Eoghan Byrne wins All Ireland gold
Outstanding Eoghan Byrne takes All Ireland gold in the 400M. Cathal Farrelly takes bronze in the 800 and Jack O'Farrell finishes 5th in the 3000M.
A double first for Eoghan Byrne as he takes his first All Ireland Schools title and becomes the first athlete from St Colman's College to win an All Ireland Schools track title.
In less than ideal windy and wet conditions and also from the less than ideal lane 6 , Eoghan Byrne totally dominated the intermediate boys 400M final. A fast start brought him close to the two athletes outside him and by the 200M mark he had gone past them, but more importantly he gained a good lead on the Leinster Schools winner Ciaran Carthy from St Michaels College. He relaxed around the top bend and then sprinted for home breaking the tape in 50.1 a new personal best by half a second and some 10 yards clear of Christopher Duffy from St McDara's. Eoghan thoroughly deserved this victory as he had the guts to take the race on from the gun, laying down the gauntlet to the rest of the field, and perhaps more importantly it was just reward for the hard work he has put in over the last couple of years.
Cathal Farrelly, appearing in his first All Ireland schools final, was not overawed by the occasion and from the gun settled in behind the eventual winner Aaron Shorten from St Lazerians. A swift opening 60 second 400m stretched the field but at the bell Cathal still held second place, down the back straight he slightly closed on the leader, at 200m to go Aaron opened a gap and Cathal immediately worked hard to close it, however he just could not quite get onto the leaders shoulder, and was very unlucky to be beaten for the silver medal over the last 10 meters. Third best schoolboy in the whole of Ireland is no mean achievement, and he certainly gave all he had in that race.
Jack O'Farrell was certainly up against in the Intermediate boys 3000M , with no fewer than 8 internationals in the field. A very slow opening 400M meant the field was very bunched with many of the athletes running in lanes two and three. Jack found it difficult to get onto the shoulders of the leaders and expended a lot of energy in trying to get into a nice relaxed racing position. This continued for 3 laps, and Jack eventually got onto the front of the leading bunch , however when there was a sharp increase in pace , he just did not have the legs to go with it and eventually finished in 5th place, a good result none the less in a quality field.