European Champion Club Cup for Juniors, Gateshead, September 18th

Shercock Junior Men Gain Promotion for Ireland

The Shercock AC junior men's team became the first Irish junior club team to compete in the European Champion Clubs Cup when they travelled to Gateshead in England on September 18th. Ireland were drawn in Group C2 in which a late withdrawal by Denmark left seven teams in the competition - the junior club champions of Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Estonia, Greece and hosts Gateshead Harriers who were competing as guests. The Shercock team travelled over to England two days in advance to settle in and get in some valuable pre-competition training the day before the competition proper began. This preparation proved to be crucial as a rested and motivated squad turned out on Saturday to take on all comers. The scoring system rewarded first with 7 points, then 6,5,4,3,2 and 1 point, and by the end of the day every last point was to count.

The first event of the day saw a dream start for Ireland as Padraig White tossed the hammer out to 55.87m to win the gold from Emmanoil Vardaxis of Greece (49.22m). It was a good omen, however at that early stage no-one foresaw the great scoring run that was to follow. Leslie Leung then took to the runway in front of the main stand for the triple jump and, cheered on by his team mates, he put in an impressive series of jumps, finishing with a best mark of 13.86m, as he held off the challenge of local favourite Chris Jefferson from Gateshead who had to settle for second with 13.74m. Next up for Shercock was fifteen year Matthew O'Reilly who faced tough opposition in the shot putt but produced his best ever distance with the 6kg weight to take fourth place with 11.15m while the gold went to Greek Damian Kalogerakis with 15.98m. James Ruxton had a turbulent preparation for the competition as he battled to recover from a knee injury in the two weeks leading up to the event. While below top fitness, James produced a characteristic courageous effort in the 400m hurdles to hold off Swiss star David Contini and secure a valuable second place behind European schools champion Kieran Flannery from Gateshead. Philip Daly was unfortunate not to clear the opening height in the pole vault, however the Shercock mission was back on track soon afterwards when James King toed the line for the 800m. After a cautious opening lap of 61s, James was lying in second place, however the pace cranked up on the back straight as Switzerland's Nicholas Repond moved to take the lead. James responded to the challenge and moved quickly ahead of the Swiss, holding him on the outside line on the final bend. When they entered the home straight James kicked for the line and accelerated away from the field to record an impressive victory. Hugh Fitzpatrick, meanwhile was busy salvaging some valuable points in the discus and javelin in which he finished sixth and seventh respectively. Next on track was Kevin McCloy in the 400m, who, after a steady start, produced a strong surge round the final bend to enter the home straight in third place. Kevin battled all the way to the line and secured an impressive silver when he overtook Portugal's Bruno Santos in the closing stages.

When the scores were displayed at the halfway stage, Shercock were lying in first place just 2 points ahead of Gateshead Harriers. Portugal were third while pre-event favourites Switzerland were further down in fourth place after a poor start. 

The afternoon was to produce mixed fortunes as the team battled to stay in the lead. David Shields was disappointed to clear only 1.85m in the high jump, however this was still good enough on the day to secure third place behind winner Teodor Mathoudakis from Greece (2.00m). Noel Carroll produced a typical determined effort to take fourth place in the steeplechase while James Muldoon struggled to find his best form as he finished in fifth place in the 1500m. Gerard O'Reilly started the 200m as favourite to finish last as he had the slowest PB in the field and was drawn in lane 8 for good measure. The fourteen year old hadn't read the script, however, and powered round the bend to challenge for the lead as the athletes entered the straight. Gerard maintained his form all the way to the line where it took a photofinish to decide the medals. After a long delay, Gerard was awarded the bronze medal, to the delight of his parents Brian and Geraldine, who had flown over that morning to support the Shercock team. Caolan Flanagan brought further sprint success when he likewise took third place in the 100m which was won by Switzerland's Cedric de Glaunec in 10.93s. Leslie Leung returned to the sand pit for the long jump and on this occasion there was no one in the field who could touch him as he put together a string of jumps over 6.80m. On his final attempt, Leslie soared out past the 7.00m mark for the first time only to be judged a foul by a small margin. The jump was measured, nonetheless, as 7.18m. His best legal effort of 6.88m left him the clear winner and secured a valuable double win for the team. Brian Flatley had a blistering start in the 110m hurdles and was level with Swiss star David Contini at the third hurdle. He lost his momentum as he hit the fourth and fifth hurdles, however and slipped down the field to finish fifth. Sean Smith found himself in the company of the impressive Portugese talent of Eduardo Mbengani in the 3000m and after a slow opening kilometer the pair broke away from the rest of the field in the company of England's Ryan Stephenson. The Portuguese put the hammer down for the final kilometer, which he covered in under 2:40 to win comfortably from Stephenson with Sean coming home in third place.

With only the relays remaining, guests Gateshead Harriers had built up an 11 point lead over Shercock, whose second place was under immediate threat from the Portuguese and Swiss. Team manager John McGeever had set a goal of a medal winning performance for both relay teams and now this became critical if Shercock were to hold the lead among the qualifying teams. The 4x100m team of Philip Daly, Gerard O'Reilly, Caolan Flanagan and Leslie Leung were up for the challenge however and after strong runs over the first three legs, Caolan passed the batton to Leslie in second place who produced a great run down the home straight only to be caught on the line by Gateshead Harriers. The third place finish let the Swiss close to within three points of Shercock and now it was down to the 4x400m team of Gerard O'Reilly, James King, James Ruxton and Kevin McCloy to hold off the Swiss who had moved ahead of Portugal in the overall standings. Gerard passed to James King in fifth place however James produced a great lap to move into fourth and close the gap on third. A perfect pass to James Ruxton saw Shercock move up to third and James immediately attacked the second placed Portuguese and overtook him to move into second place behind the runaway leaders Gateshead Harriers. The Portuguese fought back and was within range when Kevin took the batton for the final leg. Kevin left nothing to chance and powered around the track to open up a clear lead over the Portuguese and secure second place for Shercock behind Gateshead Harriers in a very useful time of 3:25.84. Switzerland could only manage fifth in the final relay, leaving Shercock the winners among the qualifying nations and in second place overall behind Gateshead Harriers. 

Team captain Michael Muldoon accepted the winners trophy for Shercock at the civic reception which followed the competition at which the relay medals were also presented. Team manager John McGeever said he was both surprised and delighted with the positive outcome which he attributed to the great team spirit and competitive attitude of all the athletes who took part on the day. Competition secretary Paul Zens later confirmed that Ireland would be promoted to Group B for the 2005 competition following the winning performance by Shercock AC in Group C in Gateshead, providing a great competitive opportunity for next year's Irish junior club representatives.