Mulcaire and Pierce Impress at GloHealth All Ireland Schools
Kevin Mulcaire (St Flannans Ennis) and Rhona Pierce (St Angelas Cork) won the senior titles at the GloHealth All-Ireland Schools Cross Country Championships. The 2015 event took place in blustery conditions in the beautiful surroundings of Clongowes Wood College on Saturday, 7th of March.
Senior
The senior boy’s race was a billed as a head to head between the inform Mulcaire and Jack O’Leary of the host school Clongowes. Hundreds of supporters lined the course as O’Leary, Mulcaire, Peter Lynch (St. Kieran’s College Kilkenny), Jamie Fallon (Calasanctius College Oranmore) and defending champion Andrew Corscoran (St Mary’s Drogheda) formed a classy leading pack.
Mulcaire made a big move on the penultimate lap to break the field and storm to an impressive victory in a time of 21.36. Lynch rallied well over the final lap to finish in second place with Fallon rounding out the top three, after miss-judging his effort O’Leary dropped back slighty to finish in eight place. St. Aidans, Dublin won the team title with a score of 91 points.
The girl’s race was a much closer affair with pre-race favourite Hope Saunders (Mt Temple) battling it out with Rhona Pierce (St Angelas, Cork) and Clodagh O’Reilly (Loreto College Cavan) for the title. Pierce made the decisive move with a little over 200m remaining to win the title ahead of Saunders second and O’Reilly close behind in third place. Loreto Kilkenny won the team title with a score of 52 points.
Intermediate
James Edgar (Friends’ School Lisburn) is a name to watch out for in the future as he stormed to victory in the intermediate boy’s race. Edgar wound up the pace ferociously over the last lap to run out the winner in a time of 16.26. Cormac Dalton (St Joseph’s Rochfortbridge) finished second in a time of 16.35 with Eoin McCann (Rathmore, Belfast) third in a time of 16.36. St Flannans Ennis won the team title with a score of 88 points.
Reigning junior champion Caoimhe Harrington (Colaiste Pobail Bheanntrai) stepped up to the intermediate age group in style to win the title in a time of 12.06. Niamh Ni Chiardha (Colaiste Iosagain) finished second with Jodie McCann (Rathdown School) finishing in third place. Dominican College Wicklow won the team title with a score of 68 points.
Junior & Minor
Darragh McElhinney (Colaiste Pobail Bheanntrai) won the junior boy’s race with Sean Corry (Omagh Christian Brothers) in second and Adam Fitzpatrick (St Kieran’s College KK) in third. St Coleman’s Newry won the team title with a score of 94 points.
There was a great battle between Sarah Healy (Holy Child Killiney) and Amy Rose Farrell (Mount Anville) in the junior girls contest. Healy proved the stronger over the last ¼ mile to take the win ahead of Farrell second and Olivia Nelson (Strathearn, Belfast) third. Mount Anville won the team title with a score of 54 points.
Louis O’Loughlin (Moyle Park) won the minor boy’s title with Jake Bagge (Ardscoil Na Mara Tramore) finishing second and Finn Looney (St Annes Killaloe) in third. Naas CBS won the team title with a score of 94 points. Jane Duffy (Ballybay C.S) won a hard fought minor girls race in a time of 5:49 with Saoirse O’Brien (SH Westport) finishing second and Murphy Miller (Strathearn, Belfast) in third. St. Dominics, Cabra won the team title with a score of 67 points.