Track & Field 2004

Dec 11th - Gerard O'Reilly Leads Ireland to Second Place in Schools Pentathlon International

Gerard O'Reilly brought the curtain down on an outstanding year's competition today when he led the Irish schools under 15 team to second place behind England at the schools pentathlon international in Scotland. Gerard's best performances came in the 200m, in which he was the leading individual with a 23.53 second effort and the shot putt in which he finished second with an 11.40m putt. With performances of 9.4s for 60m hurdles, 5.43m in the long jump and 2:16.85 in the 800m, Gerard achieved a points total of 2929 placing him in fifth place overall. Strong performances from Gerard's Irish team mates Brendan Culleton (2769), Patrick McCarron (2751) and David Callinan (2684) for a team total of 8449 points left them in second place behind England (9150) and ahead of Wales (8262) and hosts Scotland (7706).

Schools Pentathlon International - Boys Under 15 Irish Team, silver medallists - Patrick McCarron, Gerard O'Reilly, Brendan Culleton and David Callinan

Gerard O'Reilly capped an outstanding track and field season with an impressive win the the junior boys age group at the Irish Schools Combined Events Championships in Santry today. Gerard competed well in the 80m hurdles (12.5s), shot putt (11.52m), long jump (5.58m) and 200m (23.6s). He withdrew from the high jump, his least favourite event, after clearing 1.45m and battled through a tiring 800m at the end of the day to win in 2:18 minutes. Gerard scored an overall 3231 points which was enough to win the gold medal. There was further good news when it was announced that he had also been selected for the Irish team for the schools international combined events championships in Glasgow in December. Gerard will be joined on the team by his Monaghan neighbour, Patrick McCarron, who was ranked fourth among those eligible for selection. Philip Daly had mixed fortunes in the intermediate event and finished in seventh position overall. Philip performed well in the shot putt (10.94m) and 200m (23.6s), but struggled in the hurdles (15.9s), long jump (5.29m) and high jump (1.52m). In the final event, the 800m, Philip produced a useful effort to finish in 2:17 minutes, giving him an overall points total of 3158 which left him in seventh place behind winner Peter Glass (North Down AC). When the points had been adjusted for the international team selection, in which the high jump was omitted and a different age break was applied, Philip was ranked fifth of those eligible to be selected, missing out by just one place.

An exhilarating day's competition at Gateshead Stadium in England in the European Junior Champion Club's Cup saw the Shercock junior men's team overcome the challenge of Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, Greece and Estonia to finish in second place overall behind hosts Gateshead Harriers and in first place among the qualifying countries to gain promotion to Group B for Ireland in 2005. For the full story of how the Shercock juniors won four gold, three silver and five bronze medals click here.

Two carloads of Shercock juniors traveled to Templemore today to compete in the final Golden Four track meet as part of their preparations for the European Junior Clubs Championships in two weeks time. There were wins for Philip Daly in the 200m and James Muldoon in the

1500m. Noel Carroll set a new PB of 4:29.7 when finishing second to James in the 1500m (left). Gerard O'Reilly finished in third place in his first 400m competition and the fourteen year old recorded a very useful 52.9s for the distance. Gerard also edged out his club mate Philip Daly for third place in the 100m in a tight finish (right) in which both were awarded the same time of 11.7s. Michael Muldoon was somewhat below his best when finishing fourth in the 3000m in 9:54. Matthew O'Reilly (right) had personal bests of 9.61m for third place in the shot and 28.64m for 7th in the javelin. Hugh Fitzpatrick was sixth in the shot with 8.30m and 8th in the javelin with 26.87m. James Ruxton had a close encounter with a steeplechase barrier during his warm up which put him out of action with a badly swollen knee. Euro Junior teammates James King and Kevin McCloy were both in action in the 800m in which James finished second in 1:57 and Kevin third in 2:02. James went on to stake his claim for a place in the 4x400m relay team with a very useful 400m effort of 53.8s when finishing fourth. Aaron Heery continued to show steady improvement in the high jump with a new personal best of 1.75m when finishing 3rd in Derry.

Well done to Gerard and Matthew O'Reilly on their medal winning performances at the national finals of the community games in Mosney, Co. Meath today. Gerard won the gold with a commanding run in the under 16 100m final, an event for which he will still be eligible next year. Matthew won his first ever major medal in discus when he finished second in the under 16 competition. Matthew has now won major medals in shot putt, hammer and discus this year. Niamh Traynor finished just outside the medals in the high jump having cleared 1.40m in the under 16 final and the Shercock mixed under 15 relay team finished fifth in the final.

Gerard O'Reilly capped a great season when he produced a medal winning run in the 200m final at the AAA under 15 championships in Birmingham at the weekend. Gerard, who recently recorded a double win in the Celtic Games, came off the bend in the final just behind England's Chris Clarke who pulled away from the Irishman on the home straight to win the gold. Gerard held off the challenge of Welshman Tom Bradbury to win the silver medal in a new personal best time of 23.08s. The fourteen year old can now look forward to a well earned rest before traveling with his Shercock clubmates to the European Junior Clubs Championships in Gateshead in September where he will contest the 200m against the best of Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Switzerland and England.

The final of the national track & field league took place in Tullamore today and the Shercock men's team put in a great performance to finish in fourth place overall in division 1. The team started at a disadvantage as the eighth placed qualifier for the final as clubs carried bonus points based on their qualifying position, however the young squad, taking part in the competition for the first time, rose to the challenge and produced some great individual efforts. Peter Muldoon (left) was the sole Shercock winner on the day when he stormed away from the field to win the 3km racewalk in a new personal best time of 13:28.3. James Ruxton was also in top form, taking second place in the 400m hurdles behind Kildare's David McCarthy in 55.7s and fourth in the 200m in 23.19s. Philip Daly finished comfortably in second place in the pole vault and third in the 100m. He then combined with Alan McEntee, James Ruxton and Aaron Heery to finish second behind North Down in the 4x100m relay in 44.7s. Alan was also in action in the triple jump when he produced a season's best of 12.34m to finish third. Brian Flately was outstanding as he produced a great double effort to finish second in the 110m hurdles and third in a tightly contested long jump with a 6.54m effort. Kevin McCloy was up against tough opposition from David McCarthy and Ciaran O'Connell in the 400m however he put in battling performance to finish fourth in 50.38s. Noel Carroll produced another outstanding effort in the 3000m steeplechase when he knocked 10 seconds off his PB to also finish fourth in 10:19.13. Sean Smith (right) came third in a tough 5000m competition while the Muldoon brothers Michael and James finished sixth and seventh in the 800m and 1500m respectively. Aaron Heery cleared 1.65m to finish in fourth place in the high jump which was won by David Robb from North Down AC. In the throwing events there were fifth place finishes by Hugh Fitzpatrick in the discus and javelin and by John Muldoon in the 56 pound weight for distance. The final event of the day saw the Shercock 4x400m team of Philip Daly, Alan McEntee, James Ruxton and Kevin McCloy dip under 3:30 for the first time to finish in third place.

When the points were totaled Shercock had moved from their starting position of eighth place to fourth place overall behind runaway winners North Down AC, second placed County Kildare and third placed Abbey AC.

Shercock finished ahead of county teams from Monaghan and Tipperary and club teams Tralee Harriers and Avondhu. It was a great effort by the young squad in their first year in the competition and the athletes and spectators who traveled for the event thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Gerard O'Reilly was one of the star performers for Ulster today when the fourteen year old pulled off an impressive double win in the under 15 100m and 200m in Grangemouth, Scotland. Running into a headwind, Gerard crossed the line in 11.87s to win the 100m from Tom Bradbury from Wales. Even more impressive, however, was his performance in the 200m in which he set a new personal best of 23.37s despite an opposing wind reading of -4.0 m/s to take the gold medal ahead of another Welshman, Jonathan Simonson. Gerard capped a busy day in Scotland with a third medal when he teamed up with Aaron Crawford, Arsene Tsokeng and Gary Cooper to bring Ulster home in second place in the 4x100m relay. David Shields was hoping to repeat his high jump win in last year's competition and the sixteen year old put in a great effort to clear 1.94m under difficult conditions for the jumpers. This was not enough to secure the gold, however, as Christopher Crowley from the rest of Ireland team went clear at 2.0m leaving David in second place.

The Shercock men's team have qualified for the final of Division 1 in the Mazda National League, it was announced today. The young squad showed great spirit during the qualifying rounds as they battled for every available point, eventually achieving an overall score of 100 points, which left them in eighth place overall. The team competed in every event over the two days, and against opposition from composite club teams and teams made up from entire counties, however the Shercock squad had only the club membership to draw from and proved themselves to be more than a match for the opposition. The club can now look forward to an unexpected fixture on August 15th in Tullamore when we will compete in the national league final for the first time when another battling performance will hopefully see the squad finish higher up than our eighth place qualifying position.

The second stage of the national track and field league took place today and Shercock AC, competing in the league for the first time, were drawn in Pool 1 of Division 1 in Santry. The pool consisted of four other club teams - City of Derry, Letterkenny, Navan and Finn Valley - and a county team from Monaghan. The young squad from the club produced some outstanding performances to finish top club in the pool and in second place overall behind county Monaghan. There were valuable winning performances by James Ruxton in the 400m hurdles, Peter Muldoon in the 3km racewalk and Philip Daly in the pole vault. Sean Smith finished second in the 5000m and there were third place finishes by Alan McEntee in the triple jump, Hugh Fitzpatrick in the discus and Michael Muldoon in the hammer. Alan was back on track to take fourth place in the 200m and James Muldoon was sixth in the 800m. Shercock were tied for first place with county Monaghan going into the final event, the 4x400m relay. The club has had a poor record in this event however from the start it was clear that the quartet were not just there to make up the numbers. Philip Daly started strongly to put second leg Alan McEntee in contact with the leaders. Alan powered around the second bend to put Shercock into the lead before passing to Sean Smith. Sean had not long finished a tough 5000m however he produced a great effort to hold the lead down the back straight until he was overtaken by Derry on the run in to the change zone where he passed to James Ruxton. James battled for the lead with Derry down the back straight and gained the initiative as he took pole position on the final bend. Only county Monaghan's senior international Ciaran O'Connell was left to challenge James and the pair fought all the way to the line where O'Connell dipped first to steal a late victory. The Shercock team were consoled with a new club record of 3:31.7 and some valuable points.

Provisional Results: Division 1 Pool 1: 1. County Monaghan 55 points 2. Shercock AC 53 points 3. City of Derry AC 45 points 4. Letterkenny AC 45 points 5. Finn Valley AC 40 points 6. Navan AC 26 points

Division 1 Pool 2: 1. North Down AC 61 points 2. Abbey AC 50 points 3. Carrick on Shannon 46 points 4. Sli Cualainn AC 12 points 5. Sligo AC 11 points

David Shields was one of the star performers on the first day of the Woodies DIY Irish track and field championships in Dublin today when the sixteen year old was the surprise winner of the high jump. The autumnal conditions that swept the northside venue with chilling gusts made it far from ideal for the high jump competitors, however David demonstrated a maturity beyond his years as he soared to a new best mark outdoors of 2.00m to take the title from Belgooly's Christopher Crowley. With Ireland's leading high jumper Adrian O'Dwyer, sidelined with a minor injury, it fell to David to overcome the opposition of his junior peers and lift the senior title. Ciaran Conlon, who has coached David since the age of eleven, was on hand to congratulate him on his success (left).

Also performing well for Shercock in Santry was James Ruxton who qualified for Sunday's final of the 400m hurdles when he finished second in his semi-final in a time of 56.65s. Anne Marie Burns finished fourth in the long jump with a 4.68m effort while Sean Smith finished down the field in his first 10,000m race in 33:53 minutes. Shercock's racewalking duo of Peter Muldoon and Hugh Fitzpatrick were less fortunate as Peter pulled out of the 10km walk just after halfway after receiving his second warning while Hugh suffered the same fate as World silver medalist Gillian O'Sullivan who was disqualified in the women's 5km event.

Shercock AC made their first appearance in the Mazda League today when they competed in Pool 1 of Division 1 in Navan. The relatively young squad held their own against the more experienced athletes from the opposing clubs and finished well in third place overall behind County Monaghan and Abbey AC. Club captain Alan McEntee got the day off to a great start with a PB of 5.98m in the long jump to finish second. A strategic swap saw James Ruxton replace Aaron Heery in the 110m hurdles in which he finished a very close second. Aaron replaced James in the high jump and matched his PB with a 1.70m clearance for another second place. Disaster struck in the 4x100m relay, in which Shercock were hoping for their only win of the day, when a mistimed pass resulted in a dropped baton and zero points. The team rallied after this setback however and produced some unlikely high scores. James Ruxton was back on track to finish a battling second to Monaghan's Ciaran O'Connell in the 400m in a time of 51.9s. John Muldoon went into action in the throws, taking fourth place in the 56 pound weight for distance. Hugh Fitzpatrick repeated John's success in the javelin, throwing 26.66m for fourth place. Two of the club's best performances came at the end of the programme when Noel Carroll ran an outstanding steeplechase to finish in second place despite losing his shoe on the final lap. Philip Daly then showed the controlled aggression of a true sprinter to also place second in the 100m in a time of 11.2s. The team can now look forward with renewed optimism to the second leg on August 1st, when the mix of events should better suit the strengths of the athletes and hopes of gaining qualification for the finals may still be realized.

David Shields (left) showed a dramatic improvement in form at the ISAA Schools International in England today when the sixteen-year-old set an outdoor PB of 1.98m on his way to taking the silver medal on countback after tying for first place in the high jump. David, who is coached by former national jumps coach Ciaran Conlon, had been struggling to reproduce his indoor form, which included a PB of 2.02m in February, during the outdoor season, however his performance in England today shows that he is back on track and should be in shape to clear 2m outdoors in the near future. Also competing in the schools international from Shercock AC was James Muldoon who put in a great effort to finish fourth in the 3km racewalk in a time of 14:34. James' Irish team mate Paul Murphy did even better, taking the silver medal in a time of 13:50.

Two Shercock juvenile teams were also in action today in Tullamore in the inter-club relay championships of Ireland. The boys under 16 4x100m team of Matthew O'Reilly, Gerard O'Reilly, Ciaran Ward and Craig Lynch produced a great effort to finish second to Dundrum South Dublin AC in their final in a time of 48.17s. The Shercock boys under 15 team of Paul Smith, Craig Lynch, Kieran McDermott and Kevin Ruxton also performed well to qualify from their heat and finish eighth in the final.

There were some outstanding performances by young Shercock athletes at the AAI age group championships in Tullamore at the weekend. Gerard O'Reilly was attempting his third sprint double of the year in the under 16 100m and 200m, having already won Irish schools and indoor titles, however this time he had more than the opposition to contend with as he made a demanding journey by trains, planes and automobiles to travel home from a family holiday in France the day before the competition. Gerard shook off the effects of his travels to comfortably win the 100m title on Saturday, recording 11.99s into a headwind. On Sunday he came up against defending 200m champion Aaron Crawford from Strabane in the final. Crawford had run Gerard close at the Ulsters and after a strong start the pair were neck and neck as they entered the home straight. However Gerard shook off any remaining fatigue and powered down the straight into a headwind to win by a narrow margin and secure a much coveted double. The medalists are pictured right with AAI president Michael Heery following their presentation. Afterwards, Gerard and his father Brian set off on the long journey to rejoin the rest of the family on holidays in France for a well-earned rest.

The pole vaulters also had more than the opposition to contend with in Tullamore following a dubious decision by the field referee to allow the competition to proceed into a headwind despite concerns raised by coaches and athletes who requested that the runways be reversed to put the wind behind the vaulters. The predictable result was a series of injuries as competitors fell back onto the runway or vault box, requiring constant attention from the first aid crew. Shercock's Philip Daly kept a cool head to win the under 18 age event with a below-par clearance of 3.40m. Kevin Ruxton (left) responded to the challenge to win a second pole vault title for Shercock when he won the under 15 competition with a vault of 2.10m. It was Kevin's first all-Ireland medal and he was justifiably delighted with his achievement. James Muldoon won a third vault medal for the club when he cleared a personal best of 3.10m to take the bronze medal under 17. Generally the competition was disappointing, despite a strong entry, as the experienced vaulters were unable to achieve the heights they had cleared in recent events due to the opposing wind.

Matthew O'Reilly made a little bit of club history when he became the first athlete from Shercock to win a medal in the hammer throw. Matthew finished second in the under 16 event with a throw of 37.92m behind winner David Keys from Regent House. Matthew had a great weekend, also putting the shot to a new personal best mark of 13.50m which left him in fourth place. He is pictured right with fellow Shercock medalists Paul Fitzpatrick (1st u16 3km walk) and Kevin Ruxton (1st u15 pole vault).

The middle distance races produced some great contests. Sean Smith (left) led for most of the under 19 3000m but had to settle for silver when he was out-sprinted at the finish by Richard Yeates from Raheny. James Muldoon had a very busy weekend in Tullamore where he eventually won three medals. James ran a tactical race in the under 17 1500m steeplechase, moving into third place just before the final water-jump and running on strongly to the line to make sure of the medal. Noel Carroll adopted an identical tactic in the under 19 2000m steeplechase, overtaking Rory McDonnell from Dunboyne at the final water-jump. McDonnell held on, however, and overtook Noel just before the line to deny the Shercock man the bronze medal. While disappointed with the result, Noel was rewarded with a useful time of 6:33.1 which leaves him as a strong contender for the steeplechase position on the Shercock team for the European junior clubs championships in September.

The Shercock racewalking squad produced some sparkling performances in Tullamore. Irish junior champion Peter Muldoon (right) was up against strong opposition from Irish schools winner Michael Doyle in the under 18 5000m. In a classic battle between the endurance specialist and the sprint finisher, Peter used his superior fitness to hammer out a relentless pace at the head of the field. After 3km Peter had established a 40m lead, however rather than settle for the gap, he cranked up the pace for the final 2km and the the gap opened up further to over 200m by the time he crossed the line to win the title. There was a double reward for Peter when he dipped under the 23 minute mark to record a new personal best of 22:57. Doyle struggled in the closing stages and was eventually passed by Milford's Brendan Boyce, who was competing concurrently in

the under 19 age group. Shercock's Hugh Fitzpatrick finished cautiously in third place after picking up two warnings on the first kilometer. Hugh's younger brother Paul Fitzpatrick never looked troubled, however, as he won the under 16 3km racewalk comfortably to complete a double of Irish indoor and outdoor titles. Paul conserved his energy in the closing stages as he was also competing in the pole vault which was being held at the same time.

James Muldoon won his third medal of the championships when he finished second to Paul Murphy from Dooneen in the under 17 3000m walk. James and Paul (left) will represent Ireland at the schools international in England on Saturday following their performances at the Tailteann Games. There was another silver medal winning performance for Shercock when James Ruxton finished second to Barry Upton from Ferrybank in the under 19 400m hurdles.

Also running well for Shercock in Tullamore was Paul Smith, who finished fifth in the under 14 80m and long jump. Craig Lynch was competing in his first Irish championship and produced a great performance in the under 15 high jump when he tied for third place on height with a PB of 1.60m and was placed fourth overall on countback. Aaron Heery also narrowly missed out on a medal when he also finished fourth in the under 19 long jump.

Peter Muldoon produced his best 10km walk to date in Tullamore today when he set a new PB of 48:45 on his way to winning the Irish junior title. In the same event club mate Hugh Fitzpatrick tied up in the closing stages after a strong start however he held off the challenge of Milford's Brendan Boyce to take the silver medal. Peter and Hugh are pictured left with AAI president Michael Heery. James Ruxton produced another strong run to finish second to Barry Upton from Ferrybank in the 400m hurdles in a time of 56.01s. Also winning silver was Alan McEntee who finished second in both the under 23 long jump and triple jump. Philip Daly matched James Ruxton's club record of 3.60m in the junior pole vault, this left him tied for third place on height however he was placed 5th on countback. James Muldoon also contested the pole vault, finishing 7th with a 3m clearance. The Shercock pairing of Noel Carroll and James Muldoon had a great battle in the junior 3000m steeplechase (right), matching each other stride for stride all the way and finishing with a sprint to the line with James crossing just in front of Noel. The pair finished in fourth and fifth place overall. Aaron Heery placed 5th in the junior long jump and 6th in the triple jump while Noel Ruxton was 4th in the under 23 triple jump. Anne Marie Burns finished sixth in the junior long jump. Michael Muldoon was eighth in the junior hammer and 11th in the 800m.

The Shercock 4x100m team went into action for the first time this year, competing in the under 23 age group. While the baton changes were a bit on the rusty side, the quartet of Aaron Heery, Alan McEntee, James Ruxton and Philip Daly took the gold medal in a time of 45.1s ahead of Roscommon. An unlikely looking Shercock 4x400m team (right) went into action, also in the under 23 age group, and took the bronze medal in a three horse race. The team of Noel Ruxton, Michael Muldoon, James Muldoon and Noel Carroll were delighted with their sprint medals but will probably concentrate on cross country in the future.

Philip Daly, left, representing Inver College Carrickmacross, enjoyed a double medal success at the Tailteann Games in Tullamore today. Philip started with a new PB of 3.45m in the pole vault to finish second and went on to run the third leg for the Ulster schools 4x100m relay team which won the gold. David Shields, right, continued a busy competition schedule by winning the high jump with a 1.85m clearance having competed in the Dublin international the previous evening. James Muldoon (O'Carolan's, Nobber) represented Leinster while his Shercock clubmate Paul Fitzpatrick (St. Pat's, Cavan) represented Ulster in the 3km racewalk. They both performed well as James finished second and Paul fourth. Ulster were the overall winners of the boys inter provincial cup following strong performances across all the events. The competitors at the Tailteanns will now anxiously await news from the selectors of the Irish Schools team to see if they made the cut for the ISAA international in England in July.

Gerard O'Reilly (right) was an impressive winner of the U16 100m and 200m in Antrim today while there were further double wins for Anne Marie Burns (U20 long jump and triple jump) and James Muldoon (U17 pole vault and 3km walk). Sean Smith won the U19 1500m without his spikes and Peter Muldoon broke new ground with a PB shattering 5km walk. There were further Ulster title wins for David Shields and Aaron Heery in the jumps and first time pole vaulter Fiona Smith set a new club record.

For a full round-up of Shercock performances in Antrim go to Ulster T&F Report

Peter Muldoon put in his best 3km walk performance to date to become the first athlete from Shercock to win an Ulster senior title when he lifted the gold medal at today's competition in Antrim. Peter achieved a new PB of 13:38 for the distance, beating his previous best by 22 seconds. James Muldoon came in third in the same event, also achieving a useful time of 14:50 in his first race over 3km. David Shields recovered from a bumpy start in the high jump to finish third with a best clearance of 1.95m.

The competition was won by Paul Tohill at 2.00m and David Robb finished second. The three medallists are pictured right with coaching legend Maeve Kyle. Alan McEntee was disappointed with a below par effort of 11.87m in the triple jump which left him in sixth place while pole vaulters Philip Daly and James Muldoon made an early exit from their competition however James had the compensation of matching his PB of 3.00m with his final clearance.

David Shields scored his second win of the track season on Tuesday when he won the high jump event at the match between a Northern Ireland Under 23 selection and an Irish Universities selection on Tuesday. David, competing for the NI U23 team, cleared 1.95m to win the competition from David Robb. At the Loughborough international on Sunday David finished in seventh place in the high jump with a 1.90m effort when representing Ireland at senior level for the first time.

Gerard O'Reilly headed an outstanding day's performance by Shercock athletes at the Irish Schools Championships in Tullamore when he scored a double win in the junior 100m and 200m. Also featuring on the medal rostrum from Shercock were Sean Smith, Peter Muldoon, James Muldoon, Hugh Fitzpatrick & James Ruxton.