Autumn sunshine provides perfect backdrop for Carlow County Cross Country Championships
Top Three Men's Novice L to R: Pat Burke (Tinryland), Arthur Hearns (SLOT) and Ben Dowling (Tinryland). Photo: Tinryland AC
Another week of plenty action for Carlow athletes. Stage 2 of the county cross-country took place once again at Coppenagh House Farm Tullow. This time it was the turn of the uneven age groups and the novice. There was a great turnout from Barrow Valley who proved invincible in the team categories across many age groups. Individual titles were shared across several clubs; Barrow Valley. Ardattin, Ballon Rathoe, St Pats and St Laurence O’Toole.
Somewhat misplaced in the cross-country season was the Leinster Schools Combined events, its date determined by a chain of competitions that ultimately leads to the Combined events international to be held in Glasgow. Harry Butcher (SLOT) representing his school the Presentation, DLS Bagnelstown produced a series of impressive performances to take gold in the Junior boys.
Beautiful autumn sunshine provided the perfect setting for Day Two of the Carlow County Cross Country Championships last weekend, with athletes of all ages delivering a series of exciting performances and thrilling battles for individual and team honours. As with the week before Coppenagh House Farm Tullow was the venue, for the u9, 11, 12, 15 and 17 juveniles along with the Novice Championship races. A special mention to Barrow Valley AC whose sheer representation ensured landslide victories across many age groups in in the team sections.
The Novice Men’s race produced one of the day’s most compelling contests, as ten athletes took to the start line for a fiercely competitive battle. Arthur Hearns (SLOT) eventually claimed the county title following a superb battle for much of the race with Tinryland’s Pat Burke. Burke stayed in contention throughout, ceding to the St Laurence O’Toole man only in the closing stages, when Hearns moved up a gear and made a decisive break on his way to victory.
Ben Dowling (Tinryland) took a break from his Dublin City Marathon training to help his Tinryland team. Dowling finished third. Father and son competing in the same race Benny Dowling (Tinryland) also in preparation for the Dublin City Marathon finished fourth. John Dillon the fourth Tinryland man home finished in fifth place. With four athletes in the top five, there was no doubt about Tinrylands victory in the team event. PJ Blanche was another Tinryland athlete who competed.
The Novice Ladies’ title went to Sandra O’Reilly of SLOT, who secured the top individual honour in her race. This was O’Rielly’s second gold medal within a week, having previously won the Masters title on the first day of the county cross-country the week before.
The younger age groups provided plenty of excitement, with several clubs recording impressive team performances and individual victories.
In the Under-9 Boys’ race, Conor Murphy led home a strong SLOT performance to claim first place, with clubmate Daniel Bulfin completing the podium in third. Cian Hickey of Barrow Valley split the SLOT pair with an excellent second-place finish. Hickey led his Barrow Valley team mates of Charlie O’Neill, Oisin Nolan and Mikey Fitzgerald to gold team medals. Ardattin, SLOT, St Pats and Barrow Valley all had athletes competing.
The Under-9 Girls’ race saw Ardattin’s Sinead Fitzpatrick take the individual title, ahead of Ava Quirke of SLOT, with Chloe Moloney (Barrow Valley) finishing third. Once again it was Barrow Valley who dominated the race with Moloney leading the team of Kathlyn Purcell, Niamh Purcell and Sophia Aughney to team gold.
Barrow Valley were particularly impressive in the Under-11 Boys’ competition, where Ryan Murphy led the club to a clean podium sweep. Murphy was followed by Paudie Hayden in second and Tadhg Brennan in third. Beyond the podium the Barrow Valley singlets kept coming through the chute with seven of the club members in the top ten. There was good running from Lachlann Mara (Ardattin) in fifth. Barrow Valley once again took the team title, their third of the three competitions already held. The team consisted of: Murphy, Hayden, Brennan and Freddie Kelly who finished fourth individual.
While Barrow Valley may have dominated the team titles, they did not have the individual titles all to themselves. Following on from Sinead Fitzpatricks u9 win her sister Marie took the u11 race. Fitzpatrick was pushed right throughout the race by her clubmate Lilli Sinnott. Both were aware of the strong Barrow Valley trio: Hayley Moloney, Anna Balfe and Lyla O’Leary who were part of the leading group.
Working hard the Ardattin girls pulled away from the leading group and raced hard to the finish with Marie Fitzpatrick securing victory over her club mate Lilli Sinnott. With Barrow Valley packing well in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th (Moloney, Balfe, O’Leary and Eve Nolan) they won the team title from St Laurence O’Toole (Rita Keppel, Caoimhe Woods, Anna Purcell, Aoibhinn Egan Kelly) by five points.
All Ireland 600m champion Oliver McDonald (SLOT) was a very impressive winner of the boys u13. McDonald was a class apart as he led from start to finish, looking good ahead of the forthcoming Leinster Championships. Phillip O’Callaghan (St Pats) secured the clubs first individual medal of the day with an excellent second place, overtaking Charlie Dillon (SLOT) in the final stages of the race. The St Laurence O’Toole team of McDonald, Dillon, Jack Kenny and Adrian Bounbal Ni Chistroi took team gold.
Having finished in the top 12 at last year’s Leinster Championships Saoirse Dunne (Ardattin) set out on her road to Leinster expedition. Dunne had no problem retaining her title from last year. Her u13 gold the u12 one to won the previous week. The double count champion was follow home by two Barrow Valley athletes; Annie Lynch and Harriet Keogh who finished second and third respectively. Lynch and Keogh helping their club secure another team victory with the help of Rachel Minchin and Isabelle Nolan.
Jack Keogh of St. Pats took the Boys’ u15 title, with Elliott McCarthy of SLOT finishing second. In the Girls’ race, Ella Jordan led the way for Barrow Valley, ahead of Alexandra Balfe of SLOT.
The Under-17 Girls’ competition saw Lucy Malone of Ballon take first place, with Sarah Keogh of St. Pats finishing runner-up. This was Malone’s second county title within a week.
The juveniles will now look forward to competing in the Leinster even ages in nearby Gowran, Co. Kilkenny and the uneven ages in the Curragh, Co. Kildare.
The combined events have been on a positive trajectory ever since Kate O’Connor won her bronze medal at the European Indoors in the Netherlands in 2025. Her subsequent World indoor and outdoor silver, World University Gold and the most recent European Gold have sky-rocketed the participation in juvenile multi-event competitions. There were record numbers at the Leinster schools combined events in Abbotstown last week with more than 30 athletes competing in some of the age groups.
Carlow athletes competed with distinction, excellent performances coming from Harry Butcher (gold in the Junior boys) and Libby Harris-Byrne (4th in the junior girls).
Harry Butcher (Presentation DLS, Bagenalstown) , took the Junior Boys pentathlon by storm. He dominated the event taking victory in 60m Hurdles, 200m and Long Jump, second in the 800m and third in the shot putt. The day started well for Butcher as the St Laurence O’Toole athlete who clocked 8.93 in the 60m hurdles, bagging 761 points and the initial lead.
A rapid 24.30 seconds in the 200m increased that lead. The only athlete to leap in excess of the 6m barrier in the long jump, his 6.05m leap was 69cm ahead of the next athlete Calvin McCourt (Dundalk). Butcher’s weakest event has always been the shot putt. His 10.91m effort was good enough for 3rd place in that event. Butcher was so far ahead on the points table at this stage that it would have taken a 14m throw to overhaul him. The final event of the day was the 800m. Traditionally it has been the event that can completely change the results.
However, for Butcher his 2.11 second placed effort made no difference to the results as finished top of the leader board with a total of 3,136 points. Butcher was 459 points ahead of Joshua Hunt (Blackrock College). Also competing in the same competition was Elliot McCarthy (SLOT). Competing with Tullow CC, McCarthy finished 9th. Paddy Mac Oda (Gael Cholaiste Carlow) was 8th.
The Junior girls event was won by Hila Raji (Ballymakenny College) from Julia Barazzyn (Edmund Rice College) in second and Autumn Moran (St Mary’s, Dundalk) in third. Not far behind was Libby Harris-Byrne in fourth place. Harris Byrne as expected had an excellent run over the 60m Hurdles, crossing the line in first place with a time of 9.46.
For her efforts she started the first of the five events in first place with 816 points. Her long jump of 4.44m managed to keep her in line for a podium position. However, Harris-Byrne needed a bit more from her High Jump, Shot Putt and 800m to keep her on a medal trajectory. She ultimately had to be satisfied for 4th place but can come away from the championships happy with her signature event the hurdles. A whopping 34 athletes took part in the competition.
