Gold, Silver, and Bronze for SJB
Back: Christopher Britton, Dawn Hughes, Jarleth Ruane
Front: Kitty O’Kennedy and Aoife O’Connor
Over a two day competition on Saturday and Sunday the 9th and 10th July held in Tullamore Co. Offaly and with the cream of Irish under age athletics in attendance, five Donegal Town Athletes from the St. John Bosco Athletics Club competed with the best and proved tops at their events.
Representing the club were under 14 girls, Aoife O’Connor and Kitty O’Kennedy, in the 80m hurdles, 100m sprint and 200m sprint. Jarlath Ruane in the under 16 boys hurdles, Shot Putt and Pole Vault. Dawn Hughes in the under 17 Hammer and Shot Putt and Christopher Britton in the under 17 boys 250m hurdles and 100m Hurdles.
In very warm conditions on the Saturday, Aoife O’Connor and Kitty O’Kennedy were first to compete in the 75m hurdles. Both girls ran quick times to make it through to the final with Aoife winning her heat in a time of 12.27. A cracking final resulted in a fourth place finish for Aoife in a time of 12.22 and a 7th place finish for Kitty in a time of 12.89. Jarlath Ruane was the first boy to compete in the 100m hurdles and put in a very credible performance with a fifth place finish in a time of 15.82 sec. Christopher Britton was next away in the 100m hurdles and, following a fantastic last metre battle, came through to take a gold medal in a new personal best performance time of 14.50 sec. As the Bosco club’s first All Ireland Medal of the championships there was much excitment in the Donegal Town camp. Dawn Hughes in the under 17 Hammer competed for the first time in this new event, following a fourth place finish in the Ulster Championships earlier in the year. She came through to take fourth in the National Championships with a throw of 30.49 metres. Dawn then immediately went to the Shot Putt event where, in a dramatic move, having missed her two first attempts due to involvement in the Hammer event, went on to take the bronze medal and a third place podium finish. Jarath Ruane was again in competition in the under 16 boys shot where he finished fourth overall. Excitment over for the day and two All Ireland medals bagged, the team retired until Sunday’s competition.
Jarlath Ruane was in action very early on the Sunday morning in an inspiring Pole Vault competition and finished with a silver medal, with a clearance of 2.5m. This represents the club’s first ever success at national level in this event. Aoife O’Connor went off in the under 14 girls high jump and set a new personal best with a jump of 1.4m. Christopher Britton was next away in the 250m hurdles and in a very close fought finish ended the day with fourth place only 0.2sec outside a medal. Last to compete for St. John Bosco was Kitty O’Kennedy in the 200m sprint and she finished off an excellent competition with a fifth place in her heat in a time of 28.2 sec
David Doherty,
St. John Bosco AC PRO
Masters have measure of Aodh Ruadh
Run out comfortable winners in no-holds barred match
Don Monaghan keeps up with John Muldoon
Preliminary Round Playoff
Four Masters 1.13 Aodh Ruadh 1.10
Four Masters advanced to the first round proper of the Raidio na Gaeltachta Senior Championship on Saturday evening last in this preliminary round playoff match against neighbours and old rivals Aodh Ruadh in MacCumhaill Park. Early points from Michael Doherty and Derek McGinty settled the Masters before Pauric Buggy replied for the Ballyshannon men with a free.
McGinty and Shane Carr added points with Aodh Ruadh replying through Buggy again and Johnny Gallagher. The turning point then came on 18 minutes when Michael Doherty rounded his man to blast to the net and open up a four-point lead 1.04 to 0.03. Aodh Ruadh responded with two quick points from John Muldoon and Johnny Gallagher but the Masters finished the half strongly with a point from Benny Cassidy and two more for ace marksman Michael Doherty to lead 1.07 to 0.05 at the break.
Pauric Buggy got Aodh Ruadh an early point in the second half but then the Masters shifted up a gear and hit six unanswered points from Michael Doherty (2), Benny Cassidy, Shane Carr, Derek McGinty and Barry Monaghan to forge a match-winning advantage of 1.13 to 0.06 with ten minutes left. However, Aodh Ruadh did not give up without a fight and came back with three points from Val Murray, Martin Gallagher and Brian Roper and a fine goal from Barry Ward to close the gap to four points going into added time. They tried in vain for another goal but the Masters defended resolutely to setup a tie with St. Michael’s over the next two weeks with the home leg coming up this weekend in Pairc Tir Chonaill.
Junior B Championship
First Round Playoff
The third team were in championship action on Saturday evening as well and team manager Garry ‘Big Man’ Brogan was delighted with their 0.14 to 0.04 win over St. Michael’s in their playoff match. The club face a struggle now to hold on to the Big Man as rumour has it that County Chairman, Charlie O’ Donnell and County Secretary, Noreen Doherty, approached him after the final whistle to fill the position vacated by Brian McEniff last week.
Sean Dunnion
Well, it’s strange times once again at Finn Park. Harps recorded their biggest win so far this season against relegation rivals Shamrock Rovers in Dalymount park with goals from Kevin McHugh, Paddy McGrenaghan, Chris Breen and Stephen Capper, easily seeing off the Dublin side with a 4-1 win. Next up in Finn Park was St. Pats, the team lying one place above Harps in the league. A win would have seen Harps move to 8th place in the league. However Harps failed to capitalise on this golden opportunity, losing 2-0, in what can only be described as a dismal performance. Next up was the long awaited trip to the Brandywell to face our biggest rivals and third in the league, Derry city. Derry had Harps under severe pressure early on and they were 2-0 up within 30mins. However a Kevin McHugh goal left it 2-1 at the break. Harps probably could have been level if they had have converted one of a number of chances they had before the interval. The second half saw Derry go 3-1 up before McHugh pulled another one back for Harps. Harps were on top for the last 25mins of the game but, try as they might, they failed to pull one back and the game finished 3-2 to the home side. Harps played well and were very unlucky not to get a draw out of the game. Harps play Bohemians this Saturday in Finn Park - kick off is at 7.45pm.
The Supporters Club will be running a bus to Longford on Saturday July 23rd for the league game against Longford Town FC. The bus will leave Lidl car park in Donegal Town at 2.30 pm and will pick up in Ballyshannon and Bundoran. Anyone interested in going can contact Niall Martin on 0861223507 / 0863663840 or Seamus Fallon Bundoran on 0876630938. Anyone interested in joining the Supporters Club can do so by contacting 0861223507.
The members of the Donegal Town and District Finn Harps Supporters Club would like to extend their sympathies to John, Mary and the McGlanaghey family, on their tragic loss of Caroline - our thoughts are with you.
St Nauls overcome Naomh Brid
St Nauls hosted Naomh Bríd in the first round of the intermediate championship last Sunday evening. Played in splendid conditions on a fine summer’s evening, St Nauls ran out convincing winners in the end up against a gallant Naomh Bríd team who fought until the final whistle.
St Nauls started brightly when a long ball from Andrew Gallagher found an unmarked Cathal Lowther who rattled the top corner of the net with a perfectly executed shot which gave John Gallagher in the Naomh Bríd goals no chance. This goal brought the men from Ballintra to life when they scored their one and only goal of the match - Pete Walsh hit the back of the net after a great solo run through the St Nauls defense in the third minute. Nauls hit back with Colm Gallagher registering his first point of the match from 30 metres. Naomh Bríd replied again with three well-taken points from midfielder Pauric McDaid, with two coming from frees to leave Naomh Bríd in the lead by 1-3 to 1-1 after 11 minutes. Nauls fought back with points from Seamie Cannon 0-1, Gavan Maguire 0-2 and Colm Gallagher who finished of the scoring for the half to leave it 1-5 to 1-3 in favour of the parish of Inver side.
In the second half, the men from Ballintra came out with all guns blazing. Gerard Gallagher fisted a point in the 2nd minute with also two more points coming from the boot of McDaid again to put Naomh Bríd back in front just 9 minutes into the half.
Nauls then hit a purple patch when Andrew Gallagher hit a 13 metre free to draw things level again. Nauls scored their second goal when Colm Gallagher rose highest to catch a long ball from his older brother Andrew to rattle the back of the net again. Andrew Gallagher, Colm and Stephen Griffin hit three more points to leave Nauls up by 2-7 to 1-6 after 23 minutes of the second half.
Naomh Bríd tried to get back on top again with points coming from David Walsh and Pauric McDaid who kicked 6 points on the day to end the Ballintra men’s scoring for the game. Nauls ended the second half very strong when they scored 4 points without reply - these coming from Seamie Cannon, Mark Ward, Danny McDyre and Colm Gallagher.
In the end, a much fitter St Nauls team claimed victory over a gallant physical Naomh Bríd side which will be no pushovers in the second leg.
Best for Naomh Bríd were Pauric McDaid and the Walsh Brothers while a team performance from St Nauls saw Colm Gallagher hitting 1-4, and Mark Ward and Gavan Maguire all putting in good performances.
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