances in 2004. Athletes who won medals at national and international level were presented with their medals which had been specially framed for the occasion (right). A special award of a Cavan Crystal plate was presented to David Shields to mark his achievement in winning the national senior high jump title. The climax of the evening came when the winner of the athlete of the year was announced via a video presentation. This year's winner was Gerard O'Reilly, following an outstanding series of performances in 2004 which included sprint doubles at the AAI indoor and outdoor championships, the all-Ireland schools and the Celtic Games, an indoor and outdoor silver medal winning performance over 200m at the British AAA championships and further gold medal winning performances at the all-Ireland schools pentathlon and the Community Games.

Jan 16th - AAA Juvenile Trials

Gerard and Matthew O'Reilly had a positive start to their indoor season in Nenagh today at the trials for the AAA Indoor championships which take place in Birmingham on February 26th. Gerard (left) comfortably won the under 17 60m in 7.21s and finished in second place in the 200m to Glaslough's Patrick McCarron having drawn the unfavorable inside lane. Matthew achieved a personal best of 12.75m when finishing second to Ballymena's Ashley McClenachan in the shot putt in the same age group. Gerard was selected for the Irish team following the trials and can look forward to re-visiting Birmingham where he finished in  second place in the under 15 200m in last year's competition. 

Albert Eakins (right) contested the masters indoor championships for the first time on Saturday and came away with a well deserved medal when he finished in third place in the V3 3000m in a time of 10:42. Alan McEntee achieved a PB of 7.41s when finishing fourth in his 60m heat at the AAI Indoor Games on Sunday.

Jan 8th & 9th - Cavan Indoor Championships 2005