Lawler and Murphy finish 1-2 in National 200m final

The National Indoor Athletics Championships which took place in Abbotstown last weekend brought glittering success for Carlow athletes.

While it is always a little unfair to pick out one achievement over another, the feats of two Tinryland sprinters, Marcus Lawler and Adam Murphy brought huge joy for both sportsmen.

On Saturday, Marcus Lawler took the gold medal when running a personal best and a championship record in the 200-metre event clocking a time of 20.74. He beat the previous time of 20.77 set by Mark Smyth of Raheen Shamrocks AC Murphy took the silver medal in the same race to create his own bit of history. While Tinryland had produced many great athletes, they have not all run in the Tinryland colours. Murphy is the second athlete wearing Tinryland colours to take a medal following in the footsteps of his grand-uncle, PJ Brennan, who took a bronze medal in the 3000m walk at the Mardyke in 1974. Incredibly, Murphy was winning his first senior medal of his career.

For Lawler, this was a weekend to savour. With recent personal bests in both the 200m and 400m he knew he was coming into a rich vein of form but there was a worry. Running in the Clonliffe Harriers AC colours, the Carlow Olympian picked up a niggle in the lead-up to the race and was unsure whether he would be able to give his all.

“I had good help on board to try and get it over the line for me. I probably didn’t feel as smooth as I wanted. I thought I had done enough and the more it went on, the warmer it got and the more I got into it. It didn’t really affect me at the end. A championship record is a championship record so I can’t say it affected it too much,” the new 200m indoor champions acknowledged.

With eleven semi-final heats there was little room for error and in the opening heat he set a target of 21.01 which was good enough to take the coveted lane 6.

Murphy in the Tinryland AC singlet, who posted a time of 21.76, was third fastest in the heats.

And so in the final, Lawler and Murphy reached out to take their place in Carlow athletic history.

“It was unbelievable. I was after having a bad week,” said Lawler.

“I wasn’t really sure where I stood. Then coming into the championships, I had my fingers crossed. It worked out really well. A championship record, a national title and an indoor championship best. It ticked a lot of boxes. It was a very good result,” he acknowledged.

Meanwhile, Murphy was unable to contain his joy as he crossed the line. Years of disappointment were put behind him.

“That is my first national senior medal, indoors and outdoors. I have a couple of under 20 medals and a few under 23 national medals. My eighteenth 200 metre senior final. I have been in the last ten indoor finals in a row and, unfortunately, missed a medal. Also I have been in eight outdoor finals. Eighteenth time lucky at the weekend,” he said with a huge amount of satisfaction.

“I knew before the final a medal could be on the cards. The time is good. My indoor 200m PB is 21.60. I was only 0.15 outside it. The PB was this time last year. On paper, I knew I was going really well. I am over the moon and there is a sense of relief that I finally got it,” he said.

There was also joy for Lawler, who will be part of the Irish squad competing at the European Championships next month, on the coaching front when he helped Sive O’Toole pick up a bronze in the women’s 60m.

She clocked a time of 7.54 in winning her heat. She equalled that time when taking second place in her semi-final. Her 7.52 in the decider clinched a place on the podium.

Lawler is enjoying mixing his own athletics career with coaching.

Five years ago, Sive was looking for a bit of help and a bit of guidance and it evolved into a coaching role.

“She has done very well and that was a very good result for her,” he said.