Carlow’s Molly Scott part of Irish team at World Relay Championships
Carlow’s Molly Scott named as part of the Irish 4x100m relay for the World Relays in Botswana. Photos: Perri Williams
The curtain has been drawn on the national juvenile indoors as the third of the three juvenile championship days concluded last Saturday. Hosted in Athlone, the final day consisted of the relays, 1500m and the remainder of the shot, high jump and triple jump competitions. It was bronze for the St Laurence O’Toole girls U15 team in the 4x200m relay in a very competitive age group. Sunday saw the throwing season kick off with the National Spring Throws. Darragh Corcoran (SLOT) finished top of the table in the 1.75kg discus (junior men).
Earlier in the week, the Irish teams for the World Relay Championships were announced. Carlow’s Molly Scott was named on the team after a gap of several years. Scott will compete on the 4x100m relay in Botswana on the 2/3 May.
Cassie O’Byrne has been announced as the Carlow winner of the Athletics Ireland Star Awards. These awards will be presented to athletes next weekend in Mullingar.
After several years absent from Irish relay teams, Molly Scott (SLOT) is back in the green again. The St Laurence O’Toole athlete was named alongside Ciara Neville, Precious Apke-Moses, Molly O’Rielly, Sarah Leahy and Sarah Lavin on the ladies 4x100m relay that is Botswana-bound in May. The World Relays have seen much success for Irish teams over the past few years, and this year, the Ladies 4x100, 4x400m, and mixed 4x400m teams will be hoping to build upon that success. The top twelve teams in each discipline will qualify for the World Championships in Beijing in 2027.
Scott has been a member of the Irish 4x100m relay squad and recently forfeited her 60m hurdles opportunity at the national indoors in favour of competing in the 60m sprint. A tactical move, obviously designed to improve her chances of a relay place. At those Nationals, she finished third with a time of 7.37 seconds – a season's best and her fastest time in two years. The gold- and silver-medalists from the nationals, Ciara Neville and Precious Apke-Moses, will accompany Scott to Botswana.
Molly Scott is no stranger to competing for Ireland on relay teams at major championships. She already has a silver medal from the 4x100m relay at the World u20 championships (Finland) back in 2018. Having been placed 4th in the Europeans in 2017, the team, most of whom were eligible for 2018, were on the hunt for medals. The team consisted of Scott, Ciara Neville, Gina Apke-Moses and Patience Jumbo Gula. After years of nursing injuries, both Scott and Neville are back again competing for Ireland, with Patience Apke-Moses taking the place of her sister, Gina. To date, Scott has competed on the 4x100m relay at the 2016 U20 Worlds, 2017 Europeans, 2018 Worlds, the U23 Europeans in 2019 and 2021. She has competed in just one edition of the World Relays. That was back in 2021 in Poland. The team of Scott, Sarah Lavin, Katie Doherty and Sarah Quinn finished 4th in the heats.
Cassie O’Byrne (SLOT) has been announced as the Carlow recipient of the Athletics Ireland Juvenile Star Award. With results based on 2025 performances, O’Byrne certainly had plenty of ammunition in her bag. At the All-Ireland u18 she was the gold medallist in the 200m and took bronze in the 400m. The Wicklow native is the second generation of athletes in her family, with her mother, aunt and uncles having competed for St Laurence O’Toole many decades ago.
Four Carlow teams qualified for the All-Ireland Indoor relays held in Athlone last weekend. It was St Laurence O’Toole’s girls U15 team of Libby Harris Byrne, Emily Kidd, Fatima Mohammed Ibrahim and Amelia Skebas that took home one of those prestigious medals on this occasion. It was an unusual trip to the indoor venue, with road blockades due to protests over fuel prices; many athletes had to take unorthodox routes, some even passing through the Slieve Bloom Mountains.
The girls' U13 team of Matab Mohammed Ibrahim, Ma-aab Mohammed Ibrahim, Gabriela Duggan, Sienna Ryan and Meave O’Rourke kick-started the day for St Laurence O’Toole. Competing in heat 3, the team finished second with a time of 2:01.51. With all races run for times, the overall medal winners were decided by the top three times from all heats; the girls finished eighth overall. The team improved by almost a second and a half from their qualifying Leinster championship performance. It was Gabriela Duggan who led the team off, passing the baton to Matab Mohammed Ibrahim. Impressive baton changes ensued between Ibrahim and Sienna Ryan, with Ma-aab Mohammed Ibrahim leading the girls home to take their second place in heat three. The overall winners were Galway City Harriers. Clane AC (the Leinster champions) were second with Dundrum South Dublin in third place. The top three teams came from the first heat.
It was a podium place for the girls u15. The team of Libby Harris Byrne, Emily Kidd, Fatima Mohammed Ibrahim and Amelia Skebas dominated their heat, taking the top spot with a time of 1:50.31. The winning team was Ratoath AC, who took the title from heat 1 with a time of 1:48.05. Silver went to St Abbans, who were the winners of heat 3. The Carlow girls were a tantalising two-tenths of a second off the silver medal. Which does beg the question: if heats and finals had been run, could they have earned that silver medal? The team was led off by Libby Harris, who passed the baton to Emily Kidd in first place. Kidd then extended the lead as she moved the baton into the hands of Fatima Mohammed Ibrahim. Further increases in their lead left Amelia Skebas with a dominant lead, which she continued to increase as she crossed the line to take the top spot.
The boys U15 team of Paddy Coady, Harry Butcher, Jack Andrulenis, Cian Oprea and Ellott McCarthy finished second in the first heat with a time of 1:48:00. This gave them an overall result of 5th place. What is significant is the improvement these boys made since their Leinster Championship time – almost three seconds faster. A good leg by Butcher saw the team slip into second place, with the final leg being superb, managing to hold off Craughwell all the way to the line.
Finally, it was time for the boys U12. The team of Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim, Oliver McDonald, Harry Brown, Thomas Julian and Michael Cassidy finished fourth in the first heat in a time of 2:02.07. This earned them 7th place overall. It was Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim who started, handing the baton to national U12 600m champion Oliver McDonald in third place. A significant run by McDonald moved the team right up to MSB, who were in second. However, a mighty effort by St Cronan’s third man saw the Clare team move from 5th place into second. St Laurence O’Toole managed to maintain the fourth place right to the end, just 7/100s of a second behind MSB.
This now firmly concludes the indoor season, with all clubs in the county now preparing for the county championships, which will start on April 26th.
The throwing season kicked off with discus, hammer and javelin athletes at the national spring throws in Templemore, last Sunday. The annual event sees many of these athletes make their season debuts, dusting off competition cobwebs and seeing the results of their winter training. Daragh Corcoran competed in the Junior men's 1.75kg discus, throwing 42.52 from his final throw. A few scary moments after fouls in his first and second attempts resulted his solid third round throw. He was well ahead of Joe Brice (Leevale) in second place.
