Both Louth Athletics teams qualify for National Intercounty League Finals

The Louth senior men’s and women’s athletics teams performed very well in the recent preliminary round of the National Intercounty League at the Morton Stadium in Santry, Dublin. Both teams comfortably advanced to the final, which will be staged in Tullamore on Sunday, August 13th.

The men’s team finished in third place behind Galway and Kildare, but ahead of Sligo, East Cork and Monaghan.

The women’s team also finished third in what was a slightly tougher group – behind Tipperary and Galway, but ahead of Kildare, East Cork, Sligo and Monaghan.

Michael Alajiki (Dundealgan) and Conn Bonar (Dunleer) won the triple jump and 400m hurdles respectively, while shot putter Isabelle Adel (Dundalk St Gerard’s) was the women’s team sole winner.

Emma Conway (Redeemer) also impressed, as she set a new Louth record when taking second place in the hammer.

A host of athletes finished in the top three in their events such as Euan Canniffe (Boyne – 2nd javelin and 3rd discus), Thomas McGrane (St Peter’s – 2nd hammer), Seán Reilly (St Peter’s – 2nd 800m), Anthony Dillon (Dunleer – 3rd 100m), James English (Drogheda & District – 3rd 200m), Andrew Kelly (Drogheda & District – 3rd 400m) and Shea O’Donnell (Ace – 3rd 1500m).

In addition, the 4x400m men’s team of Charlie Sands (Ardee & District), Reilly, O’Donnell and Bonar came home in third place, while Tiernan Lennon (Dundealgan), Tadg Reilly (Dunleer) and Stevie Wong (Drogheda & District) also contributed valuable points to the team score.

Top three finishers for the women’s team included Amy McTeggart (Boyne – 2nd 100m hurdles, 2nd long jump and 2nd javelin), Rosemary Gibson (Blackrock – 2nd pole vault and 2nd weight for distance), Eimear Cooney (Ace – 2nd 1500m), Áine Cotter (North East Runners – 2nd 3000m), Tara O’Connor (Dundalk St Gerard’s – 2nd high jump) and Kya Mothiram (Ardee & District – 3rd discus).

There were also strong performances by Daniella Adebola (Drogheda & District), Dearbhlá Allen (St Peter’s), Rachel Culligan (Dundalk St Gerard’s), Anastasia Drakoulaki (Drogheda & District), Erika Juozapaitė (Blackrock), Victoria Ovie (Dundalk St Gerard’s) and Mary Scanlon (Blackrock).

With both the men’s and women’s teams having proved that they have the potential to finish among the medals in the National Intercounty League Final, competition for places on those teams is sure to be keen over the coming weeks.

This will undoubtedly add spice to this year’s Louth Championships, which are due to be held at the Lourdes Stadium in Drogheda on Tuesday July 18th.