Annabel Morrison and Jack O’Connor were the starring local athletes at the National Juvenile Championships in a humid and eventually scorching Tullamore on Saturday and Sunday.

Both athletes returned with a gold and silver Irish medal after assured performances with a maturity that belied their tender age.

On Saturday, Morrison controlled the U17 3000m from the start, whittling down the field to a trio which also included Elsa Moore of Lifford-Strabane and Claire Crowley of Leevale.

The Enniskillen RC athlete gradually wound the pace up over the closing two laps to come home three seconds clear of Moore with Crowley taking bronze, the winning time of 10.05 equalling her personal best set in winning the Tailteann games a few weeks ago.

On Sunday, Annabel found Nicole Dinan of Leevale, who did not compete on Saturday, just a little too fresh in the closing 200m but she took a fine silver medal to complete an excellent weekend and set her up nicely for the Schools’ International in Belfast this Saturday

O’Connor, representing OMG AC, had burst on the sprinting scene with huge impact over the last ten weeks and after a very solid 100m silver on Saturday behind Gabriel Ebo of Middleton, who had clocked 11.26 in the Munster championships, he went into Sunday’s 200m in confident mood.

Fastest qualifier from the early morning heats he produced his best performance to date in the final to lead virtually from the gun and crossed the line five metres, and almost half a second, clear in an impressive 23.89 to add another national gold to his All Ireland Schools’ 100m title.

Other local athletes who competed well included Frank Buchanan and Charlie Reihill in the 1500m and Luachra McBrien and Oisin McGuinness in the sprints with the talent at these championships getting ever more impressive each year.

This weekend sees Annabel Morrison (ERGS) and Frank Buchanan ( St Michael’s) pulling on the green of Ireland at the SIAB international hosted by Irish schools at the Mary Peters Track.