Dearbhla Allen excels for St Peters at Leinster Cross Country Championships

One of the biggest days in the cross-country calendar took place at Bellurgan Park when Athletics Louth hosted the Leinster Championship for Novice and even age juveniles. The accessibility of the M1 was a major factor in the massive number of athletes competing in the beautiful grounds.

Dearbhla Allen, who is really enjoying a fantastic cross-country season having already secured Louth Championship success in both the U16 and U17 grades earlier this month, was once again St Peter’s star athlete as she added the Leinster title to her achievements for the 2022 season.

The victory never looked in doubt from a very early stage in the race and as she turned for home to the roar of the home support, she looked full of running on her way to the U16 girls’ title.

Niamh Brady seems to always produce her best runs for the big championship races and just like she has done every year since 2015 Niamh won an individual medal in her age group in the Leinster Cross Country Championship with a very impressive fifth place finish.

Cian Gorham showed to all in attendance that he’s more than just an 800M runner. He has just six weeks training under his belt after an injury lay off and ran very courageously from the start.

He was absolutely thrilled to take the last of the individual medals with a 12th place finish, something that would have appeared an impossible achievement after his lay off.

But such is this young man’s determination and dedication to his sport, that he now will target adding a national medal to his already impressive collection.

The day started off with Louth hosting a non-championship girls and boys races. Ella Murphy had a great run, managing to get herself one of the top twelve medals. Ellen McCourt also had a good run moving up an age, as did Colm Duff in the boys’ race.

The girls U12 race had three St Peter’s athletes make their Leinster Championship debuts and all three ran very strongly with Caoimha Morgan, Saidbh Sheelan and Sadbh Logan all gaining valuable experience. 

The boys U12 race saw St Peter’s Conor Duff battle his way through the large field of athletes, helping the Louth team to qualify for the National Championships.

The girls U14 race had a St Peter’s team on the start line. The team was led home by the very impressive Deirbhile Morgan who once again produced a real gutsy display, missing out on an individual medal by just one place, finishing in 13th place.

She was closely followed in 23rd place by the very impressive Hannah O’Reilly. Emily O’Reilly, Laura Duff and Niamh Allen also had strong runs, and all helped the Louth team to qualify for the National Championships.

Donnacha Reidy, who unfortunately missed the Louth Championships due to injury, made his comeback in the boys U14 race and showed his undoubted talent, moving up through the field on his last lap. Considering his recent lay off, he performed very well.

Harry O’Reilly had his best run for some time when he had a really strong performance in the boys under 16 race, battling his way right till the end and helping the Louth team to also qualify for the U16 Nationals.

Elsewhere the St Peter’s Club had two athletes compete in the Leinster Schools indoor combined events, which took place in The National Indoor Arena.

Sean Allen showed his wide range of athletics ability when he took the gold medal and claimed the Leinster tittle in the senior boys age category, finishing 1st in four of the five events, running especially well in the 200M sprint.

Tatiana Zenderowska also competed in combined events for the first time and did really well in what is hoped will be the first of many big showings for this talented young girl.