St. Michael's senior win completes Ulster set

Editorial Department • Published 11 Mar 2010 09:31 0 Comments

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Finn Corrigan in action at the weekend.

The St. Michael’s senior team that won gold.

St Michael's added the premier team title missing from their growing collection of provincial athletics and cross-country titles, that of Ulster schools senior boys cross country champions, to their list of honours at a cold and dry Mallusk last Wednesday.

With another team gold in the junior boys and silver and bronze at Intermediate and minor levels respectively and all three teams qualified for this weekend's national finals in Cork this was another hugely successful day for the Enniskillen school as it was for Portora who took individual and team silver in the minor race and for Sarah-Jane Flanagan of Mount Lourdes, an individual bronze medalist at junior level.

The first St. Michael's team gold of the day was won by the junior squad who comfortably retained the title won twelve months ago but truth be told this was a rather mediocre performance, and certainly nowhere near enough to challenge for Irish honours.

Daire Gallagher was the leading finisher in 11th ahead of a below par Lorcan Love with Oisin Mahon and Adam Breen completing the four who secured a facile victory over a youthful St Malachy's. Peter Gallagher, Thomas McHugh, Ryan Gormley and a badly out of sorts Stefan Allen completed the squad and it will require a monumental effort in both physical terms and in terms of mental focus to get on the podium in Bishopstown where Colaiste na Scellig will be warmly fancied to claim a first Irish schools title for South Kerry.

The major consolation for St Michael's is that, if they 'click' on Saturday they can improve hugely on this, having not really run well as a team even once this season to date.

The only team Ulster title which had been missing from the St. Michael's CV, the senior boys, was added at around 3pm on Wednesday, with another solid if unspectacular performance which saw the Enniskillen school have over 20 points to spare from district rivals and All-Ireland junior winners in 2006, Integrated College Dungannon with St. Paul's Bessbrook third. In truth St Michael's ran much better in winning the intermediate title two years ago or even when finishing second in this race last season, but the squad deserve credit for staying with the sport, and, while they are highly unlikely to add the Irish title that perhaps they should have collected in one of the younger age groups, they can however be happy with having claimed a title that was for a very long time the preserve of St Malachy's College.

Former Ulster junior and intermediate champion Niall Cullen ran well compared to his previous results this year to be the first scorer in 13th, with Mark Hoy a rather disappointing 14th, John Currie 16th and Conor McQuaid in 17th completing the scoring team. Martin McQuaid and Cathal Delea completed the title winning squad with Gerard Britton dropping out on the second of four circuits and the loss of Currie and possibly McQuaid will be keenly felt in Cork as a minor medal is a possibility in a race likely to be dominated by Douglas Community School.

Perhaps the best performance of the day came from the intermediate squad who finished second behind St Colman's Newry, a performance which came after two weeks of illness and injury which beset the squad, even on the day Dennis Green fell foul of the jinx blighting this very talented and committed group and was just able to compete but nowhere near his best. Finn Corrigan gave the individual race a real rattle, going with the Monaghan twins and Adam Ingram from the start and heading the race on the second of three circuits and he did well to take fifth, losing out on fourth spot only in the closing 800m to a more conservative Neil Johnson. Kevin McDonnell, running for the first time in 22 days did remarkably well to take 16th with an equally stricken Green 21st and yet another flu victim Mark Dolan in 25th completing the scoring. Sprinter Niall McKeever in 30th, Thomas Doherty, a remarkable 37thd despite hardly being able to breath and Gavin Dolan were the other finishers, hamstring victim Leigh Jones not lasting the grueling 5km course after an over enthusiastic start. In other circumstances an Irish silver medal would be a safe bet but getting four runners round the Cork IT playing fields might just prove too much and perhaps the timing for a squad who had looked All-Ireland contenders all season has just been wrong.

From a Fermanagh perspective the minor boys race saw perhaps the best overall performance with Portora and St Michael's taking silver and bronze respectively and the very talented Robert Beloucounne of Portora just missing out on individual gold by a single second to Jack McCann of St Malachy's. Robert had finished 19th in the Fermanagh schools just five weeks ago, eight in the E District a few weeks later and here he showed all his huge potential with a storming run which saw his come up just short of being Fermanagh's fifth Ulster boys cross-country individual champion. Not only did he have the satisfaction of taking silver, he also saw his team, as predicted, reverse their district placing by taking second behind St Malachy's. Oisin Jenstch, Connor Keys and Dylan Funston were the other scorers for Portora with Oisin Murphy in eighth the leading St Michael's finisher from Jack Keane, Eoghan McManus and Rian McGovern as two Fermanagh teams took medals in the same race for the first time in many years, if ever.

One of the best individual runs by a local athlete was the bronze medal winning performance of Sarah-Jane Flanagan from Mount Lourdes in the junior girls. The Clones AC athlete ran an excellent race, in an age group for which she will still be eligible in 2011, and gave notice that she will be a real name to watch if she maintains her interest in the sport in the years ahead.

Elsewhere it was a disappointing day for the local girls with the Collegiate senior's fifth place finish the best team result of the day and no other individual girl apart from Sarah-Jane qualifying for the Irish finals.

The lack of individuals in the leading positions is a concern, despite the growing list of team honours, St Michael's having collected seven Ulster schools titles and seven sets of minor medals in five seasons. Only four Fermanagh athletes, the two individual medalists and Murphy and Corrigan achieved single digit finishes, some who have done so in the past drifting away from the commitment required and others with the potential either unfortunate with illness or distracted by other things. This lack of leading individuals is likely to cost St Michael's in Cork on Saturday when they can at best hope to collect perhaps one or two sets of minor medals, still a major achievement at national schools finals and one which up until a few years ago would have been unthinkable, but perhaps not the return that might have been achieved in a year which had at one point the potential to provide a truly remarkable climax to six truly remarkable years for the sport in St Michael's.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 11 Mar 10

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