DNA Team Ireland Selection

DNA Team Ireland Selection: 

Dynamic New Athletics or DNA is an innovative, team-based competition concept for athletics created by European Athletics to complement the classic athletics format which will be held at the Emirates Stadium in Glasgow on February 5th, 2022. 

Team Ireland will be taking on teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Spain and Turkey across 11 track and fields to gather points to decide their position going into the decider event “The Hunt”.

For details and tickets to this event please see here: DNA 2022

 

Team Ireland: 

Molly Scott from Slot AC coached by Deirdre Scott. 

At the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland Molly placed 7th in her heat after winning gold earlier in the year at the Irish Life Health Elite Athlete Indoor Micro Meet both races clocking in at 7.37 just outside her personal best time for this event which is 7.32. She competed and put in a strong performance at the European Athletics U23 Championships 100m and 4x100m relay, securing a new PB in the 100m of 11.47. 

Israel Olatunde from UCD AC coached by Daniel Kilgallon. 

Following on from a National U23 60m record breaking performance in January with a new personal best time of 6.64 Israel is set to build on his success at the DNA competition. 2021 was a strong year of performances in the 60m event for Israel, competing at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland and winning Silver at the Irish Life Health Elite Indoor Micro Meet at the National Indoor Arena in Dublin. 

Kate Doherty from DSD AC coached by Daniel Kilgallon. 

2022 has seen a return for Kate to the 60m Hurdles event,  she recently took home first place in the National Indoor League Round 1. Throughout 2021 Kate competed in the 100m Hurdles event, placing within the top 3 at each event, such as winning gold at the Northern Ireland & Ulster Senior Championships in Belfast and the 32nd Arcobaleno Atletica Europa in Italy. Kate was also part of the Silver medal winning Relay Team at the 2021 World Relays. 

Gerard O’Donnell from Carrick on Shannon AC coached by Jeremy Lyons and Aideen Sinnott. 

The Athletics Ireland RDO is back in action for the 2022 season, the limited competitive season in 2021 seen him still have a very strong performance coming first in the 60m hurdles event at the Irish Life Health Elite Athlete Indoor Micro Meet. Throughout the outdoor 110m Hurdles competitive season Gerard produced gold winning performances from the Control Meeting in Malaga to the City of Lisburn Senior Invitational in Belfast. He retained his Irish title across the 110m Hurdles also. Gerard is making a return to the DNA competition after competing at the 2019 Minsk competition. 

Louise Shanahan from Leevale AC coached by Phil O’Dell. 

The 800m Olympian debuts the 2022 season for Team Ireland at DNA. After a busy year in 2021 placing within the top 5 across indoor competitions such as the Bryggen Sports Invitational in Manchester’s to the World Athletics Indoor Tour in Spain before her strong performance at the Outdoor 800m Tokyo Olympic Games in July placing 7th within heat 3. 

Ruby Millet from St Abbans AC coached by Michael and Eoin Kelly. 

The Long jumper who set the U20 National Indoor Record of 6.20 in 2019, is back indoors after her outdoor season in 2021. Last seen indoors in 2020, she was spotted on the podium a number of times from the Irish U20/U23 Indoor Championships where she won silver to winning gold at the Irish Indoor University Championships. 2021 was all outdoors for the long jumper where she had a strong performance at home winning gold at the AAI Games in Morton Stadium before heading to the European U23 Athletics Championships where she finished 12th in the final. 

Ciaran Connolly from Le Cheile AC coached by Lisa Dixon. 

Throughout the 2020 Indoor Season Ciaran was on the podium for his High Jump performances, such as winning gold at the Irish Indoor University Championships and U20 Indoor Championships.  Throughout the 2021 Outdoor High Jump Season Ciaran was taking home first place finishes such as the Northern Ireland Jumps Festival in Belfast and the Irish U23 Championships in Dublin. He will be working hard to bring the success from outdoors to his Indoor season. 

James Kelly from Finn Valley AC coached by John Kelly Sr. 

At the 2021 Irish Life Health Indoor Micro Meet James took first place for the shot-put event and a new personal best of 16.72 before heading outdoors for the rest of the 2021 competition calendar, where he also brought home lots of gold from events such as the North Down AC Javelin and Shot-Put Meet in Bangor and the National Athletics League Championships in Manchester. 

Catherine McManus from Dublin City Harries AC coached by Brian McManus. 

Catherine takes part in another 4x400m Mixed Relay team, after being part of the team that came second at the Irish Life Health Elite Athlete Indoor Micro Meet in Dublin last year in both the 200m and 400m individual competitions. The silver streek continued on the outdoor 400m track at the AAI Games. 

Rachel McCann from North Down AC coached by Michael Roberts. 

Our second female on the 4x400m Mixed Relay Team was part of the 2021 Irish Championships Outdoor Silver winning Relay Team. Individually Rachel set a new personal best in the 400m outdoor race of 54:12 at the National Athletics League Premier in London where she also won bronze, just under her personal best for the indoor 400m of 55.17 which was set at the 2020 Irish Indoor U20 Championships where she won gold. 

Cillin Greene from Galway City Harriers AC coached by Jeremy Lyons and Gerard O’Donnell. 

The Olympian was part of the Relay Team that brought Ireland to our first ever relay team to be at an Olympic final in Tokyo 2021 and break the National Record by 4 seconds, with a final time of 3:12.88. Cillin won his first senior outdoor title in 400m event during the National Championsips in 2021. He will form an integral part to this Mixed Relay team. 

Robert McDonnell from Galway City Harriers AC coached by Brendan Glynn. 

Forming the other half to the Galway City Harriers duo in this 4x400m Relay Team, Robert also went to the Tokyo Olympic Games as part of the Mixed 4x400m relay panel. In 2020 at just 17 Robert came first in both the indoor league and outdoor Irish U20 Championships in the 400m distance. Throughout 2021 he maintained his performance on the outdoor track coming first at the City of Lisburn Senior Invitational in Belfast and second at the Belfast Milers Meet where he ran a personal best time of 46.59. He also had a strong performance at the 2021 U20 European Athletics Championships in the 200m event coming 5th in the final race with a time of 21.18. 

Alanna Lally from UCD AC coached by James Nolan. 

The 800m Hunt Relay runner has been busy at state side competitions pulling out top 10 performances throughout 2021. In April 2021 she set a new 800m outdoor personal best of 2.04.62 at the North Florida Invitational with her indoor personal best of 2.06.00 set in 2018 at home in Dublin up for review this season. 

Jack Raftery from Donore Harriers AC coached by Jeremy Lyons, Gerard O’Donnell and Aideen Sinnott. 

The 600m Hunt Relay Runner has been putting in strong performance throughout 2021, being part of the first place finishing outdoor Irish U23 Championship 4x400m mixed relay team. At the 2020 U20 Indoor Championships in Athlone Jack came first with an indoor personal best time of 48.87. 

Roisin Harrison from Emerald AC coached by Eoghan McNamara. 

The 400m Hunt Relay Runner took top spot on the podium during the outdoor Scottish Joint League Meeting in Glasgow in 2021 with a time of 55.04 an outdoor personal best for Roisin. Her indoor 400m personal best was also set in Glasgow during the 2020 season clocking in at 56.44.

Eanna Madden from Carrick on Shannon AC coached by Jeremy Lyons & Gerard O’Donnell. 

The 200m Hunt Relay Runner has had a competitive outdoor 200m season in 2021 winning silver at the Flanders Cup in Belgium and at the Athletics Northern Ireland Open in Belfast. This is sure to prove a strong basis for his performance at DNA cheered on by coach and teammate Gerard O’Donnell. 

Sarah McCarthy from Mid-Sutton AC coached by Sandra Daly. 

Competing in the 2x200m Mixed Relay event, Sarah has had a strong start to the indoor season, placing 6th at the Lee Valley new Year Open in London before coming first at the AAI National Indoor league Round 1 in a time of 24.14. At the same competition Sarah set a new personal best time in the 60m race at 7.57. In 2021 Sarah came second at the Meeting National de la Roche sur Yon in France during the outdoor 200m event in a time of 23.53 a new personal best for Sarah. 

Mark Smyth from Raheny Shamrock AC coached by Kay Bannon. 

Joining Sarah in the 2x200m Mixed Relay, Mark is also looking to build on his strong start this indoor season, he finished first at the AAI Indoor League Round 1 200m race with a time of 21.33, just off his personal best time of 21.04. Throughout the indoor 2020 season Mark brought home gold to Raheny from the Irish U23, University and National Indoor Championships. Mark broke the 21 second barrier for the first tme in 2021 with his outdoor PB of 20.91. 

Event	Athlete	Club	Coach
Women 60m	Molly Scott	Slot AC	Deirdre Scott
Men 60m	Israel Olatunde	UCD AC	Daniel Kilgallon
Women 60m Hurdles	Kate Doherty	DSD AC	Daniel Kilgallon
Men 60m Hurdles	Gerard O’Donnell	Carrick On Shannon AC	Jeremy Lyons & Aideen Sinnott
Women 1800m	Louise Shanahan	Leevale AC	Phil O'Dell
Women Long Jump	Ruby Millet	St Abbans AC	Michael Kelly & Eoin Kelly
Men High Jump	Ciaran Connolly	Le Cheile AC	Lisa Dixon
Men Shot Put	James Kelly	Finn Valley AC	John Kelly Snr
Mixed 4x400m	Catherine McManus	Dublin City Harriers AC	Brian McManus
Mixed 4x400m	Rachel McCann	North Down AC	Michael Roberts
Mixed 4x400m	Cillin Greene	Galway City Harriers	Jeremy Lyons & Gerard O’Donnell
Mixed 4x400m	Robert McDonnell	Galway City Harriers	Brendan Glynn
Hunt Relay (800m)	Alanna Lally	UCD AC	James Nolan
Hunt Relay (600m)	Jack Raftery	Donore Harriers	Jeremy Lyons, Gerard O’Donnell & Aideen Sinnott
Hunt Relay (400m)	Roisin Harrison	Emerald AC	Eoghan McNamara
Hunt Relay (200m)	Eanna Madden	Carrick on Shannon AC	Jeremy Lyons & Gerard O’Donnell
Mixed 2x2x200m	Sarah McCarthy	Mid Sutton AC	Sandra Daly
Mixed 2x2x200m	Mark Smyth	Raheny Shamrocks AC	Kay Bannon