Meath ladies retain Leinster crown

Meath retained their ladies Leinster Senior title at the Leinster Junior and Senior Cross-Country Championships hosted by St Senan's AC in Kilmacow, Kilkenny last Sunday. The ladies race over 5k consisted of one small lap and two large laps over a generally flat course, which was broken by one short steep decline and on the opposite side of the fieldby a short sharp climb. From the gun Aoife Talty (Raheny Shamrocks) went into the lead closely followed by Meath athlete Fiona Mahon (Donore Harriers). With the first lap completed Talty had opened up a slight lead on Mahon with Meath's Aoife Brady back in sixth. A few places further back were Sharon Monaghan (Fr Murphy) and Crona Brady (Sportsworld). Aoife Brady (Sportsworld) made great headway through the second lap and as the athletes embarked on their last lap Talty had consolidated her lead, but it looked that Aoife Brady would challenge Fiona Mahon for the silver medal. At one stage Aoife Brady had cut Mahon's lead to 10 metres, but the Donore Harrier's girl dug deep and over the final kilometre she again pulled away from Aoife Brady and made sure of the silver medal. Meanwhile Crona Brady finished 11th and with Sharon Monaghan coming home in 18th place the team had a total of 34 points to take the title from Offaly with 70pts and Kilkenny losing on count-back also with 70pts in third place. The junior ladies race over 3k also had a Meath interest with Dunshaughlin athlete Shauna Moore having a great race when taking the silver medal. The race was won by Mary Ann O'Sullivan (Tinryland AC) with Moore well clear of Megan Morrissey (Thomastown AC) in third place. Next weekend will see Moore lead the Meath u-19 girl's team in the All-Ireland u-19 Cross-Country Championships. Three Meath athletes received Leinster Star awards at the Leinster Athletics presentation night in the Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow on Saturday night. Sinead Reynolds from Cushinstown AC was the top Meath juvenile female athlete at Leinster level with medal winning performance in sprints and long jump in the indoor and outdoor championships. Jamie Murtagh (St Andrew's) won the male juvenile award after success in the high jump with a best effort of 1.65m at the provincial championships and silver at the indoors. The top Meath senior athlete at Leinster level last year was Trim AC's David Tobin who won the under-23 title, the indoor seniors and was runner-up in the outdoor championships in June. Cushinstown AC took the Leinster Shield for the club with the best combined results in the Leinster under-9 to under-11 championships last summer. The future looks very bright for the east Meath club which continues to turn out promising athletes under the guidance of Dessie Gough and Paddy Joyce.