Laois Novice Road Championships, Vicarstown 26/1/25

While storm Éowyn battered the county on Friday, weather conditions had not improved much by Sunday when the Laois Novice Road Championships took place along the canal in Vicarstown. Wind and rain welcomed a large crowd to Vicarstown making conditions difficult for athletes. The ladies race took place over 3km with the men doubling the distance for 6km.
Sarah Fleming led the St Abban’s charge when she finished in 2nd place behind Della McLoughlin from the host club Oughaval. Karen Kavanagh was next for St Abbans in 5th place and with Audrey Byrne, Etna Sourke and Amy Burtenshaw running strong races the ladies were in the running for team medals. The team event was exceptionally close with only 3 points separating the teams. St Abbans finished in 1st place with 34 points, Oughaval were just behind in 2nd with 35points and Portlaoise completed the podium with 37 points.

The Men’s race was much tighter at the front with a lead group of 3 developing early on. Dan McLoughlin, Tom Kenny and William Kerr didn’t seem to phased by the tough conditions bridging a gap from the rest of the field. As the made the turn at 3km, Dan Mcloughlin appeared to make a gap on the other athletes. However, Tom timed his race to perfection coming home strongly to take victory by 7 seconds. Dan finished in 2nd place with William completing the podium in 3rd place. Once again, the team event was close particularly for top spot. When the scores were added the St Abbans team of Tom, Patrick Dunne 4th, Pj Leonard 7th and William Kelly 9th finished with same number of points as Oughaval A.C. In the event of this taking place, it comes down to the 4th scorer on each team. Oughaval’s Paddy McLoughlin finished just ahead of William Kelly which saw Oughaval take team honours with St Abbans in 2nd place. Ballyroan/ Abbeyleix and District completed the podium in 3rd place. St Abbans had 13 athletes in action in the Men’s event. The second team finished just outside the medals in 4th place. The team of John Sourke 12th , Liam Byrne 15th , Thomas Fitzgerald 16th  and Neil Murtagh 20th finished with 63 points. The 3rd team of Francis Fleming, James Nolan, Cormac Fleming and Sean Sourke finished in 7th place overall.

Well done to all of the athletes in action on Sunday and to Oughaval A.C who did a great job in very testing conditions. The next event on the Laois Road Championships will take place on February 16th when the Laois Senior Road Championships will take place in Ballyroan.  

South Leinster Schools, Carlow Town Hurling Club 23/1/25

The School’s Cross-Country calender kicked into action on Thursday in Carlow Town Hurling club with plenty of the club’s athletes in action representing a variety of difficult local schools. Athletes who finish in the top 15 individually qualify automatically for Leinster’s as well as the top 3 teams. A number of the club’s athletes qualified for Leinster’s on Wednesday 12th February. First up was Zoe Dunne in the Minor Girls who finished in 3rd place. In the Junior Girl’s Laura Ayers finished in 2nd place, Chelsey Dooley was 7th and Katie Hartnett was 11th. Will Duffy finished in 7th place in the Intermediate Boys with Kalem Buggy just behind in 13th place. Rahcel Ayers replicated her sister’s achievement in the Senior Girls when she finished in 2nd place while her clubmate Aine Carter finished in 15th. Finn Craig also had a great race finishing in 2nd place.  Well done to each of these athletes and we wish them all the best in their Leinster School’s in 2 weeks’ time.