Sligo AC claim 5th place in National League Final

After 2 previous weekends of competitive athletics to claim their spot in last weekends final, all team members can hold their heads high after a courageous 5th place finish behind some of the top counties and clubs in the Country. A team mixed with youth and experience it gave the perfect foundation laying tonic to mount a serious challenge for next years competition. First on the track was the youth of David Burke in the 110m hurdles that gave Sligo their first points of the day with a 6th place finish, he later received the same place finish in the 200m. As this was going on Stephen Reynolds, best known for his boxing got massive points with his 2nd place finish in the hammer throw. In the long jump pit, Glen Gannon another new addition to the sport jumped his way to a very credible 5th place position and 4 team points with a massive jump of 5.76metres.Sligo continued to pick up good points with experienced athletes Martin Conroy finishing 2nd in the 3km walk and Tommy Carroll 2nd in the 800m, running his usual gutsy race. Conroy later went on to record a further 9 points for the team with a very intelligent run in the 5,000m out kicking his rivals with a 67 second last lap. Emmett Dunleavey, fresh from his silver medal at the national Championships showed his confidence was sky high when he put Mark Kirwan to the sword early on in the 3km steeple chase for the most impressive performance of the day, this added to Dunleaveys 4th place finish in the 400m hurdles earlier. Tommy Casey also ran a very mature race and did his job for the team picking up a 4th place finish in the 1,500m. Kenneth Lipsett (high jump), Connell Boal (javelin) and Alan Reynolds (shot putt) all recorded very credible 5th place in their events. More youth in Paddy Hazelton(100m), Aaron Murtagh (triple jump) and Donal Rooney(discus) got points on the board in their events as Sligo tussled throughout the day with Ferrybank AC for 4th spot. In the final race of the day, the quintet of Conroy, Dunleavey, McDermott and Carroll produced real excitement as they mixed 8 of the best clubs in the country in the 4 by 400m relay, they finished in a very close 4th place getting more valuable points but not enough to move out of their 5th place finish. Well done to all athletes who took part throughout the 3 weekend competition and no doubt all will be back for another push at what has really been a very exciting competition for all involved.
Finally well done to Michael O’Connell who finished 3rd in the over 40 in Letterkenny 15km at the weekend in a time of 55.35 and lucy Brennan finishing 2nd in the lady’s category in a time of 58.09.