April 12th - AAI Indoor Age Group Championships

Paul Fitzpatrick Receives DKIT Sportsperson of the Year Award

Paul Fitzpatrick was honoured at the Dundalk Institute of Technology Awards Night when he was presented with the Sportsperson of the Year Award in recognition of his achievements in athletics. Paul is pictured receiving his award from guest speaker Earl Fee, holder of 44 world records at masters level. Also pictured is DKIT athletics coach John McGeever.

Shercock AC Receives Equipment Grant from AAI

There was good news for the club when Athletics Ireland announced the allocation of the 2008 capital equipment grants which include a grant of €2,200 for Shercock AC. The grant will enable the club to further improve our equipment stock with the track season approaching.

We would like to express our thanks to Athletics Ireland for their generous support.

April 6th - AAI Age Group Indoor Championships

Gold for Craig Lynch and Ciaran O'Reilly

The AAI indoor championships provided a great competitive opportunity for the athletes who traveled to the Tipperary venue at the weekend. Craig Lynch brought the curtain down on a highly successful indoor season with a commanding run to victory in the under 19 60m, clocking an impressive time of 7.01s in the process. Ballymena's Dean Adams was first out of the blocks however Craig gained the lead by the half way point and finished strongly to match his personal best for the distance.

Ciaran O'Reilly  showed that he has the potential to emulate his cousin Matthew, a national throws champion, when he produced an outstanding throw in the final round to win the under 14 shot putt and secure his first national title.

Ciaran Corrigan was also in positive form as he produced a new personal best of 4.58m in the under 13 long jump which left him just outside the medals in fourth place. Ciaran also finished in eighth place in the shot putt. Catherina Mullen produced a strong run to win her heat in the under 17 1500m in a time of 5:06 however she was unable to find her best form in the final and finished in seventh place overall. The second weekend of the age group championships on April 12th will see Craig Lynch back on track for the under 19 200m while the club's younger racewalkers will also hope for a positive end to their indoor season. Photo by AAI

AAI Star Awards 2007

The annual AAI Star awards were held at the Arklow Bay Hotel recently to recognise the achievements of the leading juvenile athletes from each county for 2007. Craig Lynch received the Cavan award in recognition of his achievements in sprinting.

Craig enjoyed an outstanding season in 2007 which included national age group titles in the 60m and 200m indoors and 200m outdoors. Craig crowned his season with an impressive win in the Celtic International when he overcame higher ranked opposition to win the gold at 200m.

It was the tenth year in a row that the Cavan award went to an athlete from Shercock Athletic Club, previous recipients were: 1998 Brendan Corrigan, 1999 & 2000 Patrick Corrigan, 2001 Alan McEntee, 2002 Sean Smith, 2003 Anne Marie Burns, 2004-2006 Gerard O'Reilly.

March 15th - Ulster Juvenile Indoor Championships - Magherafelt.

Medal Winning Performances by Shercock Juveniles

The Ulster juvenile indoor championships finally came to an end when the third stage was held in Magherafelt's impressive new indoor arena. Shercock athletes featured prominently on the medal rostrum once again including Craig Lynch who came off the better in a duel with Ballymena's Dean Adams to take the under 19 200m title in a useful time of 22.4s. Catherina Mullen made an abrupt transition from cross country to track with some success to win the under 17 1500m title (left). Ciaran Corrigan had a red letter day in Magherafelt, winning the under 13 long jump and shot putt while also qualifying for the all-Irelands when finishing fourth in the 60m final. Padraig Donagh was disappointed to only finish fifth overall in the under 13 600m but was rewarded with the silver medal following a strong performance in the shot putt, joining Ciaran Corrigan on the podium (left). Killian Farrelly showed good promise for the future, taking fourth place in both the under 13 long jump and high jump, and fifth in the 60m hurdles final. Also in medal winning form was the Shercock under 13 girls relay team who finished in third place.

Weekend Round-up - March 8th

Peter Muldoon Competes for Methodist Central at NAIA Indoors

Methodist Central sophomore, Peter Muldoon finished in a time of 14:14.19 in the Men’s 3000m Racewalk as he took home fifth place while receiving NAIA All-American honors. (link)

Positive Run by Catherina Mullen in All-Ireland Schools Cross Country

Competing over a tough course in Loughrea, Catherina Mullen (right)  produced a strong run in the intermediate girls race to finish in twelfth place. Catherina was delighted with the result, in what she described as the toughest race of her life, having achieved such a high placing in her first year in the intermediate age-group. Photo by Paul O'Neill

Indoor Athletics 2008

February 17th - Irish Junior Indoor Championships - Shercock Quartet Take Large Medal Haul

A talented group of four junior athletes from Shercock braved the fog and frost this morning to travel south to Nenagh for the Irish Junior Indoor Championships. First up was Paul Smith who completed an hour long vigorous warm-up to banish the cold before contesting the men's long jump. Paul opened his account with a trademark big effort in the opening round to take the lead with a distance of 6.68m. Despite the best efforts of Corkman David Quilligan to match his mark, Paul's distance held the lead throughout the competition and earned him the gold and an Irish junior title to add to the Scottish title which he had won the previous weekend. The competition also yielded a new PB of 5.81m for Paul's training partner Richard Tsang (Monaghan Phoenix) who finished fourth. The second men's event of the day saw a dominant display by another Shercock athlete, racewalker Paul Fitzpatrick, who led from start to finish to retain his junior title in the 5km racewalk in a time of 22:23. Next to climb the medal podium was Matthew O'Reilly who threw a personal best of 7.45m to win the 35 pound weight for distance. Matthew went on to win his second medal of the day in the shot putt, taking third place with a best distance of 12.37m. Craig Lynch was the fourth and final club athlete to compete, contesting both the 60m and 200m sprints. In both cases he went head-to-head in the finals with Waterford's Christopher Russell, who proved the faster of the pair on the day and won both titles with Craig taking the silver medal on each occasion. Craig's success completed a very positive day's competition for the quartet, who brought home two golds, three silvers and a bronze medal between them.

Gold medalists Paul Fitzpatrick (5km walk) and Paul Smith (Long Jump)

AAI President Michael Heery with long jump medalists Paul Smith, 1st, David Quilligan, 2nd, and Brendan O'Connor, 3rd.

Double medalists Matthew O'Reilly, 2nd WFD and 3rd shot putt, and Craig Lynch, 2nd 60m & 200m.

AAI President Michael Heery with sprint medalists Christopher Russell and Craig Lynch.

February 9th & 10th - Scottish Indoor Championships

All roads led to Glasgow's Kelvin Hall this weekend as many of the club's juvenile and junior athletes made the annual pilgrimage to the Scottish indoor championships to test themselves against the best of the celts as virtually the entire cohort of Ireland's and Scotland's athletic youth went head-to-head at the impressive indoor venue. Leading performances for Shercock came from Paul Smith who celebrated his seventeenth birthday by winning the junior men's long jump with a best effort of 6.65m. Also celebrating his birthday was eighteen year-old Craig Lynch who showed good form when he came from behind to take second place in the junior men's 60m final. Craig was also involved in an all-Irish dust-up in the 200m final where he took on Christopher Russell  from Waterford and Brian Gregan from Dublin. Craig ran a good opening bend and held his form well down the back straight however the climb into the final bend in lane four caused him some problems and he lost ground as Russell and Gregan overtook him on the inside. Craig battled hard to hold third place and secured the bronze medal with Russell taking the honours on this occasion. Celine Clerkin tested herself over a new distance - 300m - in the under 17 age group and performed well, progressing to the semi-finals where she finished 4th in a time of 46.22s.

At the juvenile championships on Saturday there were a number of encouraging performances by younger Shercock athletes. Ciaran Corrigan, following in the footsteps of his brother Patrick, a Scottish age group champion, won a bronze medal in the under 13 shot putt with a best effort of 7.23m. Padraig Donagh was a heat winner in the under 13 800m, Greg Kelly, Edel Kieran and Barry Cooney each finished in the top three in their heats.

Photos Link

Kevin McCloy had a busy weekend on the indoor circuit in Cardiff, competing first in the inter-city match on Saturday in which he finished 6th in the 400m in 49.9s. With just one night to recover, Kevin was back on track on Sunday representing Ireland in the Celtic indoor international. Having been selected for the Irish 4x400m relay, Kevin produced a storming run on the third leg to pass the Welsh and Scottish leaders and take Ireland into the lead with an impressive 48.4s split for his leg. It was a critical winning performance which helped to secure victory for the Irish team. Kevin also guested in the 800m in a sole effort over the distance, which he does not plan to repeat until the outdoor season opens. After a slow, tactical opening lap, the field went through the 400m mark in just over 60 seconds. The pace picked up considerably over the closing laps and Kevin found himself in a four-way battle for the lead. In the end he was unable to overcome the challenge of his celtic opponents and was forced to settle for fourth in 1:55 minutes, perhaps feeling the effects of a heavy weekend's travel and competition.

Cross country relays: Several of the clubs juveniles traveled to the Finn Valley Centre in Stranorlar to compete for their county in the inter county cross country relays. Barry Cooney and Niall Clerkin were on the winning Cavan team in the under 14 age group, Sinead O'Neill and Edel Kieran featured on the second placed county team in the under 14 age group and Padraig Donagh and Ciaran Corrigan also made the podium when their team finished third.

January 27th - National Senior Indoor Championships, Belfast

Superb Medal Winning Performances by Craig Lynch and Paul Smith

The national indoor championships at Belfast's Odyssey Arena marked a breakthrough to senior competition by two of the club's most talented young athletes. Craig Lynch emerged from his winter training looking fitter and faster than ever and made an impressive start to the season when he sprinted his way to the silver medal in the men's 60m final in a personal best and new club record of 7.01s. Clearly Craig has a lot more to come and will be a name to watch out for in the months ahead. Also making the step up to senior competition was sixteen-year-old Paul Smith who produced the best jump of his life in the opening round of the men's event in which he broke the sand at 6.80m. As the competition ebbed and flowed it was unclear where Paul was placed among the mixed field of Irish competitors and international visitors, however in the end he was surprised to find he had earned the bronze medal, placing down a serious marker for his future in the event. Paul announced his next target as Brendan Corrigan's long standing club record of 6.86m. There were further positive runs by Shercock's Kevin McCloy, who was unlucky not to reach the 400m A final, but ran well to finish second in the B final in 49.9s. Kevin is facing a busy weekend ahead in Cardiff where he will compete in the Inter-City Cup on Saturday and the Celtic International on Sunday. James Ruxton had double cause for complaint in the 400m, firstly against himself for running a below par 51.1s when finishing second in his heat and secondly against the recording officials who mixed up his position and placed him third in 55s in the results! Philip Daly and Gerry O'Reilly were also in action in the 60m heats, Philip finishing third and Gerry sixth. Matthew O'Reilly struggled to find his form but still managed to finish fifth in the shot putt with a best throw of 11.15m. Paul Fitzpatrick was involved in a dramatic 5km walk final in which Robert Heffernan broke the Irish record, Paul also recorded his best indoor time for the distance when finishing seventh in 22:29.

January 26th - Ulster Juvenile Indoor Championships - Odyssey Arena, Belfast

While Shercock's senior athletes were were busy at the national championships, some of the club's younger athletes were also making waves at the regional indoors, which were held alongside the seniors. There were gold medal winning performances in the under 14 800m by Edel Kieran and in the under 14 walk by Barbara Ward. Silver medals were won by Niall Clerkin in the under 14 long jump, Micheal Gargan in the under 16 walk, Ciaran O'Reilly in the under 14 shot putt and Greg Kelly-Hand in the under 15 shot putt. Darina Fitzpatrick was fourth in the under 14 walk, Catherina Mullen was fifth in the under 17 800m in a useful time of 2:33.9, Celine Clerkin was second in her 200m heat, Barry Cooney was eighth in the under 15 800m final, Senan McGeever was second in his under 14 60m heat, Shauna McGeever was third in her heat of the under 16 60m and Emma Duffy also ran strongly in her 800m heat in the under 14 age group.

January 18th

Shercock AC Annual Awards 2007

An appreciative audience gathered in St. Patrick's Hall to recall the clubs achievements during 2007. The achievements of individual club athletes and teams were re-lived in a fast-moving video presentation, marking more than eighty medal winning performances at national and international level. A highly popular Reeling in the Years slideshow recalled the achievements of past club members before many of the medal winners were presented once again with their medals which had been framed by the club for the occasion. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Athlete of the Year Awards, with the men's award going to Craig Lynch and the women's award to Lisa Clerkin (right).

Full photo coverage of the night is available on Picasa: Photo Link

January 12th - Scottish Indoor Championships - New Club 400m Record!

Kevin McCloy broke into new territory when he recorded an impressive 49.41s to finish third in the 400m final at the Scottish indoor championships. This not only sets a new club record but also signals that Kevin is in the best shape of his life as he prepares for this year's track season. Definitely a case of "watch this space!" for the months ahead.

Also opening their indoor accounts at the weekend were Gerry O'Reilly and Peter Muldoon who competed at the AAI Games in Nenagh. Gerry came off best in the 200m D race which he won, while Peter finished fourth in the 3km racewalk.

Warm weather training camp, Portugal

Six Shercock athletes enjoyed a very positive start to the new year when they traveled to Monte Gordo, Portugal for nine days training in company with a group of athletes from across Ulster which included a large contingent from Finn Valley AC. The camp was spear-headed by Irish Olympic team manager Patsy McGonagle who was assisted on the coaching front by Stephen Maguire and John McGeever with physio support being provided by Philip Glasgow. Shercock participants were Alan McEntee, Brian Flatley, Craig Lynch, Paul Fitzpatrick and Kevin Ruxton, whose brother James was also present as part of a DCU squad. All the athletes benefited greatly from the experience, achieving their training objectives while also enjoying the positive team spirit which characterized the camp. The excellent facilities which included indoor and outdoor training areas, long trails for the runners and racewalkers, and four-star hotel accommodation came in for high praise from both athletes and coaches.