Other Sport
Lally sweeps to double gold at juvenile athletics finals
RISING athletics star Alanna Lally completed a magnificent double at the National Juvenile Track and Field Championships held in Tullamore last weekend.
The talented teenager, a member of Galway City Harriers, proved a class part at U19 level where she claimed the 400m title in 56.64 before also proving too strong for her rivals in the 800m.
Craughwell AC had a strong contingent competing and Sineád Treacy was their top performer with a double silver in the U18 girls’ long jump (5.22m) and 200m (25.21s).
Conor Duggan won bronze in the U18 200m in 22.65. Jamie Fallon ran a strong race in the U18 3000m to take the silver medal in a time of 8.48.12. Michael Hand was placed 3rd in the U14 javelin with a fine throws of 31.73m.
In the triple jump, the club took a pair of medals with Matthew McKernan taking bronze in the U17 Boys event with a leap of 12.19m, while Daniel Callanan-Forde jumped a fine 10.73m to take silver in the U15 grade.
GCH’s Maebh Brannigan took a superb double silver in the U18 800m and 1500m. Sarah McDonnell, also Galway City Harriers AC, came a fine third in the U16 800m, while sprinter Cillin Greene, also of GCH, ran an excellent time of 23.05 in the U17 200m to take silver.
Other GCH athletes in action included Laoise Geraghty, 4th in the U14 800m, Sean Kilmartin who was 4th in the U16 boys 250m hurdles, and also reached the final of the 200m, and Laura Nally 5th in the U15 200m and 800m.
Aaron Brennan finished 5th in the 800m and 6th in the U14 1500m, while Aoife Sheehy finished 8th in the U15 800m and 11th in the 1500m. Laura Ann Costello was 5th in the U18 200m, Róisín Dobey came sixth in the U19 200m while Robert Meagher finished sixth in the U19 200m and seventh in the 400m.
Rory Murray came eighth in the U15 1500m. Elisabeth Maher was 4th in the U19 400m and just missed out on a medal. Kara McCleane showed promise by finishing eighth in the U12 600m.
Veronica Burke of Ballinasloe and District AC had a silver medal winning performance in the U19 Girls 3k walk in 15.27, while Loughrea’s Brendan Lynch narrowly missed out on a medal with a fine leap of 11.68m giving him fourth in the U16 Boys Triple Jump
Meanwhile, Galway City Harriers athlete Emma O’Hara claimed a fine 11th place in the Hammer throw at the World Junior Championships in Oregon, USA last week, competing for Ireland. Her best throw on the day was 56.28 metres, and she threw even longer in qualifying for the final with 57.17m.
CONNEMARA’S Luke O’Neill shot a final round 70 for a total of 11-under par to win the prestigious Allianz German Boys Open at Golf Club St Leon Rot over the weekend.
The Ballyconneely native, son of Connemara professional Hugh O’Neill, held off the challenge of Philipp Katich to win by a single shot. O’Neill held a two stroke lead going into the final day, after recording rounds of 69 and 66 over the opening two days before holding his nerve to claim victory. The Allianz Germany Boys Open is regarded as one of the top three boys golfing events in the world.
Katich, playing on his home course, pushed O’Neill all the way and moved to the top by the 12th hole, thanks to an excellent front nine performance, which included an eagle and two birdies.
Not panicked, O’Neill kept his composure and that ultimately proved to be the catalyst for his victory. The 13th and 14th proved disastrous for Katich. The German, who recently won French Boys Open, had a bogey on the 13th, before finding water on the 14th and eventually posting a triple bogey 7. O’Neill, meanwhile, birdied 14.
Another German, Felix Krammer, entered the conversation for victory as he sensationally struck a seven-iron shot for a hole-in-one at the par-3 13th.
Read full report in this week’s Tribune Sport.
GALWAY ace Martin Mulkerrins will lead the Irish team at the 2018 World Handball Championships which are starting this week in Minnesota.
And the current national senior champion is joined on the Irish team by fellow Galwegian, Niamh Heffernan from Claregalway, in a total playing party of 13.
Moycullen’s Mulkerrins will be competing in the Men’s Open event while Heffernan should be a strong contender for the Girls 17U World title.
Multi-talented Heffernan, who also plays camogie at County level, previously took home gold medals from Calgary, Canada in 2015. A rising star of the game, it’s little wonder that she qualified for Team Ireland.
Another Galway member is Frances Curran, Michael Breathnach’s, who is traveling Stateside as Team Ireland Liaison Officer.
According to Mulkerrins, this year’s Men’s Open singles field at the World Handball Championships is so strong that it will be a case of kill or be killed!
Now aged 25, he took gold at the 2009, 2012 and 2015 Worlds as a juvenile, and captured his maiden All-Ireland senior singles title back in March. This time around he will be competing against the USA professional players in his bid for the World glory.
The blue riband Open Singles draw is stacked with quality and, says Mulkerrins, the player who can marry consistency with aggressive shot-making will be the one crowned champion.
“I would consider myself an offensive player, I would go for the kill if it’s a 50-50 call. “I think especially in tournaments like this, with a round of 32 and an extremely tough round of 16, you don’t want to be in that court any longer than you have to.
“With the speed of the American courts and their ball, I don’t think too many players will be adopting a defensive style. I see it as a tournament where we are going to see a lot of low, hard power play and players looking to finish games quickly,” he said.
See full coverage in Tribune Sport.
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GALWAY’S senior camogie team will be looking to bounce back from their final round group defeat to Kilkenny when they face Dublin in a tricky All-Ireland quarter-final assignment at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork on Saturday evening (7:15pm).
Following victories over Clare, Waterford and Limerick, Galway had looked to seize the automatic semi-final berth against Kilkenny last day out and for three quarters of that contest they were certainly in a good place to achieve this.
Indeed, they had the Cats in all sorts of bother early on with Ailish O’Reilly, in particular, looking dangerous up front. However, with Kilkenny using sweeper Anne Dalton to good effect and Galway struggling to by-pass this defensive mechanism, the National League champions swung the tie in their favour to take the win on a 1-17 to 0-13 scoreline.
While the margin of defeat will have frustrated manager Cathal Murray, there were still enough positives in the performance to give rise for optimism ahead of this weekend’s knockout game against Dublin. “There was plenty of positives but we were just disappointed with the last 20 minutes to be honest with you,” says Murray.
“We kind of threw in the towel a small bit but we now have to look for a response against Dublin, who won’t be bad. So, all round, we need to improve. There is not just one area really but we do need to get a performance to get ourselves back on the road again. Dublin, though, will be no pushovers.”
Unfortunately, Galway have been hit with a setback with the news that Oranmore/Maree full-forward and goal threat Niamh Hanniffy looks set to miss the rest of the campaign with a knee-ligament injury. “Niamh is a massive loss to us,” confirms Murray. “It is disappointing in fairness.
“We also have a few more injured at the moment. Sarah Dervan, Becky Hennelly and Caitriona Cormican are all carrying knocks. Look, they will probably be okay but, at the moment (early in the week), they are unable to train.”
Injuries aside, it is unlikely Galway will digress too far from the side which did lose to Kilkenny. Sarah Healy will start between the posts with captain Dervan, Tara Kenny, Lorraine Ryan and Heather Cooney backboning the Tribeswomen’s defence.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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