Heery leads Meath to national finals

MEATH manager Ger Heery leads his squad into the National League Athletic Championship finals at Tullamore next weekend with Moynalvey AC"s Sara Treacy among those set to make a return to county colours. Treacy recently represented Ireland at the World Junior championships in Poland and continued her impressive season with a personal best of 4.22 minutes in the 1500m as well as 2.10 in the 800m. Also in the Meath line-up is Mary Hanley (Na Fianna) and she can still put it up to some of the best senior grade runners in the country despite now being in the W2 masters category. Her best time over 3000m on the track is a very impressive 9.48 while her 5km best is 17.29s. At the other end of the age scale 17-year-old Grace O"Sullivan"s 36.90m javelin throw for a silver in the recent juvenile championships is good enough to challenge many of her senior rivals. Her sister Lucy, who is in her third year in the league team, has a 3km walk time of 16.49 to her credit this year. The emphasis is on youth in the women"s 4x400m relay team. The line-up is likely to include Elaine Plunkett (St Brigid"s), Leah Rennicks (Bohermeen) and Sophie Kennedy (Navan). Na Fianna"s Cheryl Dolan will be involved in the 100m, while Karen Healy (Fr Murphy) should on form be capable of securing the maximum points in the discus having thrown an excellent 36.45m recently. In the other throwing events Navan athlete Aisling Wynne is hoping to replicate her shot and hammer double achievement in round two of the league. High jumper Jenny Reilly (Na Fianna) has added the triple jump this year to her repertoire with some notable achievements including a season"s best of 11.29m. Rosemary Daniel continued her comeback from a back injury with a national high jump title over the weekend in Santry. All going well a repeat of that 1.80m jump would almost guarantee maximum points. Dunboyne AC"s Rory McDonnell has shown some good form on the track this season an is expected to feature in the 5000m. The 22-year-old represented Ireland in the 2005 World Mountain Running Championships in New Zealand. In the 1500m Morgan McDonagh will be encouraged by his recent 1.58m run over 800m against international competition in Cork. Earlier this month Feilibh O Cinneide ran 22.7 over 200m and 51.00 for the 400m when taking two silvers at the national juvenile championships. Daniel Treacy, brother of Sara, will be Meath"s 800m representative and will also run the 4x400m alongside Turloch Grant, In the throws Mark Hanily with a pb of 57.01m should put in strong display in the hammer. The Star of the Sea duo of Ger Nagle and Barry Delany could deliver a good tally once again. Nagle"s a best of 13.63 in the shot, 46m in the discus while Delany is one of the leading 56lbs-for-distance men with a season"s best of 7.58m. Their young clubmate Kourosh Foroughi won the national u-18 high jump championship a fortnight ago and he also gets the chance to try out his new-found skills at javelin. Sixteen-year-old Keith Doherty is one of the promising exponents of the pole vault with a 3.40m personal best. David Tobin who jumped 6.45m at the beginning of the year and he will be hoping to get into that range again in the long jump. Darren Vahey is the triple jump representative and Michael Doyle (Tara) returns to action on home soil in the 3km walk.