Young Stars Shine in Spectacular May with Drogheda & District AC

In the month of May, the track and field championship season commenced, and for the young athletes from Drogheda & District AC, it proved to be an intense, thrilling, and highly successful period.

The club saw its athletes take part in various championships including Leinster Schools and Louth County for both individual and relay events, as well as participating in Leinster relays and multi-event contests.

At the Louth Juvenile Track & Field Championships, numerous impressive displays were seen from both individual participants and relay squads, as over 60 competitors took part in various track and field disciplines.

Drogheda & District AC ended up with a total of 33 individual medals as well as five gold and two bronze medals in the relay events.

Louis O'Shea, a junior athlete and Leaving Cert student who has only been fully involved in athletics for one year, recently participated in the North Leinster Schools Senior Boys 400m event. Despite being new to competitive sports, he managed to secure second place with a time of 50.6 seconds, which was hand-timed during the race.

Louis secured an automatic spot in the Leinster finals held in Tullamore, finishing seventh with a time of 51.44 seconds on what was quite a windy day. This performance indicates that we can expect great things from this promising youngster in the future.

Outstanding individual performances at the Louth Championships came from the Cunningham sisters Beatrice and Hannah.

At the Girls U14 1500m event, Hannah secured second place with an impressive timing of 5:10.8, whilst Beatrice claimed second position at both the U15 1500m race, clocking 5:04.89, as well as winning another silver medal in the 800m category finishing in 2:22.6.

These were impressive displays from such young girls, which pushed them both into the upper echelons of the present Louth senior rankings, placing them among the top 10.

The exceptional relay performances were delivered by the Girls U11 team consisting of Laura Clarke, Lucy Cooney, Eabha Flynn, and Aine McHugh. This squad achieved remarkable success with their stellar performance as they claimed the title of Louth champions and proceeded to secure seventh place at the Leinster finals.

The U15 squad — consisting of Bonnie Breach, Eve Russell, Emily Cooney, and Dani Nolan — secured an impressive sixth place in the Leinster final.

In the field events Drogheda & District AC have a lot of new talent emerging and at the Pre Louths Euan Kirwan finished third in the Boys U14 shot put, while in the Girls U12 turbo javelin Lucy Russell came second and Nancy Clerkin third.

At the Louth Championships Nancy Clerkin continued her fine early season form when finishing second in the U12 Girls shot putt.

In the U14 javelin for boys Cillian Russell placed second, and in the U13 Girls event Isabella Ojo St Paul came third.

For the U15 girls' high jump, Dani Nolan claimed the gold medal, whereas Cormac Russell secured third place in the U19 boys' event.

The club secured two bronze medals in the long jump events: Sam McGinn (U15) and Cormac Russell (U19).

In the 1500 meters event, Aine Carroll delivered an impressive performance to clinch victory in the U17 Girls category with a new personal best. Meanwhile, covering the same distance, Niamh Carroll secured third place in the U19 competition, and Eleanor McMahon (U15) finished sixth overall.

Eve Cunningham (U11) secured silver in the 600m race, followed by Dearbhla Johnston who claimed bronze in the U12 category. Meanwhile, two additional U12 competitors—Yasman Nuri and Cian Bolton—just missed out on medals, finishing in fourth place each.

Two out of Drogheda & District’s 100m sprinters secured second-place finishes: Michael Iloduba in the Boys U16 category and Ruby Berrill in the Girls U17 event, while Bonnie Breach took third place in the Girls U15 competition.

More than 60 meters out, Aine McHugh secured second place, followed by Eabha Flynn in fourth at the U11 Girls finals. In the meantime, Dearbhla Johnston took home third place in the U12 event. On the boys' side, Semi Johnston won silver in the U9 category, and the U10 races saw double medal success with Jack O'Connor dominating to win first place and Rocco Kermode claiming third spot.

Lastly, Eve Russell, Emily Garvey, and Emily Cooney from Drogheda & District finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the Girls U14 200m event.

Start your day off right by catching the morning headlines at 7:30 am followed by Fionnán Sheahan's insightful analysis of today’s top stories each evening, all delivered via our complimentary daily email update.