Adam Nolan retains National hurdles title
Adam Nolan - gold medalist in the 60m Hurdles at the national senior indoors Photos: Perri Williams
Several Carlow athletes were in action over the two day event with four medals showing the fruit of the county’s labours. On day one the hurdles took centre stage with Irish superstars Sarah Lavin and world multi event silver medallist Kate O’Connor going head to head over the 60m hurdles. In the men’s event Adam Nolan (SLOT) the pre-race favourite came up trumps to take gold.
Also making the podium on the first day was Adam Murphy (Tinryland) and Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe) who battled it out against Raheny’s Mark Smyth in the 200m final. Day two saw more action from Carlow athletes with Molly Scott taking bronze in the ladies 60m.
The Leinster Schools Cross-country was eventually held last Friday with flooded courses forcing the event to be cancelled twice in the last few weeks. Daniel Greene representing Borris Vocational School won the minor boys event. Lucy Malone (Ballon/Rathoe) representing FCJ Bunclody was the top female performer, finishing 28th in the Inter girls event.
It was three in a row for Adam Nolan as became National Senior 60m hurdles champion. Nolan along with clubmate Ruben McCarthy competed in the final, where hurdles were toppled and a closely contested race, ensured those eight seconds were packed with action and excitement. Nolan was first out of the blocks, first to take the first hurdles, first to the race mid-point and ultimately, first to cross the line in a new season’s best of 8.03 seconds.
His technique was flawless unlike some others in the race, who clipped and knocked hurdles as they carved the path to the finish line. The Carlow man added the 2026 title to those he won in 2025 and 2024, the three in the row setting him up nicely for the summer season. McCarthy finished 7th with a personal best of 8.58 seconds. Coach Billy Delaney taking another proud moment.
In 2025 two SLOT athletes climbed the podium in the ladies 60m hurdles. Unfortunately both Molly Scott and Arabella Adeyoka were both absent this year. Scott opted to compete in the 60m on day two. In their place, behind Sarah Lavin stood Ireland’s multi-events queen Kate O’Connor who took second in a new personal best of 8.21 seconds and junior athlete Orlaith Mannion (South Galway) in third place.
200m medallists The 200m saw 50 athletes contest the heats with the six fastest athletes qualifying for the final. Competing in the first heat Marcus Lawler eased through with a rapid 21.34 over a second ahead of Leon Ewere (West Coast AC). It was a similar result for Adam Murphy who won his heat in 21.61 (a season’s best performance) almost one and a half seconds ahead of James Armstrong (Orangegrove AC). However, sandwiched between Lawler and Murphy in heat 2 was Mark Smyth.
Smyth has always been the unknown quantity in this years national championships. Injured after the national league in January, he had not raced since. As the National 200m record holder, the suggestion would be he should be the man to fear. Both Lawler (last years national champion) and Murphy (the 2025 silver medallist) were well aware that despite not racing since early January, any potential performance from Smyth was not to be discounted. The Raheny man threw out a 21.22 200m time in the heats, making him the fastest qualifier for the final. Also taking part in the heats was Eoin Byrne (SLOT) who finished fourth, thus ending his national senior 200m path.
The final was a three way affair. Rounding the final bend the result could have gone to Murphy, Lawler or Smyth. However it was Smyths electrifying speed over the final 50m that sealed the gold medal for him with a time of 21.11. While the time is somewhat shy of Smyth’s national record of 20.64, he jumps straight number two on the 2026 leaderboard for 200m. Marcus Lawler who recorded that magnificent win in 2025 to set a new championship record of 20.74 had to settle for second on this occasion, crossing the line in 21.24. Marcus now moves to third place on the Irish ranking list. Adam Murphy took the bronze in 21.68. This was the Tinryland man’s twentieth national final and his third medal – consecutive too. He too moved up the ranking list, from fifth place to joint fourth with US based Lucas Fadden.
Elsewhere Michaela Šubrtová (SLOT) contested the triple jump to finish seventh with a best jump of 11.18m. This came from the fourth round. Šubrtová was in third place after the first round, with four of the top five eventual winners recording foul jumps. This situation was rectified in round 2. This is a new personal best for Šubrtová.
Opting for the 60m instead of the 60m hurdles this time around, Molly Scott made her track appearance on day two of the championship. Three rounds of competition were on the table with Molly making all three; heats, semi-final and final.
Scott won her heat with ease, clocking 7.46 seconds ahead of Lauren Ryan (Dooneen). In the semi-final she was drawn in the same race as Louth sensation Precious Apke-Moses who finished fourth in last years European Championships. Side by side these two athletes raced each other with Apke-Moses pipping Scott on the line. Molly Scott has three national indoor 60m titles to her name. Her most memorable being 2022 where she set a new national indoor record – a record she held all too briefly as it was snatched by the great Rashidat Adeleke just a week later. With memories of her 2019, 2022 and 2024 victories still in her mind, the diminutive athlete could only dream of reaching the podium once more. Running once again side by side with Apke Moses in the final, the two once again set out to claim their stakes. Ciara Neville (Emerald) retained her national title with Apke-Moses second and Scott in third. Clearly delighted with her performance the Carlow woman ran 7.37 seconds – a seasons best and her fastest time in two years.
There was a huge entry in the men’s 60m with ten heats and over 80 athletes. Amongst the entries were David Hayde, Eanna Dunican, Lee Prendergast, Brian Mafeni, Jermiah Duru and Ruben McCarthy. Six St Laurence O’Toole athletes all trying to get to the next round. Eanna Dunican finished third in his heat and was the only athlete to make the semi-final. Dunican ended his journey at the semi-final stage, where he finished seventh.
Three Carlow ladies contested the senior 400m. Again another stacked race with the iconic Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) taking victory in both the first heat and the first semi-final. Teresa Doyle, Cassie O’Byrne and Sofia Granjo (all SLOT) lined up with the Irish greats. For O’Byrne and Granjo (both still juvenile athletes) it was the National Senior Indoor debut. Doyle (the Leinster Masters champion over 400m) was drawn in heat 1 alongside Sharlene Mawsley, the fastest Irish athlete over 400m this year. She finished with a creditable 60.03.
Cassie O’Byrne recorded a new personal best two weeks ago at the Leinster u19 championships. Drawn in heat 3 alongside Irish International Jenna Breen (City of Lisburn) O’Byrne finished just over half a second behind Breen to qualify for the semi-final. Joining her in the semi-final was Sofia Granjo who won her heat from Roisin Murray, whom she beat at the same Leinster u19 championships. Mawsdley was a class apart in the semi-final cruising to a 52.59 victory, almost two seconds ahead of Arlene Crossan (Finn Valley). Behind these two Irish internationals was Sofia Granjo who finished third in 55.87 second, thus securing a place in the final. Not a bad achievement to make a national senior final on your first appearance. Unfortunately for Cassie O’Byrne it was 4th place, thus ending her first national seniors appearance. But in grand style with a distinctively positive performance.
Granjo was back on the track again on Sunday for the 400m final, where she was amongst greatness. Pre-race favourite Sharlene Mawdsley drew a huge audience, with a large number of supporters tuned into the 400m. It was a big occasion for the Granjo, who is still just seventeen. The St Laurence O’Toole athlete held her own finishing in 5th place with a time of 55.66, her second fastest time ever and just eight hundredths of a second shy of her personal best, that she set two weeks ago.
Two Carlow and SLOT athletes participated in the men’s 1500m. In the first of the three heats it was Aaron Shorten and Ken Archbold who lined up alongside Irish internationals James Dunne (Tullamore) and Niall Murphy (Ennis). Dunne who is now part of a professional athletes team in the UK crossed the line first with Murphy a student in UL second. Shorten who maintained pace with the main pack for five out of the seven and a half laps, eventually finished 9th.
Carlow is renowned for being a pole vault hub with Mick Hyland carrying on the family tradition in earnest. Matthew Callinan was absent from this weekends championships. However Jack Wickham and Lee Prendergast carried the mantle. Junior athlete Michael Kent (Wexford) won the overall event with a vault of 4.50m. Prendergast and Wickham both recorded a best of 3.60m, taking 5th and 6th respectively.
The Leinster Schools Cross-country was postponed on two occasion due to the excessive rain causing floods on the original venue in the Phoenix Park. Reschedules for last Friday in Navan, the athletes had to contend with difficult conditions. Rain, mud and boggy terrane challenged the athletes – suiting some and not others. Lucy Malone (Ballon/Rathoe) representing FCJ Bunclody finished 28th in the Inter girls race. With the top fifteen qualifying for nationals, Lucy’s cross-country journey ends with this race. The Ballon athlete can be happy with her cross-country performance this season, having qualified for the nationals in Derry before Christmas.
Not far behind Malone was Erika O’Grady (St Pats). O’Grady who was representing Tullow Community School finished 37th. Carlow did have one victory. Borris native Daniel Greene won the minor boys race. Representing Borris Vocational School, Greene overtook Aidan Keyes (Kildare) in the finishing straight.
The All-Ireland schools will be held this weekend in Mullusk, Northern Ireland.
